(In our ongoing season preview series, we started with the Regina Pats, and have made our way to the Lethbridge Hurricanes.)
Lethbridge Hurricanes (2016-17 regular season: 44-21-4-3 95 points, lost Eastern Conference final to the Regina Pats 4-2)
A player like Tyler Wong only comes around every so often. The Lethbridge Hurricanes are going to be without Wong for the first time since he was drafted in fifth round of the 2011 WHL Bantam Draft. He moves on from the team as he aged out and signed with the Chicago Wolves of the AHL. Wong would go on to score the first ever goal in Vegas Golden Knights exhibition history today. Early in 2017 the Hurricanes brought in both Matt Alfaro and Zak Zborosky from the Kootenay ICE. They were brought in to help the Hurricanes make a playoff push. Both have now aged out. Zborosky decided to head to the University of Regina. Alfaro also went the USports route, choosing the University of Calgary.
It has been a quiet summer for the Windy City team as they have not been involved in any of the trade action as of yet. They did draft Egor Zudilov (2000) in the first round of the CHL Import Draft. The Russian forward came into camp ready to play, contributing two goals and two assists in the Hurricanes five preseason games. Ukranian defenseman Igor Merezhko returns for his third season with the team and will look to add to his two goals and 19 assists from a year ago.
You could name just about anyone on this season’s Hurricanes team to be a breakout player or player to watch but there were some impressive performances in the playoffs last year. These should carry over into this season. Ryan Vandervlis’ (1998) name comes to mind as someone who broke out in those playoffs and will be looking to step in to a much larger role this year. 2001-born Dylan Cozens stepped into the playoffs after playing in just three regular season games with the club as a 15-year-old. In the post season, he contributed three goals and five assists in 12 games. He will be expected to shoulder an increased workload this year as a 16-year-old. Don’t forget about Josh Tarzwell, who turned 17 in February. He represented Canada at the U18 World Hockey Challenge and participated in 36 games last season as a rookie. 2000-born defensemen Calen Addison won Ivan Hlinka gold this year with team Canada, look for the 2016 second overall bantam pick to step into an even bigger role with the Hurricanes this season.
There are some choices to be made in the overage situation for the Hurricanes, they have four players heading into the season who are in that category. Forwards Alec Bear and Giorgio Estephan are fighting it out for what looks to be just one position on the front end for an overage player. Meanwhile, safe bets would be placed to see the Brennans: Menell and Riddle return to the defense corps for Lethbridge this year. Riddle is currently on the shelf with an injury so this does give Lethbridge some time to make a decision as the deadline is not until Oct. 10.
There were four Hurricanes away at NHL camps and three remain as of today. Giorgio Estephan (Minnesota Wild) has been returned to the team while Brennan Menell (Minnesota Wild), Jordy Bellerive (Pittsburgh Penguins) and Stuart Skinner (Edmonton Oilers) have all moved on to their respective team’s main camps. Jordy Bellerive even earned himself an NHL contract with the Penguins this past week.
Very honoured and excited to sign with the @penguins ! What a day for my family. Thank you to everyone who has helped me get here! #3peat pic.twitter.com/Rj4fg6g9Lw
— Jordy Bellerive (@jordybellerive) September 16, 2017
Lethbridge still has a really great squad with a very good goaltender in Stuart Skinner. If their recent import pick along with some of the supporting cast like Vandervlis, Bellerieve, Tanner Nagel and Jadon Joseph can step up their game and play important minutes, then the Hurricanes will be in the mix to win the division. If the loss of former captain Wong proves to be too much this team may be fighting for a playoff spot with the second tier of teams in the Central Division. I would bet on the former as General Manager Peter Anholt is not afraid to pull the trigger on deals to get his team into shape and Head Coach Brent Kisio has the trust of his boss.
