When the dust settled at the end of the 2017-18 WHL regular season, the Red Deer Rebels were playoff bound. Despite playing a string of hockey where the team only won one game in 25 attempts, the team shrugged off the poor play and began to gel into a team that would squeeze itself into third place in the Central Division. This gave them a chance to play the Lethbridge Hurricanes in the first round.
Following their first round playoff exit, a number would stick out in the minds of hockey fans in the Red Deer. 250 was that number. It was the number of goals put up against the Rebels in 72 regular season games. They would only manage to score 209 goals (206 if you subtract the shootout goals). That minus 41 goal differential was key to the team losing more games than they won last year.
There’s some concern with the team’s offense this season but the team does return one of the oldest and most experienced defense groups in the Western Hockey League. This is despite having just one 20 and three 19-year-old defenders (four if Sam Pouliot makes the team). The defense has 835 WHL games of experience among them. This is a great advantage for them when you include the experience gained by the new number one netminder, Ethan Anders.
Of the 12 defensemen at Rebels main camp, eight of them have WHL experience ranging from 16 games to 194. Below is a chart of experience as well as point totals for each player. Alexander Alexeyev has also missed significant time with injuries over the past two seasons and the unfortunate passing of his mother back in Russia last year.
| Name | D.O.B. | Ht | Wt | GP | G | A | PTS |
| Alexeyev, Alexander | Nov 15/99 | 6’3″ | 200 | 86 | 11 | 47 | 58 |
| Barteaux, Dawson | Jan 12/00 | 6’1″ | 176 | 107 | 3 | 33 | 36 |
| Donohoe, Hunter | Jul 7/00 | 6’5″ | 182 | 50* | 3 | 2 | 5 |
| Draffin, Nick | Aug 16/01 | 6’3″ | 205 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Gottfried, Ryan | Aug 21/01 | 6’3″ | 198 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Herauf, Jacob | May 16/00 | 6’0″ | 176 | 107 | 2 | 21 | 23 |
| Isley, Jace | Jul 14/02 | 6’0″ | 180 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Leslie, Chase | Aug 23/02 | 5’10” | 150 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Paradis, Colin | Apr 27/98 | 6’0″ | 181 | 194 | 2 | 26 | 28 |
| Pouliot, Sam | May 4/00 | 6’1″ | 165 | 16 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Sakowich, Ethan | Feb 4/99 | 6’2″ | 188 | 137 | 3 | 14 | 17 |
| Sass, Carson | May 22/99 | 6’1″ | 182 | 138 | 6 | 20 | 26 |
*= Donohoe also spent time at forward
The Rebels have a tendency to carry seven defenders on the squad throughout the season. With both Alexeyev and Dawson Barteaux having been drafted this past June, it would be expected that Sam Pouliot, Nick Draffin and Ryan Gottfried will get an extended look over the pre-season and early regular season. Neither Alexeyev nor Barteaux are expected to make their NHL teams this season but it is likely that Washington would like to see Alexeyev in some game action which could keep him with the team until late September or early October. Alexeyev remains unsigned by the Capitals.
While the offensive part of the defense does leave something to be desired, this team can move pucks out of its own end and does a fairly decent job of it.
Both Alexeyev and Barteaux have seen time on the point during the power play and every defenseman has played some penalty killing minutes. Look for coach Sutter to continue using Barteaux and Alexeyev on the power play and mixing up the penalty killers.
Of the players with no experience, it would make a lot of sense to keep one of Draffin or Gottfried with the team and move one of the more experienced defenders to another team. The Rebels forward group needs help and there may be options for GM Sutter to bring in someone so that one of the young defensemen can gain some valuable experience at a position that requires patience with young players. This would also clear the log jam on defense for the 2019-20 season if one were to look that far.
I would venture a guess that 250 isn’t a number Rebels fans need to worry about this year. The more concerning number would be the 209 and that’s a number this team may not exceed this season.
