In his first year behind the wheel of the Calgary Hitmen, General Manager Jeff Chynoweth said it best last week when talking to the media after pulling off a mega deal with the Swift Current Broncos: “We’re not giving our players away and we’re not throwing in the towel for the season. We expect to make the playoffs. That’s the Calgary Hitmen way and that’s not going to change.”
In other words, the Hitmen are retooling and not tanking. The current state of affairs in the Central Division allows the Hitmen to rejigger their roster, gain assets and stay relevant in a playoff race.
The Hitmen gave a lot up offensively, there’s no doubt about that. But the pieces they received in return help build up the next wave of players in the Hitmen pipeline all while keeping the playoff dream alive this year.
Essentially, they traded away one player and received three ready-made WHLers and a handful of prospects.
Matteo Gennaro was the Hitmen’s leading scorer, captain and one of their better two-way players up front. They also sent homegrown product Beck Malenstyn in the deal, but Malenstyn has been out since the fourth game of the season. The bulk of the Hitmen’s current 7-14-3-1 record was done without the former 30-goal scorer in the lineup.
Arriving to the big city Sunday night were the three Bronco players. They benefited from a midweek-free slate and enjoyed three days of practice before they have to suit up Friday night against the Prince Albert Raiders.
Off the top, the Hitmen should be better defensively following the acquisition of 6-foot-3, 181-pound blue liner Dominic Schmiemann.
“Dom is a big body, big kid who is only getting stronger every year,” said Broncos Head Coach and Director of Player Personnel Manny Viveiros. “He plays with an edge and his value comes from the defensive blue line and in. He’s hard to play against, physical in front of the net and makes the simple plays. When he’s doing all of that, other teams take notice and it is difficult to go in against him.”
Schmiemann’s timing couldn’t have played out any better for the Hitmen. On the day of the blockbuster, rookie blue liner Andrew Viggars sustained an upper-body injury that will keep him out at least six weeks.
During the first few practices with his new team, the Saskatchewan native was paired up with Drea Esposito.
Never viewed as an offensive threat through his bantam or midget days, Schmiemann is progressing nicely in his second year in the league.
Last year in 63 games, he only tallied one goal and six assists, finishing up with a minus-seven rating and 53 penalty minutes.
This year through 21 games, he already has three assists and carries a plus-one rating.
The Hitmen own one of the worst goal differential marks this season, as they enter this weekend’s action with a minus-20, placing them 18th. Adding Schmiemann to the defence corps will definitely help, especially in the third period, where the Hitmen have allowed 33 goals, the most of any of the three frames.
Even with Gennaro, the Hitmen were running teams out of the building. Now with Gennaro gone, they need to focus on playing a tighter defensive games and squeak out as many tightly contested matches as possible.
“It’s gotta be a team mentality,” said Schmiemann. “We need all five guys on the ice buying in defensively and that is something we will continue to work on the rest of the season,” said Schmiemann.
The 18-year-old defenceman is really going to come in handy once Jake Bean and Vladislav Yeryomenko — the Hitmen’s top pairing and two leading scorers now — depart for the World Junior tournament in Buffalo, N.Y. Coming at a crucial time, the duo could miss upwards of six games, depending on the length of their time with their respected national programs. Of those six games, five come against Central Division rivals and could be a section of the schedule where the Hitmen gain ground or get left behind.
So far this season, the Hitmen are 4-5-1-0 within their division. Any extra help on the back end will be a welcome sign come the holiday season.
The new Hitmen additions look to shore up the defensive end of the rink first, starting with faceoffs in their own zone.
When the Hitmen dealt the 20-year-old Gennaro, they traded away one of their better faceoff men and a solid 200-foot centre. As part of the return package, they received a 20-year-old centre who plays both ways and wins more draws than he loses.
Through 22 games this year, Gennaro won 50.5 per cent of his draws. Conner Chaulk was the Broncs best centreman on a team loaded with talent up front. Through 21 games this season, he led the Broncos by winning 57.9 per cent of his draws.
Like Gennaro, Chaulk brings loads of experience into the dressing room and is known around the league for his character.
“It was very difficult to give up Conner, I’m not going to lie. He flies under the radar, he is a tremendous young man, a great two-way guy and he will be a great role model for the young kids in the locker room,” said Viveiros.
Once the shock of the trade wore off, the Regina native began to embrace the transition and is now looking forward to doing anything he can to help his new hockey club.
“I take pride in the small details of the game, whether that’s winning a faceoff or stealing a puck, I just want to help this team win a hockey game,” said Chaulk.
“If you want to be better in your own end, you have to want to compete for the puck and take pride in your work in the defensive zone,” said Hitmen Head Coach Dallas Ferguson. “We have a couple guys now that enjoy working in that part of the ice and will make the other team earn it a little bit more.”
With so many similar characteristics to the former Hitmen captain, one category where Chaulk falls short in is offensive production.
Gennaro was well on pace for his second-straight 30-plus goal campaign when he got sent to Swift Current. Chaulk’s resume isn’t close to Gennaro’s. In 141 career games, Chaulk only has 17 goals.
It’s an area that the Hitmen are hoping that Chaulk can combine with the third Bronco they acquired and receive similar production to lessen the blow of Gennaro’s departure.
That might be nothing more than a hope and a prayer for the Hitmen right now as Riley Stotts currently has two goals in 22 games. The Hitmen should be hoping the NHL Entry Draft eligible prospect can flourish now that he is on a team that is not so heavily dominated by one line.
In Swift Current, the line of Aleksi Heponiemi, Tyler Steendergen and Glenn Gawdin drove the bus for the Broncos, scoring 67.6 per cent of the team’s goals this season.
“I’m a player that likes to use my speed when I can, get up the ice and use my linemates as often as possible,” said Stotts, who played for Team Canada Red during the 2016-17 World U-17 Hockey Challenge. “I want to contribute as much as I can and hopefully we have a chance to get two points each night.”
Stotts has shown the ability to be a nearly goal-per-game player in the past. In his final year of bantam, he tallied 39 goals and 68 points in 29 games for the Winnipeg Monarchs, which led him to be selected 10th overall by the Broncos in the following Bantam Draft. During his final year of midget AAA, he notched 31 goals and 58 points in 38 games for the Winnipeg Wild.
It’s going to be a challenge for the Hitmen to stay relevant until a new scoring threat emerges. Chynoweth did his part in keeping a competitive roster intact while building for the future despite one of the two prospects he got back in the deal might never suit up in a Hitmen jersey.
Josh Prokop is the older brother of former Hitmen first-round pick Luke Prokop and is enjoying his time with the Vernon Vipers of the B.C. Hockey League. He has also committed to Ohio State University and said that he has no intentions of leaving the Vipers before his time in Ohio begins two seasons from now.
The other prospect now under ownership of the Hitmen is 15-year-old netminder Ethan Hein.
This season, Hein is the victim of making the jump from bantam to midget at a young age and playing on the youngest team in the league.
The Moose Jaw Generals are 5-12-1 this season with a roster consisting of 18 rookies, 11 15-year-olds and only one 17-year-old.
“Ethan’s record is no indication of his play. We have too many inexperienced guys playing in front of him, making mistakes and hanging him out to dry,” said Generals Head Coach and General Manager of 16 years Ray Wareham. “Ethan plays big and is very good at playing the puck. We need to work on him using his size a bit more, but we don’t really have any complaints with his performance this year.”
Through eight games, Hein is 1-5-0 with a .880 save percentage and a 4.12 goals against average. Hein was a third-round pick by the Broncos in the most recent Bantam Draft and currently backs up another Hitmen prospective netminder, Jake Davidson. Davidson isn’t having that much better of a season as the lone 17-year-old, as he sits with a 3-8-1 record and a .910 save percentage and 3.29 goals against average.
Hein doesn’t resemble most 15-year olds, as he already stands 6-foot-2 and weighs slightly over 180 pounds.
“Once he gets stronger, he’ll get quicker. I expect him to have a solid season here with us next year and then push for a job in the WHL as a 17-year-old. I think he’s a WHL goaltender one day down the road.”
The Hitmen also received the Broncos second-round pick, swapping out their fifth-rounder in the deal. It was quite a haul for Chynoweth.
Gennaro was done after this season and Malenstyn now has two training camps under his belt with the Washington Capitals, meaning it is unsure where he would be to start next season. Moving forward, Chynoweth now has four players and an extra high-end pick under team control.
With the package he received, it’s easy to say and easy to believe the Hitmen are still in the hunt for a playoff spot in a division with only one team over .500.
If nothing else, the trade buys more time for the Hitmen to stay relevant in the playoff chase while Chynoweth monitors the market, looking for another big haul if he wishes to move one of the WHL’s top offensive defensemen.
