Darwin Knelsen

Overreaction Monday: Has the East Division been flipped?

It’s the return of Overreaction Monday where we take a look at a storyline from the weekend and … well overreact. While some good points will be made, these are meant to drive a particular narrative and have fun.

This week’s overreaction: Prince Albert, Saskatoon and Brandon are by far the best the East Division has to offer.

The Saskatoon Blades ruined the celebration in Swift Current on Friday night as Max Gerlach deftly flicked two pucks by Joel Hofer, giving the Blades a 2-1 win.

Nolan Maier (Andy Devlin)

Then the two teams met again for Saskatoon’s home opener and it was the Kirby Dach show. The 17-year-old center had a hat-trick and two assists for five points. Gerlach had another goal and two assists, Eric Florchuk had three assists and Nolan Maier stopped all 17 shots he faced in an 8-0 blowout win.

The Blades appear to have all kinds of scoring depth with the overage Gerlach and 2019 NHL Draft eligible Dach leading the way. Forwards Brad Goethals and Riley McKay and defensemen Dawson Davidson and Jackson Caller all found the net as well.

Maier, meanwhile was strong in net for the Blades, stopping 32 of 33 shots over the two games.

Another 2018 Memorial Cup participant found themselves on the wrong end of a weekend sweep too as the Prince Albert Raiders won at home 7-2 on Friday, before going to Regina and beating them 3-1 there.

First, the Raiders got the first WHL hat-trick ever from Carson Miller and two point nights from Kody McDonald, Cole Fonstad, Sean Montgomery and Breatt Leason to blow open a 4-2 game and win 7-2. Then, on Saturday Fonstad had two goals and an assist for three points and Leason had two as the Raiders edged the Pats 3-1.

Sean Montgomery (photo-Dayna Fjord)

Leason led all shooters on the weekend with 23 shots over the two games. The former Tri-City Americans depth forward is enjoying his landing spot with Prince Albert and is getting a whole lot of rubber on net.

Ian Scott stopped 46 of 49 over the two games.

They were both tight affairs for the other two East Division foes but it was the Brandon Wheat Kings who swept their weekend series with the Moose Jaw Warriors.

Schael Higson had a goal and an assist Friday and Jiri Patera stopped 28 of 29 in his first WHL games as the Wheaties won 2-1 in Brandon. Then Higson, Stelio Mattheos and Luka Burzan each had two points and Patera turned away 28 of 30 and they beat the Warriors 4-2 in Moose Jaw Saturday.

The cutdown to 68 games this season will see division rivals play each other a higher percentage of the games and that could amplify what it looks like we are seeing in the East Division this year.

Stelio Mattheos (photo-Doug Wyrostok)

What are we seeing?

First, the three East Division teams that swept their weekend sets did so by relying upon strong goaltending, their bigger names producing and strong overage groups coming through. That is a recipe for success.

And with the significant losses that Swift Current, Regina and Moose Jaw have had as they all went for it last year, selling off many piece to do so, the disparity between them and the other three teams in the division appears rather large.

Swift Current lost 14 players from their 2018 playoff roster and it certainly looks like they will struggle often against the likes of Brandon, Prince Albert and Saskatoon, especially in the early going.

Regina had eight power plays on Saturday but could not convert on a single one. There is some elite talent still on the roster, but the process of finding chemistry and producers outside of those names looks like it could take awhile.

Moose Jaw looked the best out of the three, but the newly NHL-signed defenseman Josh Brook had to drive the offense at times.

Last season, after Brandon traded away Tanner Kaspick and Kale Clague, they faltered, leaving Moose Jaw, Swift Current and Regina as the best teams in the division.

This year, though with all of the losses those three powerhouses underwent, it looks like we will see a reversal of fates with Saskatoon, Prince Albert and Brandon sitting above them looking down.

If things work out that way, starved fanbases in both Saskatoon and Prince Albert will be excited in much the same way fans in Swift Current were last year.

With the new trade restrictions, it seems clear that we won’t see the crazy trade market that drove those top three teams to sell away so many assets at the trade deadline.

However, expect those three teams to still try to add as the season goes.

A couple of the assets that Swift Current gave up will be something to keep an eye on. In their trade with the Prince George Cougars for defenseman Josh Anderson, the Broncos gave up first round picks in 2018 and 2019. If the next season or two are struggles for them, those two picks could be awfully high.