It’s a great time of the season as the stretch drive begins in earnest and there is still so much to be decided across the WHL. Not all of today’s takes are going to be about the playoff chase as there are a lot of other things happening around the league these days to get to as well.
Sherwin Williams CHL/NHL Top Prospect Game
- The CHL’s Top Prospect game was held recently in Red Deer and as always, the Rebels and the fan base did a great job of hosting. After the 2016 Memorial Cup, I think it became obvious to a lot of people that the Red Deer market is a grade ‘A’ one and that the Rebels are top notch when it comes to organizing events. Red Deer is co-hosting the Hlinka-Gretzky Cup every second August and the 2021 World Junior Tournament both with Edmonton, and every person I have spoken with has voiced their approval.
- The Top Prospect game itself was an entertaining one and there was an extra bonus in it for me when I was asked by the Rebels radio crew to join them for their entire broadcast of the event. Kudos to Mike Moller and Troy Gillard for welcoming me on board for the night and when it comes to quality people in the WHL, does it get any better than Cam Moon? It was an absolute treat for me.
- I’m always intrigued by what the out of market media has to say about the WHL and its players. The buzz around Peyton Krebs was certainly note worthy and his performance in the game only further justified the recognition; terrific chemistry between he and American OHL forwards NIck Robertson and Arthur Kaliyev.
NHL Central Scouting and the 2019 NHL Draft
- NHL Central Scouting released their mid-term rankings and the WHL is well represented. Three of the top four players in North America come from the Dub, Kirby Dach, Dylan Cozens and Bowen Byram ranked 2-4th, with Krebs (8th), Lassi Thomson (14th), Brett Leason (17th), Matthew Robertson (18th) and Nolan Foote (26th) listed among the top skaters.
- Central Scouting lists seven WHLers on their 31-man North American goalie ranking with six of those inside the top 16.
- Speaking of goalies and the draft, I recently spoke with a scout from a NHL organization about netminders. He told me that his organization won’t consider using a draft pick on a goaltender that isn’t at least 6’2. Now, as I remind listeners of The Pipeline Show all the time, I am not a scout but to me, the number one question I have in regard to a goaltender is “Does he stop the puck?”.
- Ethan Anders (6’ 0.75), Dustin Wolf (5′ 11.5), Trent Miner (6’ 0.5), Roman Basran (6’ 1.5) and Taylor Gauthier (6’1) are five of the seven goalies ranked by NHL Central Scouting.
- What a story Brett Leason has been this year in Prince Albert. I spoke with him briefly in Red Deer and he admitted that leading the WHL in scoring, playing for Canada at the WJC and being in the Top Prospect Game weren’t even remotely on his mind in August. Now, the 6’4 forward is considered a solid candidate to be chosen in the 1st
- That does make me wonder about one thing though. Last year the Columbus Blue Jackets selected Trey Fix-Wolansky in the 7th round of the draft. This year the Edmonton Oil Kings forward has taken his game to another level and has been right with Leason all season in terms of the scoring race. If Columbus hadn’t taken Fix-Wolansky last year, where would the diminutive highlight stealer be ranked this year?
Down The Stretch in the Central Division
- The WHL’s Central Division was looked down on by many last year as it was a particularly weak season for half of the teams. That’s not the case anymore and the competition with the division is absolutely ridiculous. The top four teams are separated by two points. TWO POINTS. And the Calgary Hitmen, despite having lost three in a row, have been gradually gaining ground on the vanguard for the last couple of months so don’t count them out.
- The Central Division playoff scenarios are so varied that when it comes to predicting outcomes a simple coin flip won’t suffice. As I joked on the air with the Rebels crew during the Top Prospect Game broadcast, you’d be better off digging out one of those old multi-sided Dungeons & Dragons die. Yes…I can be a giant nerd.
- The Rebels, Hitmen and Hurricanes rosters were impacted significantly this week. Red Deer announced they will be without the services of stud defenceman Alexander Alexeyev for the next month or so due to injury. Meanwhile, trade deadline acquisition Liam Hughes left the Hurricanes for “personal reasons”. In Calgary, the Hitmen have listed Jake Kryski as out indefinitely which is obviously a key loss for that club.
- On the other side of the ledger, the Edmonton Oil Kings are finally getting healthy. With pre-season injury to Todd Scott and Will Warm going down five games into the regular season, Edmonton hasn’t had their full roster for a single game this year. When both of those players returned to action, Quinn Benjafield, Jake Neighbours and Matthew Robertson were sidelined. Robertson was back in the line up last weekend and Benjafield is expected to play tonight against the Moose Jaw Warriors.
And Finally…
- While I was in Red Deer, the Edmonton Oilers fired GM Peter Chiarelli. One of the names that has already come up as a leading candidate to take over the job is Kelly McCrimmon. The only question I have is this: The Oilers GM position also includes oversight of the WHL’s Edmonton Oil Kings, or at least it did last summer as Chiarelli ran his in-house audit on the entire Oilers Entertainment Group hockey department. That said, with McCrimmon still owning the WHL’s Brandon Wheat Kings, wouldn’t that be a conflict of interest? I certainly wouldn’t expect McCrimmon to sell the Wheat Kings so I’m guessing the Oilers could get around it by completely removing any connection between the NHL GM position and the WHL team (as would make sense to me) but it’s worth pointing out.
