Andy Devlin

Daily Dose of the Dub: Kootenay adds a forward; Brook and Bellerive will miss WJSS

Wegleitner dealt to Kootenay

The Kootenay ICE and Brandon Wheat Kings made a trade on Friday with 1998-born right wing Gunnar Wegleitner going from the Wheat Kings to the ICE and a conditional sixth round pick in 2019.

Wegleitner had a breakout season as a 19-year-old last year with Brandon as he had 10 goals and nine assists for 19 points in 57 games. In his previous 55 games in the WHL with Everett and Victoria, Wegleitner had just one goal.

In seven playoff games last year Wegleitner had a single goal.

The six-foot-one, 190 pound forward joins the ICE as their fifth overage on the roster, at least as we are aware of. The other four are d-men Martin Bodak, Dallas Hines and Ryan Pouliot and goalie Matt Berlin.

Bodak is an import as well and would take two spots if he stays with the ICE. They did draft another blue liner, Valtteri Kakkonen, in the latest import draft but have yet to sign him. I could not find that Bodak has signed a professional contract anywhere as it stands now. He had the most points of any 1998-born player still on the roster with seven goals and 24 assists for 31 points.

Kootenay smartly moved many 1998-born players last year, getting a lot of assets in return. They traded away forwards Barrett Sheen, Vince Loschiavo, Jeff de Wit and Noah Philp, defenseman Cale Fleury and goalie Declan Hobbs. In return they got  1999-born players Tanner Sidaway and Jonathan Smart, 2001-born players Cole Muir and Jakin Smallwood, nine draft picks and two conditional draft picks. The only one of the five overage players listed before they dealt for was Berlin – who they sent a fifth round pick to receive.

Wegleitner gives them an overage player in the forward group which they did not have before.

Brandon only had three 1998-born players likely to come back for the 2018-19 season and so seemed set before this move. With Kale Clague and Ty Lewis both signed to professional deals they are not likely coming back. That left Wegleitner, forward Linden McCorrister and defenseman Schael Higson. Now they have a vacant overage spot to use. We will see who they have in mind for that spot.

 

Brook and Bellerive missing WJSS

Moose Jaw Warriors d-man (and sometime forward) Josh Brook and Lehbridge Hurricanes forward Jordy Bellerive will both sit out the World Junior Summer Showcase in Kamloops. Brook, who had wrist surgery last year, reportedly injured his wrist again and sat out Montreal Canadiens development camp. His status for the start of the season is not known yet but him missing this showcase is somewhat alarming.

Bellerive, meanwhile is still recovering from injuries he sustained in an incident in Calgary this summer.

Both of them missing the camp means that the number of WHL players participating is down to nine. They are Glass, Rasmussen, Justin Almeida, Stelio Mattheos, Connor Dewar, Anderson-Dolan, Ty Smith, Jett Woo and Calen Addison.

Moose Jaw’s Tim Hunter is the team’s head coach and Lethbridge’s Brent Kisio is one of the assistants. the Showcase goes July 28th-August 4th.

 

U17 camp begins tomorrow

29 WHL-drafted players will be descending upon Calgary tomorrow for U17 Development Camp. Among those players are high Bantam Draft picks Kaiden Guhle (Prince Albert), Connor McClennon (Kootenay) and Justin Sourdif (Calgary). After the camp – which goes through the 27th – players will be monitored and a final 66 will represent Canada as part of three different teams at the U17 Challenge November 3rd-10th in Saint John and Quispamis, New Brunswick.

Select 15 camp finishes up

USA Hockey’s Select 15 Development Camp finished up earlier today. 11 WHL-drafted players competed in the event. The leading scorer in the group was Kelowna Rockets eighth round draft pick Arvega Hovsepyan with four points in the four games. None of the 11 players have signed with a WHL team as of yet. They were all taken in the 2018 WHL Bantam Draft.

Player WHL Team USHDC Team Position NCAA? WHL? Points
Arvega Hovsepyan Kelowna-8th round Columbia Forward No No 0-4-4 pts
Paul Minnehan Tri-City-7th round Kelly Forward No No 2-1-3 pts
Ty Murchison Portland 3rd round Orange Defense No No 0-2-2 pts
Trey Fechko Moose Jaw-9th round Purple Forward No No 1-1-2 pts
Hayden Cox Medicine Hat-6th round Orange Forward No No 1-1-2 pts
Ean Somoza Everett-13th round Forest Forward No No 2-0-2 pts
Copeland Fricker Spokane-9th round Red Forward No No 1-1-2 pts
Noah Alvarez Vancouver-10th round Red Forward No No 0-1-1 pts
Aidan Hreschuk Prince George-5th round Kelly Defense Boston College No 0-0-0 pts
Charles Larsen Brandon-8th round Forest Defense N No 0-0-0 pts
Brent Johnson Everett-11th round Black Defense No No 0-0-0 pts

Links and notes:

-The Vancouver Giants brought in longtime Edmonton Oilers scout Bob Brown as their new senior adviser. Brown will be working with new general manager Barclay Parneta. He was the general manager of the Kamloops Blazers during their long run of success in the 1990’s.

-Former Tri-City Americans center Jordan Topping signed a one-year deal with the Grand Rapids Griffins of the AHL.

-Former Kelowna Rockets d-man Madison Bowey re-signed with the Washington Capitals – a two-year deal with an annual average of $1 million a season.

-Prince George Cougars alumni will be out in full force tomorrow at the CN Centre. They will be revealing a wall with their prestigious past players on it.

-Prince Albert Raiders forward Parker Kelly has made a name for himself at Ottawa Senators’ camps. A year ago he did so well at their development and main camps that he earned an entry-level contract. This year he was named the hardest working player at their development camp.