This is an ongoing series as we start the long road to the 2019-20 WHL season. We will be going in the order that teams were eliminated from contention. Keep in mind that the roster guesses vary because of information made available to us. We did our very best to capture all of the signings, but could be missing some.
2018-19 WHL Season: The Portland Winterhawks entered the 2018-19 campaign expecting to have a dynamic duo of defenseman Henri Jokiharju and Cody Glass leading the way. Jokiharju stuck with the Chicago Blackhawks though and Glass missed nearly half the season due to NHL camp, World Juniors and an injury.
Glass still put up close to two points per-game. Part of that was setting up overage winger Joachim Blichfeld. The Danish sniper was an unexpected addition as he was sent back by the San Jose Sharks, despite being signed and AHL eligible.
Blichfeld lit up the WHL with and without Glass, putting up 53 goals and 114 points. Both led the WHL. Outside of those two, it was a young team with three 16-year-old forwards in Seth Jarvis, Cross Hanas and Robbie Fromm-Delorme playing every night.
Jared Freadrich was brought in before the season and he provided offense in his overage season. He had 48 points and quarterbacked the power play.
Shane Farkas struggled at times in November and December and Portland ended up moving six draft picks for Swift Current Broncos netminder Joel Hofer. He picked up his game after that point and Portland had a solid one-two combo in net.
Ultimately the Winterhawks ran out of gas against the Spokane Chiefs. They could not find secondary scoring with Glass missing the first four games of the series and Ty Smith and company throwing everything at shutting down Blichfeld.
2019 WHL Bantam Draft: They traded their first and third round picks as part of the Hofer deal. They dealt their second round selection to Prince George as part of the Dennis Cholowski trade at the 2018 deadline. They do get to pick in the third round though – their top pick – because of the Brad Ginnell trade in December of 2017. That pick is 46th overall.
Signed Players (31):
Forwards (18):
1999 – Josh Paterson, Jake Gricius, Cody Glass#, Lane Gilliss
2000 – Mason Mannek, Haydn Delorme, Michal Kvasnica
2001 – Reece Newkirk, Jaydon Dureau, Kishaun Gervais*
2002 – Seth Jarvis, Tyson Kozak*, Robbie Fromm-Delorme, Cross Hanas
2003 – Gabe Klassen*, Jack O’Brien*, James Stefan*, Dawson Pasternak*
Defensemen (8):
1999 – Matt Quigley
2000 – Nick Cicek, John Ludvig, Ryan Miley
2001 – Clay Hanus, Kade Nolan, Nick Perna
2002 – Kurtis Smythe*
2003 –
Goalies (5):
1999 – Shane Farkas
2000 – Joel Hofer#
2001 – Evan Fradette*
2002 – Dante Giannuzzi*
2003 – Lochlan Gordon*
*=Played in less than 10 WHL regular season games.
#=Has signed an NHL entry-level contract.
Aged Out: Blichfeld, Freadrich and defenseman Brendan De Jong all move on.
Overage Shuffle: There is no chance Glass comes back as an NHL-signed top prospect, he left no question when he went to the AHL and scored right away.
That leaves three spots for Josh Paterson, Jake Gricius, Lane Gilliss, Matt Quigley and Shane Farkas. They made the Paterson trade last season with this one in mind as well, so Paterson will have a spot. Gricius also came a long way in 2018-19, going from 24 to 61 points and is the leading returning scorer. Gilliss played mostly in a fourth line role, but does a lot of little things on and off the ice that teams value.
Quigley had a tough season, but may be valued due to the lack of experience elsewhere on the blue line with Freadrich and De Jong gone.
Farkas could find a home elsewhere in the WHL, but all those picks being sent out for Hofer seems to set the table for Farkas not coming back.
Import Issues?: They will make at least one pick as Blichfeld leaves. Michal Kvasnica – despite having great moments – put up just 20 points. The Winterhawks are used to their imports providing more historically and might be looking at adding a different import.
2019 NHL Draft: Reece Newkirk was ranked 81st among North American skaters and defenseman John Ludvig was 128th.
