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 Tri-City Americans faced the 2018-19 season undergoing a large number of losses. Some were expected with players aging out and NHL-signed 20 year olds going pro, but there was a big one that was not that expected.
Then 19-year-old center Michael Rasmussen stuck with the Detroit Red Wings in the NHL, leaving a huge gap on the roster. Isaac Johnson also left the team for personal reasons and Morgan Geekie was a late spring signing.
Tri-City lost their top-four scorers from 2017-18 and ended the 2018-19 regular season without six of their top seven scorers.
New head coach Kelly Buchberger came in and the Americans became a tough team who were never out of the game and made you earn every inch.
Goalie Beck Warm stepped in and stabilized things. He faced more shots than any other goalie in the WHL and produced an impressive 2.94 GAA and 0.916 save percentage.
Up front, the Americans had players like Kyle Olson step in and provide some needed offense and had a solid draft eligible season from forward Sasha Mutala.
2019 WHL Bantam Draft: The Americans are another team without a first round pick as they moved their first rounder in 2019 to the Calgary Hitmen as part of the package that brought Jake Bean over.
They do have their second round pick, but dealt their third to the Regina Pats for Aaron Hyman this season. They do have a third though as they got one from the Saskatoon Blades as part of a 2017-18 deal for Seth Bafaro.
Signed Players (29):
Forwards (15):
1999 – Riley Sawchuk, Kyle Olson, Krystof Hrabik, Isaac Johnson#
2000 – Wil Kushniryk, Paycen Bjorklund
2001 – Connor Bouchard, Samuel Huo, Blake Stevenson, Sasha Mutala, Booker Daniel*
2002 – Kaden Kohle, Sequoia Swan*
2003 – Tyson Greenway*, Parker Bell*
Defensemen (11):
1999 – Riley Bruce, Dom Schmiemann
2000 – Samuel Stewart, Roman Kalinichenko
2001 – Bryan McAndrews, Mitchell Brown
2002 – Jarod Newell, Tom Cadieux, Ian Ferguson*
2003 – Marc Lajoie*, Carson Haynes*
Goalies (3):
1999 – Beck Warm
2000 –
2001 –
2002 – Talyn Boyko
2003 – Mason Dunsford
*=Did not play at least 10 games in the 2018-19 WHL season.
#=Left the team mid-way through the season and did not return.
Aged Out: They had quite the trio over overagers in Parker AuCoin and Nolan Yaremko up front and Hyman on the blue line. AuCoin led the team in scoring with 84 points, while Yaremko pitched in 66. Hyman led the blue line in scoring with 26 points, despite playing far fewer games. The loss of this set of 1998-born players will be felt.
Overage Shuffle: Warm has to be the biggest lock of the group of six 1999-born players fighting for three spots. He carried this team and kept them in games they were being badly out shot in. I had him as the second best goalie in the Western Conference. While Talyn Boyko should get more starts this coming season, an overage goalie who can do what Warm can is invaluable.
Olson is a bit of a wild card. He was drafted by the Anaheim Ducks in fourth round of the 2017 draft but has not been signed yet. His future is unknown at this point as the Ducks could sign him or he could be signed to a pro contract should he not be signed and become a free agent. If he comes back, he should get a spot.
Riley Sawchuk is a good two-way center that should find a home on a WHL team. Dom Schmiemann was dealt for in 2018-19 and provided some toughness on the blue line. Krystof Hrabik came in as a 19-year-old, first year player and put up 51 points in 63 games. With his shot and especially if Olson does not come back to Kennewick, taking up two spots as an import and an overage players is not out of the question.
Defenseman Riley Bruce is another option. Overall, there are six players who played in the post season for Tri-City and should they all be available, tough decisions will need to be made.
Import Issues?: Defenseman Roman Kalinichenko brought his hard hitting style to a second season with the Americans and played a bigger role. He should be back. With Hrabik being an overage, Tri-City can make another pick and don’t be surprised if three imports come to camp as this happened before under general manager Bill Tory with Juuso Valimaki, Kalinicheko and Vladislav Lukin.
Going Pro: Olson and Hrabik could both be playing professionally in 2019-20, but that is unknown at this time.
2019 NHL Draft: Mutala was ranked 79th among North Americans skaters in the lastNHL Central Scouting list. Hrabik was ranked 142nd and defenseman Mitchell Brown was 168th.
