We continue on with our 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 then Kootenay ICE stumbled through their last season in Cranbrook, B.C. They missed the playoffs for the fourth straight season and had their third season in four years with 14 or less wins at 13-45-7-3. Peyton Krebs further cemented his status as one of hockey’s rising stars, but there were few others who produced consistently. He put up 68 points in 64 games.
The ICE decided to gain assets again at the trade deadline and cut into their top-six forwards group and top-pair of blue liners to do so.
They did bring in a strong incoming overage blue liner in Chase Hartje and have seen some growth in 2002-born forward Connor McClennon. That will need to continue for them to get back in the post-season.
Off the ice, the ownership group finally pulled the trigger and announced their move to Winnipeg. They will move into the East Division and their schedule will likely have a high amount of games with the Brandon Wheat Kings as the league tries to develop that rivalry.
2019 WHL Bantam Draft: How does first overall pick work for you? The ICE somewhat telegraphed that they were going to take highly touted 2004-born prospect Matthew Savoie with the top pick when they traded for the rights to his older brother Carter Savoie recently. Matthew was deemed ineligible for exceptional status as a 15-year-old and thus will not be able to play a full season on a WHL roster. After receiving this decision, he gave a verbal commitment to play for the Denver University starting in 2021-22. Despite all of that, the ICE are expected to make him the number one pick come May 2nd.
They also picked up Red Deer’s first (ninth overall) and third round pick (among others) as part of the Brett Davis and Cameron Hausinger trade. They moved their third round pick to Portland as part of the Brad Ginnell trade season before last.
Signed Players (32):
Forwards (17):
1999 – Davis Murray
2000 – Brandon Machado, Brad Ginnell, Austin Schellenberg
2001 – Peyton Krebs, Cole Muir, Jakin Smallwood, Nolan Orczek, Holden Kodak, River Fahey
2002 – James Form*, Owen Pederson, Connor McClennon, Michael Milne
2003 – Skyler Bruce*, Chase Bertholet*, Evan Waldie*
Defensemen (11):
1999 – Jonathan Smart#, Chase Hartje
2000 – Marco Creta, Valtteri Kakkonen, Brenden Kwiatkowski
2001 – Zachary Patrick, Jordan Chudley
2002 – Anson McMaster*, Ben Zloty*
2003 – Carson Lambos*, Karter Prosofsky*
Goalies (4):
2000 – Duncan McGovern
2001 – Jesse Makaj
2002 – Will Gurski*, Gage Alexander*
#=Finished season in the BCHL.
*=Did not play the majority of the 2018-19 season with the ICE and would be considered a rookie in 2019-20.
Aged out: Forward Jaeger White, import defenseman Martin Bodak and goalie Curtis Meger are now moving on due to being too old to play in the WHL.
Overage Shuffle: On paper, the ICE appear locked in with Davis Murray up front and Chase Hartje on the back end. They do have Jonathan Smart on roster, but he did not play any games after the Christmas break though and we do not know if he will return. It is likely they will have an open overage spot.
Import Issues?: With Bodak gone, the ICE can draft someone with their high CHL Import pick. Valtteri Kakkonen made strides in his game and should be back.
NHL Draft: Krebs is a lock for a first round NHL pick. Joining him on NHL Central Scouting’s latest list and the one previous are Cole Muir (206th NA skater) and Jesse Makaj (27th NA goalie). There is a strong possibility that one if not both are selected as well. That 2001 group could be one the ICE will look to build around.
