Red, White and Blue Report: Barzal returns to Seattle and division

While the United States either reels or revels in last Tuesday’s presidential election, there was big news in the U.S. Division.

Early Wednesday morning the New York Islanders announced they had returned 19-year-old center Mathew Barzal to the Seattle Thunderbirds. Barzal, the Islanders first pick in the 2015 NHL Draft had only appeared in two games with New York and spent more time in the press box than he did on the ice. With playing time hard to come by the brass in New York decided one more year in junior was best for Barzal’s development.

Barzal joins a Seattle team that is still in last place – albeit with games in hand on everyone above them – but has won five of eight. They just completed a 4-2 swing through the Eastern Conference and now will add one of the best players in the WHL.

Can Mathew Barzal get Seattle back into contention? (Brian Liesse/T-Birds)
Can Mathew Barzal get Seattle back into contention? (Brian Liesse/T-Birds)

What effect will Barzal have on the division? Can he get Seattle back into contention and push the first place Everett Silvertips? Time will tell, but what we do know, the division just got a whole lot more interesting.

Here’s what you need to know about the Red, White and Blue division:

First place Tips represent

Everett heads into the weekend on a streak where they’ve won eight out of their last 10 matchups and two of their star players were center stage for the WHL early in the week. Both goalie Carter Hart and defenseman Noah Juulsen were named to Team WHL in the CIBC Canada-Russia series and both had shining moments. In the second game of the two-game series Hart made 33 saves to pick up the win as the ‘Dub beat the Russians 4-1. Juulsen was the captain for Team WHL and his third period, one-timer goal put the WHL up 2-1. Both players are in serious contention to make Team Canada’s roster for this winter’s World Junior Championships.

Americans lighting the lamp

2017 NHL Draft eligible Michael Rasmussen doesn’t look like he’s going to cool off any time soon. He leads the WHL in goals with 16 and is on a four-game goal streak that saw him pot five. He’s not the only one lighting the lamp for the Americans however. They can score with the best of them. In the defensive minded Western Conference, Tri City has scored the most goals and is averaging 3.7 a contest. Only Medicine Hat and Regina have scored more league wide. This shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise however as the Americans led the U.S. Division in scoring last year as well. The output has them three points behind Everett for the division lead heading into the weekend.

Up and down Chiefs

The young Spokane Chiefs come into the weekend on streak of straight games without a regulation loss which finished with three straight overtime losses. Kailer Yamamoto continues to be the straw that stirs the Spokane drink as he had points in each of the last six games. It’s a stretch that saw him score five goals and he is third in the WHL in scoring with 13 goals and assists for 26 points. The 2015 first overall Bantam pick, Ty Smith, is quietly having a solid 16-year-old season. The defenseman has seven points in 11 games which has him tied for fifth among rookie blue-liners.

Free falling Winterhawks

It has been a rough go of it lately for Mike Johnston and the Winterhawks. Their early success has been thwarted by a long, eight-game losing streak. All eight games have been close and the main difference could be the power play. In their first 11 games the power play was clicking at a 34 percent pace. Since then, in the losses, it’s been at 15 percent.  When you’re playing one or two-goal games, your special teams will make the difference and lately the Winterhawks haven’t been getting it with the man advantage.

T-Birds putting band back together

While there certainly is excitement in Kent for the return of Barzal, the T-Birds also seem on the verge of getting forward Keegan Kolesar back in the lineup. Kolesar was injured while in camp with the Columbus Blue Jackets but he’s back skating with the team and should be back in the lineup shortly. With Kolesar, Ryan Gropp and Barzal back the T-Birds will get back 91 goals from last season’s lineup. The timing is good as Seattle seemed to right itself on their road swing and key to that was their penalty kill. After costing them games earlier they have found their legs and have risen from depths of last in the league to 15th.