Back again for another week of looking at the Western Hockey League and the Canadian Hockey League. Thank you to everyone who took a look at the inaugural edition.
Prices high for defensemen heading towards the Trade Deadline
“We have been looking for an offensive puck-moving d-man since the start of the season. The prices are the prices,” Tri-City Americans General Manager Bob Tory told our own Brandon Rivers on December 5th.
This was following the deal made between the Kamloops Blazers and the Americans involving a second- and a third-round pick in 2021 for the services of 19-year-old Luke Zazula.
And so it continued. On December 14th, the Kelowna Rockets shipped a 2021 first-round pick and a 2023 third-round pick to the Edmonton Oil Kings for Conner McDonald, who had left the team for “personal reasons” following his game on November 1st.
With the trade deadline 22 days away (fewer if you take away the holiday break trade freeze), the prices are only expected to climb higher as teams get themselves set for the playoff push.
We may see some big deals being made for 19-year-old defensemen, and Dawson Barteaux of the Red Deer Rebels tops the wish list for several teams around the league.
Rules between the three Canadian Hockey Leagues
It’s high time the three leagues work together to get their rules regarding players, penalties, drafts and more in order and aligned. There is no reason why teams in any one of the leagues should have an advantage over the others when it comes to the Memorial Cup.
For example, the bantam draft in the WHL is held a year earlier than the other two leagues. The OHL has a strict fighting rule that results in a two-game suspension for players who have engaged in three or more fights per season.
Playoff format has also been a contentious issue among the fans who watch the game. All three leagues have their own set of playoff formats. While there is no one right answer when it comes to playoff seeding, all three leagues again should be on the same page.
WHL Live
It’s been a few months since the season started, and I must commend the WHL and Endeavor Streaming for finding ways to bring the price of their programming down for viewers. Seeing the price dip by $100 for the full package was wonderful news for fans of the WHL. That amount still pales in comparison to the rates seen for the NHL packages as well as the AHL package on Hockey TV, but the break for the fans was incredible.
It is understood that this is a one-year deal and that is very favourable for the fans as they would like to see some new items implemented as well as even cheaper rates in the monthly and single-game packages.
We heard talk regarding this announcement that there would potentially be a ‘WHL Game of the Week’ or other initiatives to bring new fans into the fold. We’ve yet to see this announced.
What fans really want, though, is a consistent video and audio feed. It is high time that the WHL and Endeavor work together with the teams and provide minimum requirements for the arenas to have so that there are fewer issues with the streaming of live events.
Complaints include away audio not working at all or being out of sync, frequent buffering or glitching of the video feed, or being unable to use the video at all.
Also, there could be some work done to improve the intermission experience for the fans as well. This could include clips from radio shows across the league like WHL this Week ‘Radio Edition’ or other video elements to create some interest in the league and the games.
While on this topic, it would be wise to e-mail the issues you are having to whlsupport@endeavorstreaming.com and not the @theWHL twitter account.
