With the Chiefs retaining the rights to goaltender Lukas Parik and defenceman David Jiricek, things just got tighter for the players hoping to make the 2021-22 roster. There are now four imports in the Chiefs system ahead of the season.
Canadian Hockey League clubs are only allowed to have two import players on their roster at any given time and must have those players chosen 14 days after the start of the regular season.
Parik is a 2001-born player and therefore will take up two roster spots (import, overage) should he remain on the team’s roster. He is an unsigned Los Angeles Kings draft pick and spent 2020-21 with the Dubuque Fighting Saints of the USHL. Back on June 10th, the Ontario Reign of the AHL announced they had signed Parik to a one-year contract. It is unlikely he will return to the Chiefs.
Jiricek was the team’s pick in the 2020 CHL Import Draft and did not make his way to North America for the 2020-21 season. HC Plzen holds his rights in the Czech Republic, where he played last season. Jiricek earned three goals and six assists through 34 regular-season games and added an assist in two playoff games. As a signed professional in Europe, it may prove difficult to get Jiricek to make his way to Spokane for the 2021-22 season. He is 2022 NHL Draft eligible.
This leads us to the two selections that the Chiefs made at the 2021 CHL Import Draft. Spokane had picks 17 and 110 and used them to nab players from Belarus and Germany.
At 17th overall, the team selected 2003-born Belarussian defenceman Timofei Kovgorenya. He is listed at 6-foot-3, 203-pounds, and from Minsk, BLR.
Kovgorenya split 2020-21 between Dinamo-Molodechno (Belarus, 17GP, 0G, 0A) and Minskie Zubry (Belarus Vysshaya, 25GP, 7G, 9A). He also added an assist in six playoff games with Minskie Zubry.
With their late pick at 110th overall, Spokane took 2003-born forward Yannick Proske.
The 6-foot-2, 187-pound Weibwasser, GER native spent most of 2020-21 with the DEL’s Iserlohn Roosters, registering one assist in 25 games.
Proske also represented Germany at the Men’s U18 World Championships, scoring one goal in four games. The Germans were 10th overall at the tournament.
This is the first time that the Chiefs have selected a player from either Belarus or Germany.
