As Seattle Thunderbirds General Manager Bil La Forge enters into his second season at the helm of a team with some young players, there is a lot to be excited about.
Seattle has seven signed 2003-born forwards and three signed 2004-born players. The general manager and his scouts got a really good look at them last week during their training camp, and they like what they saw.
“Our scouts did a good job of identifying the ’03 group, and we are really happy with our ’04 group. I think we did a really good job of addressing our ’02 group as well. The ’02s, ’03s and ’04s — I think there’s a championship there somewhere. But I think everybody does in their group though. We really like our guys and the older guys are doing a good job of supporting them. We are pretty happy,” La Forge said.
Giving some younger players ice time and further adding to the 2004-born group with another high pick were in mind when La Forge and the Thunderbirds moved 2001-born defenseman Jake Lee, 2000-born forward Dillon Hamaliuk, and 2001-born goalie Cole Schwebius to the 2010 Memorial Cup host Kelowna Rockets. They brought back the 10th overall pick in the 2019 WHL Bantam Draft (defenseman Kevin Korchinski), overage forward Conner Bruggen-Cate, a second round pick in 2021, and another first rounder in 2022.
“Jake, Schwebby, and Hammer are all good people. We are going to miss them –there’s no doubt about that — but we felt being able to get that second pick in the top-10 was critical and adding the two picks later on — the timing was right to make the move,” La Forge said.
Hamaliuk, who has developed into a strong power forward in the WHL, was drafted by San Jose in the 2019 NHL Entry Draft. La Forge did note they played without him for the last half of the 2018-19 season.
Lee and Schwebius were two more players that were tough to part with.
“We knew we had Roddy (Ross) in net, so Schwebby was not going to get as much time as he probably deserves. And losing Jake is a tough one, but we thought with our group of defensemen we are going to still be pretty good. (Tyrel) Bauer, (Simon) Kubicek, and (Cade) McNelly has taken great strides and we still have Owen Williams. We think that’s a good top-four. We still have (Zachary) Ashton and (Luke) Bateman still coming up. We like the potential there.”
Seattle made another trade during the summer, acquiring 2002-born goalie Blake Lyda from the Everett Silvertips for a third round pick in 2021. La Forge knows Lyda well as he was drafted by the Silvertips in the fourth round back in 2017 when La Forge was with Everett.
“When we found out Blake was available, it made it easier to put Schwebby in the other trade for sure. Blake has always been a guy I’ve had a lot of confidence in. Our goalie coach Ian Gordon has always really liked Blake as well. To get a guy both Ian Gordon and I were familiar with and I know how good he could be — it made all the sense to get him.”
Another defenseman who will not be returning is Jarret Tyszka. The 1999-born blueliner, who had 101 points in 213 WHL games — all with Seattle — decided to forego his final season with the Thunderbirds to head to the University of British Columbia.
“Tyszka was a great Thunderbird. He’s a good person. I really enjoyed getting to know him. I’m happy that he is at ease with his decision, and I support it. The WHL scholarship is there for a reason, and he is choosing to use it. I’m happy for him. Obviously, I would have loved to have him here, but (if) that is what is in his heart and (he) thinks is best for him and his family then we support it.”
Tyszka’s absence left Bruggen-Cate, Jaxan Kaluski, Matthew Wedman, and import Andrej Kukuca as four overagers battling for three spots. Then, former Brandon Wheat Kings forward Baron Thompson came into camp to make it five.
“It’s going to play itself out over the next few weeks. They are really good people. Baron and Conner have come in and have been excellent to deal with. They are really good with the young guys, and we know the quality of human beings Weddsy and Andrej are too. We are still thinking Weddsy is going to do a good job in Florida and maybe earn a contract. Selfishly, we’d love to have him back, but that is our job to move players to the next level. We would be really happy for him.”
Another interesting name besides Thompson’s added to the training camp roster was 2002-born forward Winter Wallace. The Boulder, Colorado, native is committed to Michigan State University. He attended all of camp, even playing in the Blue-White game. However, he is not on the preseason roster.
“Winter came in here with that indication that he would just kind of see it, and we are hoping that he likes what he sees. We think he’s a hell of a hockey player and would really help our team… It’s a work in progress.”
A player not at camp was 2019 CHL Import Draft pick Tim Stutzle. The German forward is expected to go high in the 2020 NHL Entry Draft but has yet to commit to Seattle. La Forge knows that his team already has two strong imports in Kukuca and Kubicek though.
“Andrej is, we think, going to be an elite goal-scorer for us this year. You can’t say enough good things about him. If Stutzle comes, then it’s a big wrench in everything we’ve done to this point, but it’s a good one. We’d have to figure something out. We went into the Import Draft knowing we had two really good imports who really want to be Thunderbirds. You are open to anything, and anytime you can attain talent is a good thing.”
Now, La Forge and the rest of Seattle’s coaching and scouting staff get to take a closer look at their squad in WHL preseason games, as they play three times at the annual Everett tournament, starting tomorrow morning at 11:30 a.m. when they battle the Vancouver Giants.
