It has certainly been a busy week for the Tri-City Americans (13-16-4-1). Since Sunday, they have made four different trades, moving four roster players out including the team captain and starting goalie.
Let’s look at those trades.
Americans trade 17-year-old forward Jan Cikhart to the Regina Pats.
? → https://t.co/HKOiqzgZUU
? → Chris Mast pic.twitter.com/fJq5ilT3qq— Tri-City Americans (@TCAmericans) December 27, 2019
On Sunday, the Americans moved 2002-born import forward Jan Cikhart to the Regina Pats for a conditional fourth-round pick in the 2022 WHL Bantam Draft.
Cikhart, who was taken 31st overall in the 2019 CHL Import Draft, had one goal and three assists for four points for the Americans in 25 games.
In a press release, Tri-City governor and general manager Bob Tory mentioned that this was a move to get Cikhart more of an opportunity and to decrease their total number of forwards.
The Americans have traded defenseman Samuel Stewart to the Edmonton Oil Kings.
Details ? → https://t.co/QE4XYhmFFS pic.twitter.com/KQPiUTYGzW
— Tri-City Americans (@TCAmericans) December 29, 2019
Two-way, 2000-born blueliner Samuel Stewart was moved to the Edmonton Oil Kings on Sunday for a fourth-round WHL Bantam Draft selection in the 2023 draft.
Stewart played top-four minutes for Tri-City and had two goals and 10 assists for 12 points in 33 games this season. The left-handed d-man played 109 games over three seasons with the Americans.
In two games with the Oil Kings so far, he has an assist.
The Americans have traded 20-year-old goaltender Beck Warm to Edmonton for two players and two picks.
Details ? → https://t.co/seIs5fPHGg pic.twitter.com/zR6R4eIxRF
— Tri-City Americans (@TCAmericans) January 1, 2020
Then on Wednesday, they made a huge move, sending one of the premier goalies in the WHL, Beck Warm, to the Oil Kings along with the rights to Arizona State committed and 2002-born forward Riley Stuart for the rights to two players and two draft picks.
Warm played an incredible 135 games in net for the Ams since the 2014-15 season. In each of the last two seasons, he has faced the most shots of any goalie in the WHL. Despite that, he has posted a respectable 0.914 save percentage.
Coming back the other way are a second-round pick in the 2021 Bantam Draft, a fourth-round pick in the 2021 draft and the WHL rights to 2001-born goalie Carter Gylander and 2004-born forward Cade Littler.
Gylander was drafted by the Detroit Red Wings in the seventh round of the 2019 NHL Entry Draft and is committed to playing for Colgate University starting this coming fall. He has a 1.99 GAA and 0.927 save percentage with the Sherwood Park Crusaders of the AJHL this season. He was an undrafted list player for Edmonton.
“Carter Gylander is an elite NHL drafted goaltender that is going the NCAA route. We felt having his rights was an asset that was valuable as there are limited spots and playing time for goaltenders. We will reach out to him in the offseason about opportunities that might be present,” Tory relayed.
Littler is the son of longtime general manager and head coach of the BCHL’s Wenatchee Wild, Bliss Littler. He was taken in the 10th round of last May’s Bantam Draft by Edmonton.
“Cade Littler is an elite US-born player from Wenatchee. His father is GM for the Wild in the BCHL. I have known Bliss for a long time and we feel that we have a good chance of recruiting Cade. He has NHL potential as he continues to develop,” Tory said of Littler.
Warm has played in 28 games while his backup, Talyn Boyko, has played in just eight. Along with recent call-up Mason Dunsford, those two will be expected to hold down the crease for the Americans. The Americans go from having an overage goalie with a ton of experience to having two goalies with a combined 19 regular-season appearances.
It certainly looks like Boyko is set to take that next step for Tri-City though. He has an impressive 0.930 save percentage this season and has a 4-2-1-0 record.
“Talyn Boyko is a talented goaltender as is Mason Dunsford. They are our goaltenders of the future and now we can speed up the development curve for both these young goaltenders with Beck gone. Moving Beck was tough as he was the consummate Tri-City American both on and off the ice,” Tory stated.
The Americans have acquired 20-year-old forward James Malm and two WHL Bantam Draft picks from the Calgary Hitmen in exchange for 20-year-old forward Kyle Olson.
DETAILS ? → https://t.co/tESYBrIv5q pic.twitter.com/WUFKUMWKS6
— Tri-City Americans (@TCAmericans) January 2, 2020
Lastly, the Americans went out and moved team captain Kyle Olson to the Calgary Hitmen in exchange for 20-year-old forward James Malm, a second-round pick in 2020 and a conditional fourth-round pick in 2022.
Olson, who has been out since November 23rd with a lower-body injury, played in 205 games for the Americans over five seasons. He had 14 points in 16 games this season. Without their top center in the lineup, the Americans have struggled.
Malm then reportedly refused to report to the team and is now suspended by the WHL. The teams have agreed on some conditional compensation.
Trading away Olson and Warm — two players who have played their entire careers in Kennewick — had to be tough. But for Tory, the writing was on the wall for his team after a December that saw them fail to win a single game until the 31st.
The second-round pick is Tri-City’s own and came from the trade for Jake Bean two years ago.
“The decision to make some trades is based on our position in a strong Western Conference. We still feel that we can make the playoffs after a rough December but have to be realistic at where our team is at. It looks like ourselves, Seattle, Prince George, and Vancouver will battle for the two wild-card spots. To acquire valuable draft picks and still be in playoff contention is something that prompted the trades.”
This past week:
Gaining three points over three games this week was not enough to convince Tory that the Americans were buyers and not sellers.
Their losing streak hit eight games before they broke it to close out 2019 in front of 5,909 fans.
“We have played three good games — an overtime loss to Portland and a loss and overtime win over Spokane,” Tory said.
Friday, 12/27/19 Portland 3 @Tri-City 2 OT
After two big losses to Portland, the Americans bounced back with a good effort. They even took two different one-goal leads before Portland came back, tied the game and then won it on a rebound effort by Cross Hanas in overtime.
Luke Zazula opened the scoring with a thrilling end-to-end rush on the power play. His goal will likely be up there for top goals of the year in the WHL.
Then, after Portland tied the game, Zazula sent Nick Bowman on a shorthanded rush with the 19-year-old center burying his eighth of the season.
Warm stopped 34-of-37 and the Americans were 1-for-7 on the power play and 5-for-5 on the PK.
Saturday, 12/28/19 Spokane 5 vs Tri-City 3
The following night, Spokane jumped on Warm with three goals on its first 10 shots, chasing the overage netminder.
Bowman then got his second in as many games on special teams to make it 3-1 Spokane.
Leif Mattson then put the Chiefs up 4-1 after 40 with a goal on Boyko.
Parker Bell made this one closer with his first WHL goal, but Adam Beckman put his hat trick goal in an empty net after the Americans pulled Boyko for an extra attacker.
Samuel Huo made it closer with his seventh this season.
Huo led the way with two points. Boyko took the loss but stopped 25-of-26. Tri-City was 1-for-5 on the power play and 2-for-3 on the PK.
Tuesday, 12/31/19 Tri-City 5 vs Spokane 4 OT
The eight-game losing streak was snapped New Year’s Eve at home.
This time it was the Americans jumping all over the Chiefs. They scored three times in the first on 16-year-old Spokane goalie Mason Beaupit.
Edge Lambert opened the scoring, but Tri-City followed with two short-handed goals on back-to-back penalty kills. Krystof Hrabik led the SH goal parade with his third while his team was down a man. Blake Stevenson followed up with his fourth this season.
After Beckman got the Chiefs closer, Sasha Mutala put the Ams back up by two.
Later in the third, the Chiefs scored twice more and threatened to extend the Americans’ losing streak further.
Instead, in overtime, 16-year-old d-man Marc Lajoie was the hero.
This coming week:
Saturday, 1/4/2020 @Portland
-Close but no cigar in the third meeting between the two teams. They get a fourth shot at the U.S. Division leaders. This time, the Americans will be well-rested, while the Winterhawks play in Spokane on Friday.
Sunday, 1/5/2020 vs Kelowna Rockets
-The third meeting between the two teams. The Americans have lost to the Rockets by 6-1 and 2-1 scores.
The American Way…
-No Malm reporting and trading away Cikhart means the Ams have an open import spot and an open overage spot currently. Look for them to continue making moves as the January 10th trade deadline approaches.
-The roster is now down to 22 players. They have 13 forwards, seven defensemen and two goalies.
-Per the Weekly Report, Mitchell Brown is out week-to-week with an upper-body injury. If there are no other injuries, Tri-City will have to scratch just one skater this weekend, presumably a forward.
