Chiefs Deal Winger Milne; Miller On Record Pace
The next time Andrew Milne is in Spokane he’ll be looking up old friends as the opposition’s tough guy.
Milne, an 18-year-old left winger, was traded Monday by the Spokane Chiefs to the Swift Current Broncos for a third-round pick in the next bantam draft.
Although Milne’s toughness is his main attribute, Swift Current general manager and coach Todd McLellan said he hopes additional ice time will allow the 6-foot-2, 195-pounder from St. Albert, Alberta, to develop in other areas.
Milne had no points in eight games with 41 penalty minutes here.
“When you have a need, you deal from a position of weakness,” McLellan said, reflecting on the relatively high price paid for Milne. “We feel we filled a need.”
The Chiefs have fared well with third-round picks. Goaltender Aren Miller, defenseman Curtis Suter and left wing Jared Smyth came in the third round. Defenseman Brad Ference was a fourth-rounder.
Milne, a willing fighter, gets a crack at the Chiefs a week from Wednesday in Swift Current in what could be a game of division front-runners. The Broncos, surprise leaders in the Western Hockey League East at 12-4-1, also visit Spokane on Sunday night, Dec. 1.
“Swift Current really wanted him,” Chiefs coach Mike Babcock said. “He’ll get more opportunity with them. If we could have gotten him in the lineup on a regular basis he would have had an opportunity to improve here, but we had him as our 15th guy. We get a third-round pick and have the opportunity to do other things (with the roster spot).”
The puck stops here, II
Miller, the No. 1-rated goaltender in the league, is on pace to shatter club records set last season by David Lemanowicz.
Miller has a 1.94 goals-against average with a .925 saves percentage. Lemanowicz set Spokane franchise records last year with a WHL-best 2.89 and .897 saves percentage.
Miller’s gaudy numbers aren’t lost on Babcock, who gave the 18-year-old the start Sunday night in Seattle, even though it was Marc Magliarditi’s turn in the rotation.
The Chiefs had rotated the two through the first 16 games. Miller validated the coach’s decision Sunday with a shutout.
Babcock said he’s ready to modify the rotation to the extent that if either goaltender is hot, he starts.
“Mags will go in Kamloops” Wednesday night, Babcock said. “What’ll happen now is that a guy might get two or three starts in a row if he’s on a bit of a hot streak.”
Although a 20-year-old, Magliarditi is a WHL rookie who has made an impressive adjustment from college to major junior hockey. He was the WHL’s No. 2 goaltender, right behind Miller, until Wednesday night’s 4-3 loss to Saskatoon. He’s now ranked fourth in the league at 2.77.
“Milsy was good, but the guys played a good road game,” Babcock said of the 6-0 whitewash in Seattle. “More than on any other weekend this season, we had contributions from all four lines and seven D-men.”
, DataTimes