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The 2024-25 version of the Spokane Chiefs finished just shy of reaching junior hockey’s Holy Grail – the Memorial Cup championships. Before the puck has even been dropped on the 2025-26 season, the Chiefs have already been hailed as one of the teams to beat in the upcoming season.

General managers of Western Hockey League teams are planners by nature. With a limited amount of time for players to develop on their rosters before they reach draft eligibility or age out, GMs typically have their rosters sketched out several years into the future, with new draft classes sliding into roles older players once handled.

SEATTLE – It’s one of the first questions – and really the only question that matters right now – for Berkly Catton.

The high temperature in Spokane on Sunday was in the mid-90s. But inside Spokane Arena, it was hockey weather.

By design, the Western Hockey League is a developmental league – players enter as wide-eyed and fresh-faced teenagers and leave several years later as young men – grizzled veterans of a system designed to prepare them for the college or professional ranks.

The Spokane Chiefs played a lot of hockey last season. After the conclusion of a grueling 68-game regular season, the Chiefs went on an extended run of another 20 postseason games, which ended in a five-game loss to Medicine Hat in the Western Hockey League championship series.

Andrew Cristall arrived at Washington Capitals development camp with a missing front tooth. It was knocked out when he took a high stick to the face during a game last season. The forward has a removable denture to cover up the gap. That makes his parents happy, at least.

Tyler Johnson, a two-time Stanley Cup champion with the Tampa Bay Lightning, announced his retirement from the NHL after 13 seasons on Monday.

NHL free agency underscores Kraken’s need to develop top prospects.

The Utah Mammoth signed former Spokane Chiefs forward Kailer Yamamoto to a one-year, two-way contract on Monday.