Chiefs Possess Tools To Retain Title
At least one general manager sees the coming season as one of parity and surprises in the Western Hockey League’s West Division.
I disagree.
The Spokane Chiefs could win the West by open lengths.
If they avoid extended injuries, they could find themselves opposite the Kootenay Ice in a replay of last year’s WHL championship series, with a trip to the Memorial Cup at stake.
The Chiefs lost more talent - Daniel Bohac, Brent McDonald, Scott Roles, Derek Schutz and Jason LaBarbera - than any team in the league.
They also have more coming back.
Tim Smith is poised for a 100-point season.
Mason Wallin, like Smith among the quickest forwards in junior hockey, appeared at times in the preseason to be ready for a Smith-type breakthrough season.
Smith came out of nowhere last year to finish fifth in the WHL in scoring with 96 points. Wallin may not rip off 96 but he’ll sneak up on a lot of defenses that are wary of Smith, Tim Krymusa, Roman Tvrdon, Brandin Cote, Lynn Loyns, Matt Keith, Jeff Lucky …
And Ryan Thorpe. Thorpe is a forgotten man who could rebound from shoulder misery to have major impact. Spokane has impressive depth up front.
The Chiefs are thin for now on the back end, with Kurt Sauer (wrist) listed no better than probable for Saturday night’s opener in the Arena with the chaos-laden Tri-City Americans.
Stephen Mann, another key defenseman, is down with a knee injury, But goaltender Tyler MacKay is coming off a record-setting year, when he posted the lowest goals-against average in Chiefs history.
MacKay tends to play big in big games. The heavier the traffic, the bigger he gets.
The Chiefs historically win by keeping it close and low-scoring. That changed last year when they scored 272 goals, fourth in the WHL. They could be closer this year to the 322 strikes they rolled in their last 50-win season, in 1995-96.
More scoring will give MacKay breathing room. A bad bounce or a soft goal shouldn’t be quite as critical as it was early last year, and in years past.
The Chiefs under new coach Perry Ganchar will probably score more and give up more, until the situation at the blue line is stabilized.
Boosting the optimism in Spokane is the state of affairs in Tri-City, where the Americans lost coach Don Hay late in the summer to the Calgary Flames. Former Chiefs player Milan Dragicevic was hired to coach, then replaced late last week when the team was finally sold.
Former owner Ron Toigo has been freed to pursue interests in his expansion team in Vancouver. In charge now in Kennewick is former Canadian newspaperman Wayne Overland, who bought the club and brought in WHL veteran coach and GM Al Tuer to run it.
Tuer was something of a failure in his last job with the Moose Jaw Warriors. That puts him in pretty good company.
Mike Babcock and Lorne Molleken are among the respected junior hockey coaches who, like Tuer, wore out their welcome in Moose Jaw.
So coaching isn’t the problem.
Stability is. Tuer got his first good look at the team only Monday. Quality veterans like center Blake Evans have to be wondering what’s next.
The problem in Tri-City is the WHL scheduling format that matches the Ams against Spokane a dozen times. Seattle got by last year by beating up on its scheduling partner, Portland. Kelowna has had very little success over the years with Kamloops.
So it will be this year with Tri-City. Twelve games with the defending division-champion Chiefs is a daunting prospect.
Tri-City was the best-prepared team in its annual mid-September preseason tournament, but if you’re new ownership and new management you tend to look ahead. Don’t be amazed if the Americans start dealing early for draft picks and a future.
The Ams could make the playoffs if Prince George goes into free-fall. The Cougars rival the Chiefs in quality players lost to graduation. Unlike the deal in Spokane, what’s left in Prince George is pretty sad, on paper at least.
But the franchise is solid, veteran Ed Dempsey is behind the bench and Cougars fans are among the most rabid in junior hockey. With the inevitable development of the youngsters who didn’t get much of a shot last year, P.G. could rally into the sixth and final playoff spot.
As usual, GM Russ Farwell has stockpiled impressive talent in Seattle. The T-Birds under new coach Dean Chynoweth should be good enough to finish a distant second, behind Spokane, but don’t bet on it.
Perhaps because there is so much going on in and around Seattle, players there tend to underachieve.
Look for Kamloops to sneak by the T-Birds in the battle for No. 2. Dean Evason, who played junior hockey in Spokane, turned in a strong performance last year in his coaching debut with the Blazers. With only minimal improvement, Kamloops could move into 45-win territory.
The hunch here is that Marc Habscheid in Kelowna will get a large nucleus of 18 returning veterans playing hard enough and smart enough to pull even with Kamloops and Seattle. With typical Habscheid attention to defense, Kelowna could make the longest strides of improvement in the Division.
The Rocks need to acquire a scoring touch, however. They won only 25 games a year ago but look for them to finally find a way to crawl over .500.
Portland has nowhere to go but up. The Blazers won only 16 games last year. If they get the puck out of their own end - something they struggled with last year - they’ll score more.
They probably can’t score less. The Hawks finished with 173 goals last March, worst in the league.
Lanny Ramage looked sharp in goal in Portland’s visit here a couple of weeks ago for an exhibition game. Goaltending, and a pretty fair group of goal-scoring forwards, should be enough for Portland to jump out of the basement.
This sidebar appeared with the story: WHL West
Come March, the standings shouldn’t look too much different than this, Dan Weaver predicts:
1. Spokane
2. Kamloops
3. Seattle
4. Kelowna
5. Portland
6. Prince George
7. Tri-City