After last-place finish, Spokane must evaluate how to fix what went wrong
There is one bright spot for the Spokane Chiefs as they try to forget about the past season and look forward to the next: There’s no place to go but up.
Whether they can get to that point remains an open question. How they can get there – and with whom – loom even bigger. The franchise will do its annual end-of-season evaluation and it could result in a lot of big changes, a few minor ones, or none at all.
But if the Chiefs do nothing, can they improve on this season’s finish which saw them miss the playoffs for the first time since 1999?
The coaching staff and key returning players believe so, but management and ownership are the ones whose opinions ultimately count. Everyone agrees on one thing: This season’s results were not acceptable.
“For us, we didn’t get to where we wanted,” said coach Al Conroy, noting that he and general manager Tim Speltz likely won’t sit down for another week or so to debrief the season. “There is an ongoing conversation going on (about) the team and individual players. … First place or last place, you always have to be looking forward to progress.”
Conroy just completed his third season as head coach and has one year remaining on his contract. In his first two seasons, the team gradually improved and made the playoffs. Why things weren’t that way this year is up for debate, but youth and injuries didn’t help a team which was already talent-challenged.
The Chiefs were a young team, with nearly half of their roster being first- or second-year players. Those players rose to the challenge over the season, but struggled to be consistent during the grind of a 72-game schedule.
“Our younger players really stepped up,” said Conroy. “Outside of probably three of four guys, we think all of our guys improved. … That’s probably indicative of the fact that we have a young team. … Not everyone improved the way we’d like, including some younger guys and some older guys. That’s going to happen.”
On the offensive end, Chad Klassen found Jeff Lynch as his new linemate and the pair hooked up to become the team’s most efficient line. Klassen finished with 64 points and Lynch added 49. Both return next season as 20-year-olds and will again be team leaders. Ned Lukacevic was third with 46, the same as rookie Derek Ryan.
Ryan and Chris Bruton led the way for the younger forwards. Ryan was the fourth-leading rookie scorer in the WHL and Bruton was the plus-minus leader for the team at plus-7. In fact, Spokane had four of the top 20 leading rookie scorers in the league.
On the defensive end, it took some midyear trades to buttress a unit that was devastated by a couple of key injuries. The defense began as the strength of the team, with returnees Sean Zimmerman and Gary Gladue leading the way. However, it was substantially weakened by the Dec. 8 loss of 20-year-old veteran and assistant captain Scott Lynch and the long-term loss of promising rookie Matt McCue to a broken ankle.
Speltz acquired Dan Mercer and Joe Logan to shore up things on the blue line. Logan, in particular, is being talked about as an anchor to next year’s defense. Speltz also tried to help the team get more physical up front with the acquisitions of Howarth and the departing Danny Lapointe.
The goalie position is one that needed to carry the Chiefs this season and that didn’t occur. Longtime starter Jim Watt began the season as the undisputed No. 1 but finished it on the bench. Kevin Opsahl was acquired in October but didn’t get back-to-back starts until the last week of the season.
It remains to be seen what Spokane will do with the goalie position. Watt and Opsahl were essentially dead-even statistically and both will be 19-year-olds next season. Watt (55 games, 2.96 goals against, .902 save percentage) and Opsahl (26 games, 2.99, .904) finished 25th and 26th, respectively, in the league.
Those numbers stand out when every WHL team but two had at least one of its goalies ranked ahead of Spokane’s. In fact, seven teams have both of their goalies ranked higher.
Of course, the Chiefs had their share of defensive breakdowns that led to numerous goals. But there were several late goals given up by the Chiefs in key games that devastated the morale of a team which had trouble scoring at times anyway.
Ultimately, those goals led to losses or ties that could have allowed Spokane to make the playoffs – as the Chiefs essentially finished three wins behind Tri-City for the last playoff spot in the U.S. Division (63 points to 58).
This year’s Chiefs were an enigma to most who watched them. The team that could skate with some of the best teams in the league and beat them on a given night would often disappear for lesser games.
Unfortunately, many of those poor efforts came at crucial times – especially down the final stretch when Spokane went 2-8 over its last 10 games and lost five straight to close the season.