Spokane Chiefs notebook: Trades boost scoring, leadership; offense picks up during 3-game win streak

If the season ended today, the Spokane Chiefs would qualify for the playoffs out of the Western Conference of the Western Hockey League.

That statement would not have been true a week ago.

It’s both a reminder of how quickly things can change – and how much work there is to do.

The Chiefs, who are off until Friday, currently sit sixth in the Western Conference with 30 points (15-14-0-0), two points ahead of eighth-place Tri-City – which they beat 4-2 Saturday at the Arena – but just four points out of third place.

Slight improvements and adjustments could go a long way in solidifying their standing. To that end, the organization made a pair of trades for two 20-year-old forwards over the past few days to bring in reinforcements for the second half of the season.

On Sunday, the Chiefs acquired Logan Wormald from the Lethbridge Hurricanes for a package of picks, then Tuesday announced a deal for Dominik Petr and a fifth-round pick in the 2029 WHL draft from the Saskatoon Blades in exchange for defenseman Kaden Allan and forward Elias Pul.

Wormald has 14 goals with 19 assists this season, while Petr can produce offensively (nine goals, 12 assists in 29 games), is strong on faceoffs, and will provide size (6-foot-3) up front.

Wormald was Lethbridge’s captain, spent his entire WHL career there and was especially active in the community.

“It’s obviously a little bittersweet,” he said after his first practice with the Chiefs on Tuesday. “I mean, they treated me so well in Lethbridge and I built a lot of great relationships. Tough to leave, but super-excited for the opportunity. … It seems to be a great group of guys.”

Chiefs coach Brad Lauer was looking forward to getting both in the lineup as quickly as possible.

“(Wormald) had been one of those guys that’s been a leader throughout his career in our league,” Lauer said. “You know, he’s been a player that is responsible on both sides of the puck but also has the ability to put numbers up. … The way he carries himself around as a person and who he is as a person, obviously, held a lot of interest for us when he came available to us, so very excited to have added him to our lineup.”

Lauer stressed how much Petr could influence the Chiefs lineup from his success in the faceoff circle.

“I think it’s a good fit for us. It adds another 20-year-old that we needed for maturity in our locker room. It makes us a better team up the middle of the ice.”

Through Sunday’s game, the Chiefs were one of the youngest teams in the league and only dressed one 20-year-old (winger Sam Oremba) all season. Lauer said the two moves will help the Chiefs move up to closer to the middle of the pack.

The deals should come as a show of confidence by general manager Matt Bardsley to add to the nucleus of the group in order to make a push for the playoffs after reaching the league championship series last season.

“Obviously, expectations were very high for us this year with returning 16 players,” Lauer said. “Matt and the organization have high standards where we want our franchise and team to go. I know we’re better than what our record shows right now.”

“It’s good that we have a GM that believes in us,” forward Mathis Preston said. “It’s about the guys in the locker room, and that’s it. We all believe in each other and believe that we’re going to be a winning team.”

One of the obvious places for improvement is goal scoring and the power play. The Chiefs were second in the league in goals and first in power play efficiency last season but are 20th out of 23 in goals and dead last on the power play at 10.7% – next worst is Wenatchee at 18.2%.

”Those are areas that win and lose hockey games,” Lauer said. “I think adding the guys that we added definitely will help those areas for us, will make us a better team. You don’t need to finish first in this league to get to where you want to get to, but you do need to make the playoffs.”

On the rise

Despite playing three games in as many days, the Chiefs made strides offensively over the weekend, scoring 14 goals over the three-game span – all wins.

They scored six goals on Friday in a home win over Swift Current, beat Tri-City 4-2 in the team’s annual Teddy Bear Toss game and then went on the road to handle Seattle 4-1 on Sunday. The Chiefs went 5 for 12 on the power play, a drastic improvement over the period.

“What we have to understand about those 14 goals is how we scored them – by playing as five on the group, playing as five on the ice,” Lauer said. “The power play we had net-front presence and were shooting the puck. These are the things that we’ve been talking about all year, and we did them this past weekend.”

”I think we’re just clicking right now,” forward Mathis Preston said. “I think kind of the start of the year, we weren’t getting the bounces and, you know, we were kind of in a slump for a little bit. But I think now it’s coming, and we’re just looking to continue it for the rest of the year.”

The win streak has been a real confidence boost for the team, Lauer said, following a four-game losing streak.

”The guys have that winning feeling back now,” he said. “Sometimes you need to just win one game to get that feeling back.”

”I think it’s been huge for our power play, being how we’ve struggled there early in the year,” Preston said of the recent spate of success. “It’s all about the playoffs, and we know that. So, we just kind of need to get ready for a good second half.”

World juniors

The team will be without Lauer and goalie Linus Vieillard through the first week of January while they are away for the IIHF World Junior Championship in St. Paul and Minneapolis, Minnesota. Lauer is an assistant coach on Dale Hunter’s Team Canada staff, while Vieillard will play for Team Germany.

The Chiefs are off from Dec. 17-Dec. 26 for the holiday break.