Young but deep, experienced Spokane Chiefs embark on new season with lofty expectations

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.

To do that, a still-young roster will have to grow seamlessly into several vacated positions of production and leadership.

“We’re much, much more mature – on and off the ice,” Chiefs coach Brad Lauer said after practice at Eagles Ice Arena on Wednesday. “But saying that doesn’t mean it results in wins. You’ve still got to go out and understand the system and make sure you work hard and do the things that we want to do as a team.”

The Chiefs begin the new season with back-to-back road games against Kelowna and Kamloops on Friday and Saturday before the home opener on Sept. 27 against Tri-City at the newly-renamed Numerica Veterans Arena.

The Canadian Hockey League released its preseason rankings on Tuesday, and the Chiefs checked in at No. 3 overall – the top Western Hockey League team to appear in the rankings.

“It’s flattering. It’s nice that they recognize us as that,” Chiefs general manager Matt Bardsley said. “I think probably coming off the season we had last year and the returning guys, that’s where that comes from. But right now, our focus is just getting our guys ready and better every single day, and we’re not really concerned about the rankings.”

“What I like about our group is with the depth that we have on our hockey team we can move lines around,” Lauer said. “I think we can move guys up and down, and still have a good, balanced lineup.”

The preseason ranking comes with high expectations, especially since the Chiefs won the WHL Western Conference before falling in the finals in five games to Medicine Hat.

But the 20 players that lace up on Friday won’t be the same 20 that took on the Tigers in May. Nor, for that matter, with they be the same 20 that will head out on their annual eastern swing in early October.

Four of the team’s top five scorers from last season – Andrew Cristall, Shea Van Olm, Brayden Crampton and Rasmus Ekström – are playing professional or college hockey. The fifth, team captain Berkly Catton, leads four others still at NHL training camps, including the team’s top three defensemen : Saige Weinstein, Will McIsaac and Nathan Mayes.

“It creates opportunities for maybe some younger players, some other players that are still trying to maybe solidify their spot on the roster,” Bardsley said. “That’s nothing we can control. I think, if anything, it’s good that those players are still getting the opportunities at the NHL camp. We talk about all those experiences that they get when they eventually come back. They get to bring that into our locker room, and I think that’s really important.”

Catton remains the team’s biggest question mark.

He had 38 goals and 71 assists in 57 games last season after getting drafted No. 8 overall by the Seattle Kraken in the 2024 NHL draft and has little to prove in junior hockey. He has a chance to make the Kraken’s opening night roster, but would have to remain on the Kraken’s NHL roster all season or be returned to the Chiefs. At 19, he’s ineligible to play minor league hockey – at least until that rule changes under the new NHL collective bargaining agreement for the 2026-27 season.

“We’re excited for (Catton) to be where he is in his journey,” Lauer said during camp in August. “Is there an opportunity for him to be back here? There is. But we always want what’s best for him. Hopefully he makes (the Kraken).

“But you don’t replace guys like him. There’s few guys like that. They don’t come around very often.”

Even without Catton, the Chiefs had a very successful preseason slate, going 4-1 and outscoring opponents 30-11 over five contests. But early in the season Lauer will still be juggling lines and working younger players into more stressful playing situations.

“Are there still some areas where we still have to experiment? Yeah, there probably is a little bit,” Lauer said. “But for the most part, we got a good look and a good evaluation of everybody in preseason. Yes, there’s guys at (NHL) training camp, but every team has them. Guys are going to have to play ‘up’ in the lineup right now until guys come back.”

Despite their success last season, the Chiefs were one of the youngest teams in the league, regularly dressing five or six 16-year-olds. Those players will take on a lot more responsibility, especially early in the season. There’s only one 20-year-old on the roster – forward Sam Oremba.

“Being the young team we were last year, everyone played big minutes and played in big situations. Having the type of run we had, obviously, we got a lot of experience for our young team last year,” Lauer said. “The kids we have, they’re focused and they’re working hard. We’re doing a lot of good things, but we’ve got to be ready to do it night in and night out.”

That confidence comes from having 16 players returning to a familiar system in Lauer’s second season as head coach.

“The system part of it is a little bit easier to for them to pick it up, and then also they can help the new guys along to understand what we want,” Lauer said. “We tweaked a few things here and there as a staff that we wanted to do this year, but not a lot of big changes for the way we want to play, the type of game we want to play.”