Spokane Chiefs notebook: Goalie Carter Esler off to hot start; Mathis Preston pacing division-leading offense

The Spokane Chiefs 2025-26 season is underway and they are already exhibiting some of the traits that many expect to carry them back into the Western Hockey League playoffs and challenge to be one of the best teams in the league.

The Chiefs (2-1-0-0) were ranked No. 3 in all of the Canadian Hockey League in the its preseason poll – the top WHL team on the list – and they’ve done nothing thus far to dispel that notion.

They split road games opening weekend against Kelowna and Kamloops, before returning back to newly renamed Numerica Veterans Arena on Saturday to blank their perennial rival Tri-City Americans 3-0 before a crowd of 8,032.

Spokane leads the U.S. Division in goals with 15, which is good for fifth overall in the WHL. The Chiefs are doing that without being particularly efficient on the power play, hitting at just 14.3% (1 for 7), which stands as the sixth-lowest mark in the league.

Their eight goals allowed over three games ranks tied for fourth-fewest goals allowed in the league. The penalty kill has been excellent thus far, ranking second in the WHL at 88.9% (1 of 9). The Chiefs have the fewest penalty minutes in the league with just 22 through three games.

Brick wall

Carter Esler is off to a hot start in goal. The 5-foot-10 Esler, who doesn’t turn 17 until late November, has allowed just two goals in two games, earning his first career WHL shutout Saturday , turning away 19 shots by Tri-City.

Esler leads the league in goals -against average (1.00), save percentage (.965) and shutouts and is second in wins with two.

Esler is coming off a busy summer during which he helped Team Canada earn a bronze medal in the Hlinka-Gretzky Cup in Brno, Czechia. Last season, the Okotoks, Alberta, native got into 18 games as Dawson Cowan’s understudy, going 10-6-1-0 with a 3.23 GAA and .894 save percentage.

Leading the charge

Mathis Preston is lighting it up at the start of his NHL draft year. He has scored a goal in each of the Chiefs ’ first three games and his three goals with four assists ranks him tied for third in the league in scoring with seven points.

Preston, who also played for Team Canada in Czechia over the summer, registered 23 goals with 22 assists (45 points) in his rookie campaign last season, then added nine goals and seven assists (16 points) in 20 playoff games, helping the Chiefs reach the WHL championship series.

Winger Coco Armstrong – a 19-year-old who had 12 goals in his first two WHL seasons combined – has three goals and one assist in the first two games, tied with defenseman Owen Schoettler (four assists) for second on the team in scoring.

Cavalry returns

The Chiefs picked up some key reinforcements for Saturday’s home opener, as forward Owen Martin and defensemen Will McIsaac and Nathan Mayes returned from their respective NHL camps. Martin and McIsaac both had goals in the 3-0 win over the Americans.

Martin, who was a third-round pick of the Winnipeg Jets last year, had 13 goals and 21 assists (34 points) in 39 games last season, which was cut short for him due to injury. He added six goals and six assists in 20 playoff games.

McIsaac (fifth round, St. Louis) enjoyed a career year in scoring last season with six goals and 31 assists in 66 games. Mayes (seventh round, Toronto) had six goals and 21 assists last season.

Missing piece

The big question around the Chiefs is when – or if – captain Berkly Catton will return from his assignment with the Seattle Kraken. The No. 8 overall pick in the 2025 NHL draft has played in four of the Kraken’s five preseason games thus far and is under serious consideration to make the team, especially considering the injury that will keep veteran forward Kaapo Kakko out of the lineup at the start of the season.

At 19, Catton can play nine games for the Kraken and still be returned to Spokane for the remainder of the WHL season under the NHL-CHL transfer agreement.

The 5-10, 179-pound center has little left to prove at the major junior level, where he’s coming off back-to-back 100-point seasons (38 goals, 71 assists in just 57 games 2024-25). But 19-year-old players are not eligible to play in the minor-league farm system under current age limits, and the Kraken may feel Catton needs another year of maturity .