Inexperience plus injuries equals inconsistency. It's a simple formula and it has defined the first two month of the Thunderbirds season. We knew last May at the Bantam Draft that the T-birds were going to be demonstrably younger this season. That's when Seattle traded away 263 games and five years worth of WHL experience to Kelowna in exchange for two first and one second round draft pick. In late August we knew they were going to be even younger still when 20 year old defenseman Jarret Tyszka, and his 213 games in the league, opted to forego his fifth and final season in the WHL. Of course Seattle also lost a combined nine plus seasons and 580 games because Nolan Volcan and Noah Philp graduated out of the program.
The question wasn't whether they were going to be a young team this season. We knew the answer to that question six months ago. It was just how young would they actually be? Well, 11 of the players who have suited up for the team this season, or approximately half the roster, had a combined 17 games of WHL experience coming into the season. Twelve of those 17 games belonged to three of those 11 players, meaning the other five games were divided among eight players which works out to .625 games of experience per player. This is a pretty green team.
A season ago Seattle carried at times, what the WHL classified as nine rookie players, but two of those were a then 18 year old goalie named Roddy Ross, who came on the second half of the season after the trade of Liam Hughes, and 18 year forward Graeme Bryks. Seventeen year old Cody Savey was another of those rookies but he was injured most of the season and only got into 18 games. 17 year old rookie goalie Cole Schwebius was the backup to, first Hughes and then, Ross. 17 year old defenseman Zach Ashton, like Ross, joined the team via trade at the halfway point. Heck, even then 19 year old Import Andrej Kukuca was considered a rookie by WHL standards because it was his first year in the league. In reality though, the T-birds had a core group a season ago of five rookies: 16 year olds Payton Mount, Ty Bauer and Jared Davidson and 17 year olds Simon Kubicek and Cade McNelly and Kubicek and McNelly with late birthdays, didn't hit 17 until well after the season started. Because they had a smaller rookie group Matt O'Dette was able to give that group consistent ice time. They were rarely not in the lineup.
Fast forward to this season and the T-birds have had only one "older" rookie, 18 year old Michael Horon and he has since been traded to Prince Albert. The rest of this year's group are 16 and 17 year old first year players. It includes three affiliated players, one a 15 year old and two 16 year olds, that they've had to put into the lineup for a combined 10 games due to injuries, suspensions and tournaments. Even subtracting those four player from the group Seattle still has eight rookies on the roster and they all need ice time. What complicates it further is that six of those eight are forwards. Four of those six forwards are 16 year olds. By league rule 16 year olds must play a certain percentage of games or they must be reassigned to either Junior A or Midget level teams. In order to get those four into the required number of games, O'Dette and his staff have to rotate players in and out of the lineup. That rotation will be further complicated once 16 year old winger Mekai Sanders is healthy enough to make his debut in a couple of weeks.
Why carry so many rookies? Well, GM Bil LaForge told me if you're good enough to play at this level at 16, you'll be here because he believes it's better for the hockey development of those players. Every shift at this level is a brand of experience that can't be duplicated down a level. They are practicing every day against WHL players and those practices get them further engrossed in the T-birds systems. It's also a quicker acclimation to the grind of the 68-game WHL season. More importantly it develops a bond among that group that will be important when they are the core group of this team in two and three years. The Barzal-Bear-Kolesar-True-Eansor-Ottenbreit group didn't become champions overnight. They played, worked and lived together for three seasons before reaching the pinnacle of WHL success. I'm not saying this current young group is destined to follow in their footsteps and raise a banner, but that's the goal and if the formula worked before, it can work again.
But it tells you that right now, today, Seattle has a very young bottom six forward group. Not that their top six is very veteran laden as, outside the three 20 year olds, the T-birds only have one healthy 19 year old winger (Keltie Jeri-Leon) and two 18 year olds (Henrik Rybinski and Alex Morozoff). And I don't care how talented or how huge the upside of those young forwards might be, they are still teenage rookies. They are still maturing physically. There is a significant difference physically between a 16 year old teenager and a 20 year old man. Look no further then the T-birds captain, Wedman. Remember him at age 16? He was a gangly, all arms and legs, 6'1," and 175 lbs. Now, at age 20 he is 6'3", 210 lbs and one of the strongest player in the WHL. At 16 you could probably knock him off his skates with a feather. At age 20 he's a brick wall.
It takes time to develop these players. That is why they call the WHL a development league. You're not just developing their hockey skills but developing them physically as well, by teaching them proper workout and nutrition habits. Assistant coach Kyle Hagel isn't just helping them with the Xs and Os of the game. He's in the gym supervising their workouts. He's helping them put together a diet plan. But their youth is why this team, consisting of 11 players age 17 and younger, can occasionally get knocked around the ice by a team laden with nine to ten players age 19 and older as was the case Wednesday in Kamloops against a team featuring nine players in that older age group. It's why this young team can outplay an older team for most of 60 minutes like they did against Kelowna Friday night and still lose, 3-2. Who set up that win for the Rockets? 19 year old first and second round NHL draft picks. Experience matters in the WHL.
Which brings us to the second "I", injuries. Yeah, yeah, I can hear it now, stop using injuries as an excuse. It's not an excuse, it is a fact of life in the world of sports at all levels. And the fact of the matter is, through the first 22 games of the season injuries, suspensions and NHL training camp have cost the T-birds 26 game and counting just in their veteran forward group alone.
Out of sight sometimes means out of mind. We forget the T-birds have played the first two months of the season and will play quite a bit more without 19 year old winger Tyler Carpendale. Carpendale was injured in the Everett preseason tournament and has not played since. He was penciled in to be a top six forward, probably a top three. You might look at at his career numbers and wonder why the T-birds believe he is such a missing piece from their lineup. In 81 career games he has 27 points (9g, 18a). But one more 19 year old forward in the lineup means one less rookie is relied on to eat up minutes. Carpendale is also a strong, physical presence. he is willing to go to the net. And age 19 is when players usually have a breakout season. Injuries have plagued Carpendale's T-birds career but when he is in the lineup, it's a plus for the T-birds.
A short term injury to Ty Bauer and a long term injury to Cade McNelly, severely hampered an already young defensive group. It also forced Seattle to make a couple of early season trades just to bring in a couple of players to fill the void. It meant they had to spend some draft/prospect capital they weren't planning to spend. With that group healthy on the weekend for the first time since the second game of the season, the T-birds surrendered just five goals over two games.
And long term injuries have hampered or delayed the development of a couple of rookies. Matt Rempe missed 15 games while Sanders is still waiting to get on the ice. Recent injuries and invites to the U-17 Tournament meant Seattle had to bring in more youth to fill the void in the absence of Conner Roulette, Kai Uchacz and Lucas Ciona. In all the T-birds have lost well over 70 man games to injuries this season. It all adds up to an inconsistent level of play and a 7-12-2-1 record through 22 games.
My T-bird Three Stars for the week, a busy stretch of four games in five nights:
Third Star: W Brendan Williamson. He may not be piling up points with just three assists in 20 games on the year, but he is starting to remind me of Scott Eansor with the way he hustles from end to end. He is becoming the team's best penalty killer. Love how he gets pucks in deep and gets right on the forecheck. Robbed of his first goal Friday against Kelowna you get a feeling that first one is coming.
Second Star: W Keltie Jeri-Leon. With four goals in his last seven games, he now has the goal scoring lead on the team with eight in 22 games. That equals his goal total from a season ago when he potted eight in 74 games between the T-birds and Lethbridge. What I like best about his game right now is that he is putting the puck on net every chance he gets, no hesitation. Can't score if you don't shoot. A lesson some of his teammates need to follow.
First Star: F Conner Bruggen-Cate. The 20 year old stepped up in the absence of the suspended Wedman to deliver leadership and four points on a goal and three assists, playing in all situations. After a slow star he now has points in six of his last seven games. He plays with grit, never does anything but hustle, providing an example to the young players of the right way to play.
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