Will Milic Magic Disappear?

Scott Billeck is a sports writer for the Winnipeg Sun. He covers a lot of the action in Winnipeg, from the NHL Jets to the Manitoba Moose of the AHL and, until his month, the Winnipeg ICE of the WHL. I had the chance to meet Scott in person when the T-Birds were in Winnipeg back in  May, playing the ICE in the WHL Championship Series.  

He came to interview the T-Birds Brad Lambert, The Jets 2022 first round draft pick who had played the first half of last season in Winnipeg with the Moose. Scott came across as a friendly matter-of-fact reporter. A straight shooter as they say. 

So when he posted a tweet yesterday, after the 2023 NHL Draft concluded in Nashville, regarding what the Jets plans could be for Thomas Milic, I took notice.

Of course, as we all know by now, Winnipeg selected Milic in the fifth round of the draft.  Billeck posted the following:  "G Thomas Milic (5th round pick) will turn pro next season, Mark Hillier, #NHLJets director of scouting, told reporters in Nashville."

I have no reason to do anything but take Hillier seriously. So, if that's the case, Milic has played his last game as a Thunderbird. Now, there is always the possibility that, after NHL free agency and training camp Hillier and the Jets change their minds and send Milic back to the Junior ranks. As a 20-year old, he has one more year of eligibility left at this level. The reality is, Milic has nothing left to prove at this level.

Maybe the only question then is where does Milic begin his pro career? Do the Jets put him in Winnipeg on the roster of the AHL Moose? Do they stick him somewhere in the ECHL? I don't believe the Jets have an ECHL affiliate but they can always make arrangements to find him a spot with an ECHL team.

Personally, I'd prefer if he could avoid the ECHL. It can be a graveyard for players trying to push their way up through the pro ranks towards the NHL. If he can't stick with the AHL Moose, he might be better served back in the WHL, whether that's with Seattle or another team. But there is another part of me that says I'd rather not see him in another WHL jersey. That his first and last game in the WHL and every game in between was as a T-Bird.

Which brings up another question. Where does Milic rank among goalies in franchise history? Let's start by saying as far as Thunderbirds playoff goalies, there is no one better.  He has nearly double the postseason wins (30) as the next guy on the list, Carl Stankowski (16), the only other goalie in T-bird history to backstop the franchise to a WHL Championship. 

His postseason goals against average of 2.14 is second only to Landon Bow (1.96) among goalies who played in a minimum of 15 playoff games (Bow played in 18 postseason games with the Thunderbirds). His .927 playoff save percentage is also second only to Bow and his .929. And no one has more postseason shutouts in T-Birds history than Milic and his three.

But what about regular season goalies? Where does Milic stack up against them in franchise history?  It's hard to compare because of different eras.  Back in the 1980s and '90s things were a little more wide open and there was much more offense. Back then, goalies with GAA well above 3.00 were considered elite. Danny Lorenz won 99 games in goal for Seattle with a career GAA of 4.78

Meanwhile, in his T-Birds tenure, Milic also shared the crease with another pretty good netminder in his own right, Scott Ratzlaff. That, along with World Juniors participation and the Covid pandemic limited Milic to just 91 regular season games over his four year career in Kent. As a result Milic was in goal for 5,376 regular season minutes as a Thunderbird.

By comparison, Calvin Pickard played 241 games in net for Seattle and is the all-time franchise leader in minutes played with 14,025. Lorenz got into 224 games and Doug Bonner was between the pipes in 176 games for the Thunderbirds. Cory Rudkowsky and Ken Hodges all played well over 100 regulars season games in goal for Seattle.

So here is where Milic ranks in franchise history in a number of categories among Thunderbirds goalies:

Wins

1.    Lorenz         99     (224 games)

2.    Pickard        91     (241 games)

3.    Bridges        74     (138 games)

4.    Rudkowsky  73    (159 games)

5.    Milic             66    (91 games)

Goals Against Average (Minimum 40 games)

1.    Yeomans            2.12 (55 games)

2.    Bridges              2.35 (138 games)                    

2.    Milic                 2.35 (91 games)

4.    Kozun               2.40 (84 games)     

5.    Helenius            2.43 (41 games)

Save Percentage (Minimum 40 Games)

1.    Kozun            .922 (84 games)

2.    Milic             .917 (91 games)

3.    Yeomans        .917 (55 games)

4.    Helenius        .915 (41 games)

5.    Bridges            .914 (138 games)

Shutouts

1. Bridges         20

2. Pickard         12

3. Kozun          8

4. Milic            8

5. DeSerres      7

So, if indeed, Milic's Thunderbirds career is over, I think it is safe to rank him as one of the best, if not the best goalie in franchise history. I think it's close between he and Bryan Bridges. Both are at or near the top of so many goaltending categories. But I would give the edge to Milic who has a World Junior Gold Medal, a WHL Playoff MVP award as well as an Ed Chynoweth Cup. Additionally, he has three of the franchise's four wins in Memorial Cup play.  

The Pick is in

 How do you top off a record setting season that saw you win your second Ed Chynoweth Cup? Why you have six of your players selected in the NHL Entry Draft.  Six for six as all six T-Birds rated by NHL Central Scouting were picked in the draft held in Nashville.

Technically, Seattle had six of ten players eligible for the 2023 draft chosen. This was Ashton McNelly's last year of eligibility.  Same for Mekai Sanders and Sam Popowich. It was the first year of eligibility for Coster Dunn.  The first three were never listed by Central Scouting. The pandemic, injuries, size, limited number of games, those are all factors for them. I'll be curious to see if any of that trio of older players gets an invite to an NHL development camp this summer. They are now free agents and while not drafted, they will, if they want to, find opportunities to play professional hockey, whether in North America or overseas, at some point in the future.

As for Dunn, to me he falls into that "limited viewing" category you often see on player rankings. He just played on a very, very deep team, which limited his opportunities to showcase his game.  I consider him an unofficial "late birthday" type player. His 18-year old season will be more important than his 17-year old season.  He's similar in that way to Reid Schaefer and Nico Myatovic. LIke thos two, Dunn was not a high WHL draft pick, taken in the 7th round of 2020. Dunn is going to get plenty of ice time though next season to see if he can grab the attention of the scouts the way Schaefer did in 2021-22 and Myatovic did this past season.

I'm buying Dunn as someone who will make enought noise to get noticed, if not next year, then the year after.  Why? Because the same guy who told me Schaefer would get selected high in his draft (one season removed from a zero goal campaign), the same guy who  told me Jared Davidson was going to be one of the best twenty-year olds in the WHL (When Davey was still an unknown sixteen year old camp invite), the same guy who told me in February that Myatovic and Sawyer Mynio wouldn't last past the third round of the NHL Draft this year, that guy told me Dunn has all the tools to join the list of recent T-Birds NHL draft picks.

Who is that guy who told me all those things? T-Birds GM Bil LaForge.  And if I'm an NHL scout I'm trusting LaForge's track record enough to pay attention to Dunn and how he develops over the next two years. Look at the number of players the T-Birds have had drafted recently, not in their first year of draft eligibility but in their second or third go 'round: Matthew Wedman, Henrik Rybinski, Davidson, Thomas Milic and Jeremy Hanzel.  All of that happening after LaForge arrived on the scene.  

It's amazing to think that when we look back on the T-Birds 2023 WHL Championship team four or five years from now, we could be looking at a roster that, in the end was comprised of between sixteen and twenty-one NHL draft picks.  I'd be shocked if defensemen Bryce Pickford and Hyde Davidson aren't somewhere on NHL Central Scoutings "One to Watch" list for the 2024 NHL Draft that will come out next September. Former T-Bird, now Kelowna Rocket, Tij Iginla will most assuredly be on that list as well.  Seattle's hockey staff is unbelievabely high on Braeden Cootes who isn't draft eligible until 2025.

So, while the 2023 season may be over, the last chapter of this team's exploits has not yet been written.

Strange similarities to the draft stories of Reid Schaefer and Nico Myatovic.  Both are mid to late round draft picks by the Thunderbirds.  Schaefer was an eighth round pick by Seattle in the 2018 WHL Prospects Draft.  His first "full" season with the T-birds was the pandemic shortened 2020-21 campaign, playing in just 18 of the 23 games. A late birthday, he wasn't eligible for the NHL Draft until 2022.    He gets selected 32nd overall by Edmonton, the last pick of the first round.

Myatovic was a sixth round pick of the T-Birds in the 2019 WHL Prospects Draft. His first "full" season was the pandemic shortened 2020-21 campaign, although he wasn't orginally on the roster, he was called up and played 12 of the 23 games. He too was a late birthday so he wasn't eligible for the NHL Draft until 2023.  This week he was selected 33rd overall, the first pick of the second round, by the Anaheim Ducks. 

There were lots of feel good stories involving the Thunderbirds players at the NHL Draft this week in Nashville.  Myatovic being the top pick of the second round and going ahead of a slew of WHL  players that most pundits had rated ahead of him is one. Sawyer Mynio going from unranked by Central Scouting when the season began to a third round pick of Vancouver is right up there.  Of course Jeremy Hanzel getting his name called by Colorado in the sixth rounds is shades of Jared Davidson last year when he was taken in the fifth round by Montreal.

But no story is better than the Thomas Milic story. Overlooked in the previous two NHL Drafts despite doing nothing but winning. Backstopping Canada to Gold at the World Juniors this winter.  Being the WHL Playoff MVP as Seattle claimed the Chynoweth Cup. A 30-14 playoff record the past two seasons.  Yet all it seemed anyone could see was his height, or lack thereof.

I almost felt it would be better for him to go undrafted, become a free agent, That way he'd be in charge and get to pick what team he wanted to go to.  But there's nothing like hearing your mane called from that stage on draft day. He deserved it. I can only imagine the excitement within him on hearing the Winnipeg Jets make that selection!  Milic Magic! 

Setting the Standard

The 2022-23 Seattle Thunderbirds may have come one win shy of their ultimate goal, but make no mistake, this is the best team in franchise history, the gold standard by which all other T-Birds teams will be measured. They set records, both individually and as a team.  They got further than any previous team in club annals.  

No disrespect, but the Memorial Cup can be a huge buzz kill if you get there but don't win it. No team that wins it's league championship should be made to feel like failures by not winning that storied trophy. The Thunderbirds are WHL Champions, the Peterborough Petes are OHL Champions. Losing at the Memorial Cup unnecessarily rubs too much of the luster off of that accomplishment for both teams. 

Opinions on this will vary but the Memorial Cup isn't the hardest trophy to win in Junior hockey. It might in fact, be the easiest.  It takes sixteen wins over the course of two months of gruelling playoffs, with lots of travel, to win the Chynoweth Cup. You have to beat four very good opponents four times.  It can take as few as three wins over ten days while playing at the same venue to win the Memorial Cup. You could lose to a team 5-0 in the round robin and then beat them 2-1 in overtime in the final and be a Memorial Cup winner. You can win three games and win the tournament. You can win three games and lose the tournament. 

The Memorial Cup is prestigious. It has over one hundred years of history, but to me the Memorial Cup tournament is more of a celebration than a coronation. It's a ten day hockey festival with concerts and other events around the games. It's a chance to gather with fans of the three CHL leagues and share your common interest. It's a way to honor three CHL champions while showcasing a CHL city. Do you want to win it? Of course you do. But not winning it shouldn't be a gut punch.  

Does this seem like sour grapes because the Thunderbirds came up short of hoisting that trophy? Maybe it does.  But I've now been to two Memorial Cups, attending or watching every game, and I've never felt like it's a playoff to determine a CHL Champion.  It just doesn't have the same intensity as a best of seven playoff series.  It just feels more like a reward for winning your league title. Like, "Hey, you just won the Ed Chynoweth Cup, what are you going to do next?" And you respond, "I'm going to Kamloops!" or "I'm going to Saginaw to meet up with a couple of thousand friends!"

Having said all that, I still want the Thunderbirds to win the damn thing!  

I saw a Thunderbirds fan tweet out that Jared Davidson should be remembered as an all-time T-Birds great. A lot of times we say things in the moment, then we give it some time to offer a better analysis and reassess our original thought.  

Here's what I think. After the game Sunday against Quebec, Davidson sat for the longest time outside the T-Birds room. His ankle was heavily taped. he had suffered a high ankle sprain earlier in the WHL playoffs. He literally played most of the postseason on one good leg.  

Eventually he went inside the room and showered.  When he came back out he grabbed his jersey and pulled it back on.  He got on the bus and rode the six hours back to the accesso ShoWare Center with that #29 jersey on his back. When he left the rink in the wee hours of Monday morning, he was still wearing it. He just didn't want to take it off, knowing that when he did, it would be for the last time. 

Being a Thunderbird meant something to him. It was five years of his life. He was an undrafted training camp invite who got better and better with each passing season, even the two shortened Covid years. He lost at least 50 games due to the pandemic.  His career numbers would be so much more if not for that. But it isn't just the goals and the assists, it was the face off wins, the penalty kills. It was the puck battles won. It was the leadership and the dedication.  

When you talk about all-time greats in franchise history, you start with the Marleau's, the Barzal's and the Goodall's, but there is definitely room on that list for Jared Davidson.

The Thunderbirds will say goodbye to, at a minimum, eight players from this record-setting roster. They'll also say goodbye to their Director of Player Personnel. Cal Filson has basically been the Thunderbids top scout for the past decade.  His fingerprints are all over the rosters of Seattle's two WHL Championship teams.  In late May he accepted a position as a scout with the NHL's Chicago Blackhawks.  

What I appreciate about Cal is his enthusiasm for his job.  He loves to talk about the young players he helped bring into the organization. He's honest in his assessment but he'll be their number one booster.  We'll continue to cross paths but he will be sorely missed.  I hope he gives the Blackhawks a good scouting report on that Bedard kid!