The Page is Turned

Yes, there will be quite the celebration at the Thunderbirds home opener when they raise three banners to commemorate their record setting 2022-23 championship winning season, but with training camp upon us, for all intents and purposes, we have turned the page to a new year. The 2023-24 campaign has begun.

It was another short offseason, thanks to the long postseason run and Memorial Cup.  So, it's been just a few months since we were all out on the ShoWare Center Plaza honoring last season's team.  With training camp undeway, it is a bit strange not see the familiar faces of Jared Davidson, Lucas Ciona and Reid Schaefer taping up a stick or getting treatment back in Phil Varney's training room.  

Davidson was a Thunderbird for five years, Ciona and Schaefer for four years each.  It seems like just yesterday they were putting on the T-Birds colors for the first time. But, like so many before them they've moved on, making room for new, young faces to take their place.

So what should we expect from the 2023-24 team?  A lot of offense has moved out with the departure of the three just mentioned plus players like Kyle Crnkovic, Dylan Guenther and Brad Lambert. Those six players contributed 154 goals last season. The T-birds are going to have to find ways to manufacture offense.

They do have 30-goal scorer Nico Myatovic returning along with 18-goal scorer Gracyn Sawchyn.  But they're going to have to make do, at least for the first month of the season without another returning offensive weapon, Jordan Gustafson.  As you know Gus missed a good chunk of the second half of last season with an upper body injury.  He got back into the lineup late in the playoffs but was nowhere near 100-percent.  

The good news is that almost as soon as the team arrived back from the Memorial Cup, he had surgery, so he's already three months into his rehab.  The bad news is he still has at least two more months to go so we're probably not going to see him on the ice until early November.

Where can Seattle make up some of that lost offense? Well they can get some of it from their back end.  The T-birds boast some very good offensive defenseman and Kevin Korchinski, Jeremy Hanzel and Sawyer Mynio can all improve their offensive output. Bryce Pickford showed flashes from the backend last season as well and that has continued in training camp.  

But there are also young forwards who will see increased roles on this season's team that can pick up some of the slack too. From watching the early camp scrimmages it looks like players such as Coster Dunn, Nishaan Parmar and Simon Lovsin are primed to contibute full time.

The reality though is that the T-birds will not be the offensive juggernaut they were on their run to the Chynoweth Cup. Good team defense and strong goaltending are going to have to be their hallmarks this season. The good news is those elements have been part of their arsenal for the last decade.

On one of the T-Birds off days at the Memorial Cup in Kamloops I happened to bump into Nico Myatovic's dad, Marco, out near the merchandise tent.  We talked for about 15 minutes. Just as our conversation up in Prince George during the regular season, he was nothing but positive. It was such a shock then, to hear of his sudden passing a few weeks ago.  Condolences to Nico and his family on such a big loss.

I hope Hockey Canada gives Nico an opportunity to earn a spot on Team Canada for the upcoming IIHF World Junior Championships this winter.  We're talking about a 30-goal scorer from last season who was drafted 33rd overall into the NHL this summer by the Anaheim Ducks.  He's a terrific 200-foot player who can play in all situations. And as his playoff performance each of the past two seasons has shown, he shines under the bright lights. As a 19 year old, this is his last chance to be invited to the World Juniors, I think he's earned that chance. 

The Thunderbirds have used a lot of third round draft picks over the last decade as parts of a number of trades. So that haven't made a lot of picks in the third round of the WHL Prospects Draft.  But when they have had a third round pick, they've hit home runs with them. 

Remember Shea Theodore? Yeah, he was a third round pick. And while he chose the NCAA route and never played for the T-Birds, Layton Ahac was a third rounder by Seattle in 2016. He got drafted into the NHL by Las Vegas.  Seattle didn't have a third round pick in 2017 but in 2018 they chose some guy named Thomas Milic in Round Three of the draft. There was no third rounder in 2019 but in 2020 the Thunderbirds used their third round selection on Sawyer Mynio. 

The Mynio pick was the last time Seattle had a third round draft pick to spend. No third round selection in 2021 or 2022 and no third round pick this past spring. Until, that is, they made a deal to move up into the third round in order to pick defenseman Vanek Popil.  Watching Popil in his first training camp this week, he has a chance to continute that Thunderbird third round of the draft success.  He plays physical, he skates well and he looks to shoot the puck. He reminds me a little bit of Mynio. I had a scout tell me he has a little git of Tyrel Bauer in his game as well. 

Popil won't be eligible to be a full time T-Bird until the 2024-25 season but it will be interesting if he carries on the tradition of third round draft pick success. The potential is certainly there.