Playing four games in five nights is taxing. It gets even more so when you are minus players to injuries. It becomes even more difficult when those missing players are your relied upon point producers. No one recommends playing four games in five nights under any circumstances but it is a fact of life in the WHL that from time to time you go through a few of those. Building availability, travel and a few other itmes factor in. You play the hand you're dealt.
You could probably have guessed Seattle was going to have a young, rookie filled roster this season. What you could not have predicted were long term injuries to the team's top three returning offensive weapons: Nico Myatovic, Jordan Gustafson and Gracyn Sawchyn.
Gustafson has played just two games in his WHL career against the Saskatoon Blades. He's probably hoping he never has to face them again (It would only happen if he returns next season as a 20 year old). Last January early in a game in Saskatoon he fell awkwardly to the ice, after a check from his brother Blake no less, and suffered an injury that cost him most of the second half of last season and the first 12 games this year.
Finally back in the lineup again this season and the Blades are in town Friday. What happens? He blocks a shot and suffers another injury that puts him back on the shelf. What are those old country song lyrics? If it weren't for bad luck, I'd have no luck at all.
It's too bad because I believe Gustafson would have received an invite to Team Canada's World Junior team training camp with a chance to earn a spot on the roster. He was involved in their team meetings this past summer. He could still be invited so let's hope this injury is a quick heal.
Unfortunately the injury suffered by Myatovic in early October won't be healed in time for him to fight for a spot with Team Canada. Literally a tough break because I think he'd have been a perfect third or fourth line player for Canada, similar to Reid Schaefer's role last year.
Will Scott Ratzlaff get an invite? Like Gustafson he was part of Canada's summer meetings. Don't let his numbers fool you. Yes, he had a poor start to the season but he has settled down and looked terrific in goal the last couple of weeks. He's keeping a young, inexperienced team in a lot of games recently.
I counted nearly 140 shots on goal for Seattle in the four games last week. They scored just five times on those shots and one of those was an empty netter. That's a Mendoza line shooting percentage of 2.85 percent. Is there some bad luck involved there? Sure, but the biggest culprit for me is a lack of a net front presence and I think that correlates with the young roster.
I'm guessing many of these young forwards never had to stand in front of the net very often in their minor days, asked to take a goalies eyes off the puck. Most were probably one of the better players on their minor team and are used to having the puck on their stick, shooting and having the puck go in. Give them time to acclimate to that role.
I remember Schaefer's first training camp with Seattle back in 2018. He was flying up and down the ice scoring lots of goals in the scrimmages. By the time he left Seattle he had become a reliable player around the front of the net.
The T-Birds went just 1-3 in their four games this past week but there were times in all four games where they controlled the play and in three of the four games they were in a position to get something out of the contest by the third period. It's why I say this young team is both impressive and frustating to watch, all at the same time.
It's hard, coming off a championship season, to be patient but that's what we're going to have to be as they go through growing pains. I think the same thing happened in the pandemic season of 2021. Remember that was just a 23 game season, not 68, so we tend to forget the similarities to this year. But Seattle went 10-12-1-0 that year and many of those twelve losses were similar in nature to some of the losses the T-Birds have suffered so far this season. A year later Seattle was playing for a WHL title.
Injuries affect every team but they'll have a bigger impact on a younger, rookie laden roster. A season ago Seattle could survive four players away at Workd Juniors, a Gustafson injury, or waiting for Colton Dach to heal up because they had plenty of experienced depth. They don't have that this season.
What they do have is a deep group of young players that will develop together and while it may not look like it from one game to the next, they are getting better with each shift and every practice. For a young team practice time has immense value and when you play four games in five nights, you don't get that practice.
Their youth has probably cost them a couple of wins so far, but I actually think the injuries have been the bigger factor. With everyone in the lineup Seattle is probably four or five wins better than their current .500 record. Keep that in mind as we approach the trade deadline. I know there are some out there who want to trade away any player of value but when Seattle gets healthy, keeping this team together might be the better option. I'm not saying they won't deal, but I wouldn't be surprised if the didn't.
My T-Birds Three Stars for the final two games of four in five nights:
Third Star: D Sawyer Mynio. Seattle is relying on Mynio and Jeremy Hanzel to eat up a lot of minutes on the back end. They're handling the workload quite well. Mynio can be both physical and finesse. I think he gets called on too many borderline penatlies.Some are warranted, other are not. He's been a very good skater from almost the day he arrived. He wants to be more offensive and we're starting to see him shoot more. His power play goal Saturday in Kelowna was a beauty.
Second Star: W Simon Lovsin. In one shift Saturday against the Rockets we saw the package Lovsin brings to the table. Physicality, speed and offensive touch. Remember he's still a rookie. He's got more physical maturity to attain. He can be a Reid Schaefer or Lucas Ciona type player for Seattle.
First Star: G Scott Ratzlaff. Ratzlaff bailed out his team on more than one occasion on the weekend and was the primary reason the T-Birds could hang around into the third period in both games. It isn't necessarily the amount of rubber he's facing, though he did face quite a lot Saturday. It's the quality of chances he's facing and stopping that makes him stand out. He has a tremendous competitve fire.
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