Slow Out of the Gates

I'm not going to read too much into the Thunderbirds opening weekend because this isn't the team yet, that will be on the ice for most of the season. Seattle is still missing seven regular players who are either away at NHL camps (4) or injured (3).  And it could be eight players because I believe at some point the T-Birds will look to fill that third and final 20 year old slot.

Opening night both the Thunderbirds and Vancouver Giants were missing players. Niether team had a significant roster advantage. Maybe a slight nod to Vancouver that got back a player from NHL camp in time for the game. That player just so happened to score the game winning goal. Otherwise, it was a competitive game and the Giants prevailed. Saturday in Wenatchee they faced a Wild team that was complete; no missing players, no significant injuries.

I'm also not going to say that we should accept that result againt the Wild because of a "built in" excuse. It's one thing to lose if you play your best. It's another to come up short because the effort wasn't there. Despite what Seattle was missing from their lineup against the Wild, had they put in a similar effort to the game the night before agaisnt Vancouver, they could have put themselves in a position to complete for a win.

Hopefully some of those seven absent players begin to trickle back.  Thank about it though, Seattle will be replacing one third of their game night roster when every one is back. Instead of playing 11 rookies, it will be just four.

Ten of Seattle's top 11 scorers from last season didn't play opening weekend. Now many of those players aren't returning, they've moved on to the pro or collegiate ranks. But players like Nathan Pilling, Simon Lovsin, Sawyer Mynio, Antonio Martorana and Matej Pekar will be counted on to supply offensive punch when they become available. Arjun Bawa will add some size and grit and fit into the top nine forward group. Scott Ratzlaff will lock down the crease. By contrast both Vancouver and Wenatchee had a number of returning point producers in their opening night lineups and guess what happened? They produced.

The T-Birds scored just four goals on the weekend. They came courtesy of a 16 year old rookie (Colton Gerrior) and two second year 17 year olds (Kazden Mathies and Kaleb Hartmann). They need some of the older players to chip with the offense. Problem is, there aren't a lot of veteran options at the moment. Seattle entered the weekend with the youngest roster statistically in the WHL, with an average age of 17.61. fifteen of the players listed on their roster going into the opening weekend are age 17 and under.  Six of the 12 players age 18 and older weren't available.

So let's hold off judegement on this team until we see how they perform when everyone is back and available.

A Fresh Start

The five game preseason schedule is now behind us. The Thunderbirds posted a 2-3 record, giving their young players as much ice time as possible. Next up the regular season which gets underway Friday, Spetember 20th up in Langley, BC against the Vancouver Giants.

The goal this season is to return to the playoffs. The T-Birds came up short of a postseason birth last season, finishing ninth in the Western Conference, with only the top eight teams advancing. It was the first time Seattle missed the WHL Playoffs (non-Covid) since the 2011-12 season.

Not to dwell too much on last season but it was a T-Birds team that needed everything to go right. They were coming off their 2023 league title and lost a majority of that championship roster. They had a young, inexperienced lineup that needed their veterans to pull a lot of the weight. Unfortunately the thing that couldn't happen if they were to have a successful season did happen. Their veteran leaders took the brunt of the 200 man games lost to injury. 

Specifically. Seattle lost two players, Jordan Gustafson and Nico Myatovic, for the majority of the season. Those two players were going to be counted upon to drive the T-Birds offense. Their absence is one of the reason the T-Birds ended the 2023-24 season with the second fewest goals scored scored in the WHL with 191. Only Kamloops, with 180, scored fewer.

I bring it up because once again, the Thunderbirds are going to have another young roster. Once again they are going to have to find ways to manufacture offense. Their best point producer from last season, Jeremy Hanzel, has graduated out of the program as did their third and fourth leading scorers Eric Alarie and Sam Popowich. Their leading returning point producer is '05 defenseman Sawyer Mynio, who put up 53 points (16g, 37a). Their leading returning goal scorer is '07 forward Antonio Martorana who potted 17 ('04 forward Nathan Pilling had 18 goals a season ago but only 13 as a T-Bird). Martorana became the first 16 year old to lead the T-Birds in goal scoring since some guy named Patrick Marleau did it back in the 1995-96 season, but Marleau did it by scoring 33.

The Thunderbirds roster could feature as many as 16 players under the age of 18. Now, a number of those players, five of the 17 year olds, got a full season of WHL action under their belts last season, but they are still young by WHL standards and it still potentially leaves a roster featuring 12 rookies.

The T-Birds roster has only seven players age 19 or over and one of those, William Huo, is considered a WHL rookie. 19 year old Arjun Bawa, obtained in a trade last May from Prince George, has played just 118 games in his WHL career and he is currently dealing with an injury and may not be ready for the start of the season. At the moment the team is carrying only two 20 year olds in Pilling and defenseman Owen Boucher. At some point you have to think they'll look to fill that last overage spot either through a trade or waiver wire pick up.

Seattle has yet to see Import Matej Pekar. As I understand it, the '07 forward from Czechia is working through an injury he suffered this summer.  The T-Birds are still hopeful that at some point they might see their other Import selection, '07 D-man Radim Mrtka. But Mrtka, considered a possible late first round pick in next summer's NHL Draft, is talented enough that he is being given the chance to compete for a roster spot with one of the top pro men's teams in Czechia.

So once again, Seattle will be in a dogfight for one of those eight Western Conference playoff spots. They'll have to (knock on wood) avoid injuries. They can't afford to lose another 200 games again.  They have some young players, like Martorana, Braeden Cootes. Nishaan Parmar and Simon Lovsin, who are capable of producing offense. They'll need '05 Coster Dunn to rediscover the offensive game he found last January just before an injury cut his season short. Pilling is a shoot first veteran who is capable of 20-plus goals. Mynio is one of the best offensive defensemen in the WHL. The opportunity is there, the players just need to grab it.

The Thunderbirds won their first championship in 2017 with a team built around the 2012 WHL Draft. They won their second title six year later in 2023, but it was the 2018 draft that set up that 2023 club for success.  Can their 2024 Draft, coming one season after their most recent title, set them up for success again?  

The T-birds have already signed eight players from that draft to WHL Education and Development contracts. The player Seattle chose in the first round this past spring, Brock England, seems like he is going to be a special talent. But championships aren't built around one player. The T-Birds have now signed 24 players from their last three draft years to include U.S. Prospects Drafts and Import Drafts. 

While there are only so many spots available on a roster, that's more than enough players to battle each other for those roster spots. Iron sharpens iron. 

PLAYER TO WATCH: I'm intrigued by Arjun Bawa. the 19 year old left winger is a former second round pick of the Red Deer Rebels, so at one point he was condidered a top prospect. He's yet to play a full season in the WHL. In 118 games in the league he's registered just 16-points (7g, 9a). Before he got hurt during a recent scrimmage, I thought he was having a strong training camp.  He plays a physical brand and at 6'2" he has the size to do it. It's possible he's just a late bloomer. Let's hope he's ready to break out. Definitley worth taking a flyer on as it only cost Seattle Oscar Lovsin, who isn't even on the Prince George roster, to acquire him.