Home is Where the Heart is

The Thunderbirds are halfway through their season longest six game homestand and are 2-0-1-0, earning five of six points.  In fact, the T-Birds are 4-0-2-0 in their last six home games and overall are 6-2-2-0 in ten games so far this season at the accesso ShoWare Center. 

Seattle is set to play eight of their next 12 games on home ice. Currently, they sport a .700 winning percentage at the ShoWare Center.  If they can continue that .700 winning percentage, that would be almost six more wins at home before Christmas, somewhere along the lines of 5-1-2 over those eight games. It would give them the opportunity to go into the break above .500. 

The T-Birds have scored 29 goals at home in their last six home games, or an average about five goals per game in that stretch.  On the other end, Seattle is allowing on average just slightly over two goals against over those same six games.  Shots for are up, shots against are down.  Just about every metric is pointing in the right direction...at home.  

Somehow, some way, the Thunderbirds need to be able to bring that home ice success with them on the road.  As good as their home ice winning percentage is, their road winning percentage of .250 is tied with Swift Current for second worst in the league.  Only Wenatchee struggles more on the road thad do the T-Birds. 

They're going to need to bottle up the home success soon, because coming out of the holiday break, they're going to play seven of eight on the road and those seven roads games will come one after the other. Yep, a seven game road trip and most likely without Braeden Cootes and Radim Mrtka who are most likely to be participating in the World Junior Championships for their respective countries.

That seven game road swing could be the make or break point of the season.

Three Stars for the just concluded week/weekend. The T-Birds played just one game this past weekend, after playing three in five days the previous weekend.

Third Star: D Ashton Cumby. The Chicago Blackhawks prospect has sevnen points on the season and they've all come in his last six games and four of those were picked up in his last four games, including his first goal of the season against the Vancouver Giants. Cumby entered this season with a WHL career plus/minus of -19.  This season he sits at +7.

Second Star: C/W Brock England.  He's still a 16 year old rookie but he doesn't play like one. Fastest T-Bird out on the ice and he uses that speed to create offense.  He registerd six points (2g, 4a) in his first two games since coming back from the U17 Hockey Challenge with a Gold medal. As a result he was named the WHL Rookie of the Week.

First Star: W Antonio Martorana. Marty is off to a terrific start in his thrid full season with the team after injuries slowed down at the start of his 2024-25 campaign.  On the season he is the team's tp point producer with 12 goals and 24 assistst.  Three of his goals are game winners.  He's riding a three game points streak with six points over that span (4g, 2a) and has twelve points (7g,5a) in his last seven games.

Trending in the Right Direction

That was a tough loss Saturday at home against Prince George, especially after the Thunderbirds built a two goal lead with six minutes left in the second period.  There's no solace in saying it was one of the T-Birds better efforts in a contest they lost considering some of their earlier losses have been somewhat lopsided. 

The average margin of defeat for the Seattle this season has been by close to four goals, so losing by one in overtime doesn't seem so bad, especially when you earn a point in the standings. But that's not this team's expectation. They want to win the close ones, especially on home ice and certainly when they have the lead going into the third period.  So rightly, after that loss, point or no point, they were a disappointed group postgame.

For just the second time this season the Thunderbirds held a team without a power play goal.  Doing it against the team that, coming into the game, had the most power play goals in the WHL is no small feat.  That's the good news. The bad news is they had to kill off six Cougars power plays. One of those penalty kills was late in the second and two were in the third period when Seattle is trying to protect their lead.  

In that situation you want to be playing 5-on-5 hockey, or better yet force the opponent to play desperate hockey and draw some penalties and go on the power play yourself. Instead the T-Birds penalties took away their momentum and forced them to defend too much in their own end of the ice, rather than being on the attack. Sure, killing the penalties was great but it also means your top players are spending a lot of energy at the wrong end of the ice at a critical point in the game.

That was the loss. The winFriday over Saskatoon was the best example of not getting frustrated when your work earlier in the game is not being rewarded. In games earlier in the season when that was happening, the T-Brids would start taking short cuts, they'd get off their path and the results were predictable.  Friday, they stayed true to their game plan. They kept up the forecheck. They continued to be direct with the puck, putting lots of shots on goal and jumping on second chance opportunities.

Probably the biggest difference between Friday and Saturday was the T-Birds net front presence. It was there more consistently Friday. The number of rebounds available Saturday, as opposed to Friday, was proably less. Prince George had the better goalie and D-Corps.  But there were chances there against the Cougars. It just meant Seattle had to work a little harder for them.

My T-Birds Three Stars for the Weekend.

Third Star: Grayson Malinoski G (with a slight nod to Marek Sklenicka). Both goalies gave the team a chanc to win. Malinoski kept the game close Friday until the T-Birds broke through in the third period. He's put together two straight solid efforts. After being a tough luck loser in a few of his earlier starts, he's now won two in a row.  Both goalies are young as far as starts and playing time in the WHL but if the T-Birds can't get solid starts from these two most nights, they'll be in games late. By no means are either polished products but they're trending in the right direction.

Second Star: Coster Dunn C. It's been a bit of a slow start for Dunn, yet he still has ten points (4g, 6a) in 13 games.  He hasn't hit his stride but when he starts looking like he did the second half of last season, look out.  He had three assists Friday and could have had a few more.  He is now one point from hitting 100 points for his WHL career. He's at his best when he's winning puck battles that create offense. Some of that popped through this weekend.

First Star: Antonio Martorana W. Three goals and an assist in the two games, including a game winner. He's never going to be the biggest guy on the ice but he's at his best when hunting pucks around the opposing goal, winning pucks among the bigger players. He's in the mold of a Nolan Volcan or a Sami Moilanen in that he plays bigger than he is and has a knack for scoring big goals in big moments. Well over a point per game player thus far this season (1.29) and I think he can keep that up.

Reunited and it Feels so Good

The T-Birds got the gang back together Saturday night in Prince George and it led to a 4-3 win over the Cougars and, thus a split of their two road games at the CN Centre. With Braeden Cootes back from the NHL's Vancouver Canucks and Radim Mrtka's return from the Buffalo Sabres organization, Seattle is as whole as they have been since training camp.

Of course it is not the same lineup as the T-Birds had at the end of last season when they plowed through the second half and into the playoffs.  There is no Nathan Pilling or Scott Ratzlaff, no Brayden Schuurman and no Hayden Pakkala.  It's great to have Cootes and Mrtka back but it still means other players have to step up and support them.

That happened Saturday.  Late in the game the line of Sawyer Mayes, Brayden Holberton and Colton Gerrior willed that game winning goal into the back of the net.  I believe it was the defensive pairing of Vanek Popil and Tai Riley out on the ice as well on the winning goal. The T-Birds can produce when Cootes and Mrtka aren't on the ice.  They just need to do it more consistently because going forward opposing teams are going to  try and match up their top lines against Cootes and Mrtka whenever possible.

Friday night, just as they did on Saturday night, Seattle jumped out to a two-goal lead. Friday the T-Birds couldn't hold it.  Mistakes were made, leading to PG goals and the T-Birds didn't stay on their path, losing 6-3. Saturday night the 'Birds again lost their early lead. They made a few mistakes that cost them a couple of goals.  But unlike Friday, the team stayed on their path. They didn't panic and never fell behind.  They answered the Cougars pushback with pushback of their own and pulled out the win.

One difference from Friday to Saturday? In Friday's game Seattle surrendered 41 shots.  29 of those Prince George shots came over the last two periods, including 17 in the final period of play.  Saturday the T-Birds limited the Cougars to just 22 shots the entire game. Only five of those PG shots came in the third period.  Call it the Mrtka affect. With the big D-man logging a lot of minutes, Seattle was better at blocking shots and getting the puck out of the D-zone.  

Don't discount the play of goalie Grayson Malinoski who picked up his first win of the season.  He may have only been called upon to make 19 saves but he made key saves at big moments in the game.  He's faced a lot of rubber early on this season and suffered some tough luck losses.  It was nice to see him rewarded Saturday.

The Thunderbirds penalty kill is still a work in progress. They've surrendered at least one power play goal in all but one game so far this season. But maybe, just maybe, a bit of credit goes to the Prince George power play. They're red hot right now. They're just not doing this to Seattle.  That being said, the T-Birds know they are going to take penalties, so a strong PK is essential. Some of the penalties they are taking the coaches will accept. It's the avoidable ones that are hurting Seattle right now and they know they have to clean those up.

The T-Birds power play is starting to come to life.  Friday they were just off as they hit at least three posts with the man advantage. Saturday they misfired at an open cage early on a first period power play but came right back and scored moments later.  With Mrtka and Cootes back, the power play should improve.

If I had said back on September 29th that the T-Birds would be 5-7 through the first 12 games using a lineup in most of the those games that was missing two NHL first rounders would you accept that? Don't forget Simon Lovsin missed five of those games too.  I think Seatle is in a good place as we head toward November.  

Seattle needs consistency in effort. Saturday's strong showing has to carry over to this weekend's two games.  The T-Birds have yet to win back-to-back games.  Let's see if they can accomplish that at home Friday when they host the Saskatoon Blades.

My T-Birds Three Stars for the just concluded weekend:

Third Star: D Radim Mrtka. he played in just one of the two games but his presence in the lineup was felt.  He eats up big minutes and plays a complete 200 foot game. As mentioned above, his return will enhance the team's first power play unit, which in turn, should make the second power play unit more effective.  99-percent of the time, he's going to make the right play with the puck.

Second Star: C  Brock England.  A goal and an assist in the loss Friday.  He creates offense seemingly out of nothing with his speed.  He's not just a one way player though.  He's willing to go into board battles and win pucks and his 200 foot game is deceptively good.  He's only 16 and still maturing physically so he won't be perfect but his hockey IQ is tremendous.

First Star:  C Braeden Cootes.  He's a leader who wants to lead with his play on the ice.  He's never satisfied.  I'm guessing he was a little frustrated with the missed power play chances Friday but he kept with it and finally broke through Saturday.  His pass on the 2-on-1 with Brendan Rudolph in the first period of the second game was a thing of beauty. He put the puck through the eye of the needle right on to Rudy's stick. His goal late in the second period of the same game was an NHL caliber shot against arguably the best goalie  in the WHL.

We've Only Just Begun

 It's early. Very early. We're not yet ten games into the season. There's lots of hockey to be played still.  And through eight games I'm not sure what this version of the T-Birds is going to be.

We've seen stretches of good play but, we've also seen some hockey that's been, how will we say, not up to par.  The quest is to bring the level of good play up and bring the stretches of poor play down. Somewhere between that is T-Birds hockey.

Reality can be two things here. The Thunderbirds have been playing with less than a full deck. For much of the first eight games no Cootes, no Mrtka and no Cumby.  They've dealt with some self inflicted wounds with suspensions to Hartmann and Lovsin. The other reality is, that is life in the WHL.  Your stars may just not return. It's a possibility they stick at a higher level, afterall, that is what you are grooming them for. Maybe it's just for a few games as in the case of Cootes. Maybe it is for much longer as appears to be the case with Mrtka. Maybe they come back, maybe they don't. You have to play the hand your dealt. 

Matt O'Dette said since day one of the season that you can't wait for players to come back, because there is no quarentee they will. The players who are here have to step up. In that regard it has been an inconsistent performance by those players.

Now that Cootes and Cumby have returned, the T-Birds are fairly whole.  It's not out of the possibility that Mrtka stays the season in the AHL. If you're waiting for him to come walking through the door, you're  not focused on your job.  Now, I don't think that's the case. Rather, Seattle has some young defenseman seeing significant minutes in the WHL for the first time. It's an adjustment. It takes time.

Seattle has had a travel heavy first month of the season.  By the time we get to November, the T-Birds will be done with the vast majority of their road games in British Columbia. After two early games there, they don't return to Kamloops again until early March. By the end of next week, they'll have put Prince George in the rearview mirror.  By the end of November they'll be through with road trips to Penticton and Victoria.  What's left after that beside that March foray to Kamloops? Three games in February. One more in Kelowna and two short jaunts up I-5 to Langley to face the Vancouver Giants.

Yes, they have their yearly trip out to the east, a five game road trip to Alberta in early January,. But everything else is "local", that is, road trips within the U.S. Division.  In December, the fartherst they travel is one trip to Kennewick. Outside of the trip east, the longest road trip of January is Wenatchee. In February it's that last Kelowna road game while in March it's the aforemention drive up to Kamloops.  

So for Seattle, it's all about getting through this next month and a half. It should help that ten of the next 15 games are on home ice. They've just about survived this rough travel patch.  They have Cootes and Cumby back in the fold.  Now, it's time to got to work.

Watching Tai Riley play the point on the power play, and seeing him get a lot of his shot attempts blocked, was reminding me of something. I've seen that before.  Then it hit me.  That was Shea Theodore who as a 16 year old went through the same thing. But the coaches kept tossing Theo out there and eventually, the shots started getting through and he became a lethal power play weapon.  There was a little bit of that with Kevin Korchinski too. I'm not saying that is what Riley will become but the more opportunities he gets, the better he will become.  I really think at some point it will start clicking for him. The coaches wouldn't continue to put him in that spot if they didn't believe in him.

Too many avoidable penalties.  Under Matt O'Dette the Thunderbirds have always been a solid penalty killing team, but if you're shorthanded six times per game, eventually the opposition is likely to find the back of the net and the T-Birds have now allowed at least one power play goal against in every game this season. There are penalties the coaches are willing to accept but the avoidable stick infractions, the hooks, the slashes, the trips, are the ones hurting the T-Birds. Just an area that needs to be, and can be cleaned up. O'Dette said that was a point of emphasis at practice all week.

As always, defensive zone play isn't always about how your defensemen play inside your blueline or the saves your goalies make.  Defense is a team concept.  Forwards coming back on the back check is integral.  Better yet, spend less time in your own end.  That means winning races to the puck in the O zone. It's winning board battles and having clean offensive zone entries. All that should improve with the return of Cootes but it has to be more than one player committed to that concept.

The two-Headed Monster

At the Major Junior level of hockey, there are two objectives: win championships, such as a Chynoweth Cup or Memorial Cup (heck, why not both) and to develop players for the pro level, preferably, the NHL.

Over the last decade, the Thunderbids have been in four WHL Championship series and won two Chynoweth Cups. They've certainly hit the first objective. Meanhile, since 2010 the T-Birds have had, I believe, some 25 players drafted by NHL teams.  Another half dozen who weren't drafted eventually signed pro contracts. Many of those 30-plus have reached the NHL level. I think you can put a check mark behind objective number two.

The Thunderbirds have found their greatest success reaching both objectives in the the last six years thanks to the LaForge-O'Dette partnership. It almost sounds like I'm talking about a law firm, but of course I'm speaking of General Manager Bil LaForge and Head Coach Matt O'Dette.

Matt O'Dette took the reins as Thunderbirds head coach in the summer of 2017.  Seattle was coming off their first ever WHL title.  O'Dette was promoted from assistant coach to head coach when his predeccesor, Steve Konowalchuk, left for the NHL.

Bil LaForge came on board the following summer. Long time GM Russ Farwell had moved "upstairs" taking on the position of Vice President of Hockey Operations and  the T-Birds landed on LaForge, who had been the head scout for Everett, as his replacement.

Often when a new GM comes on board, one way they put their stamp on the organization is to bring in a new head coach. Instead LaForge's first move was to give O'Dette a ringing endorsement. The rest as they say, is history. Together the partnership of LaForge and O'Dette, in the two key hockey operations positions on the team, has produced nothing but positive results.

In six years working together this tandem has brought to the T-Birds two Western Conference titles, a U.S. Division banner, two appearances in the league championship series, one Chynoweth Cup and a berth in the championship game of the 2023 Memorial Cup.

But it doesn't stop there. In those six years 22 players who have played under their regime, heard their names called at an NHL draft.  There are hundreds of draft eligible players from all over North America and Europe who are hoping to be selected on draft day every summer. To have just one of your player's names called is a statistical longhost. To average almost four players per draft over a six year time frame is astronomical. But that's what Team LaForge-O'Dette has done.

But they don't do it alone. As they say, it takes teamwork to make the dream work.  To get those players on the podium on draft day mean hiring the right scouts. It means bringing on board the right assistant coaches. It means having the right people in place to help with player development. And LaForge and O'Dette have done that.

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Back at the 2022 WHL Prospects Draft, the T-Birds were set to select 15th in the first round but as the top nine picks came off the board, LaForge and his team of scouts saw one player still available. A player they had given a top five grade. So LaForge made a phone call and sent that 15th overall pick and a third round pick to Prince Albert to move up to the tenth spot in the draft.  They used that #10 pick on Braeden Cootes. The same Braeden Cootes who just got drafted 15th overall in the 2025 NHL Draft by the Vancouver Giants. LaForge and his team know what they're doing.

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Last summer, with the 11th overall pick, Seattle chose Czechian Matej Pekar in the first round of the CHL Import Draft. The T-Birds still had a pick in Round Two, 71st overall. They went back to Czechia and took a flyer on Radim Mrtka, even though it looked like he would stay in Czechia to play professionally in the top men's league.  When rumors started to float around in October that Mrtka could be headed to Seattle I asked LaForge about taking a gamble with that second pick.  He had done it with Sam Knazko and he had done it with Tim Stutzle. No harm in swinging for the fences. The one thing that stuck with me was he said Russ Farwell was the one who went to bat for picking Mrtka.  Great case of a GM listening to those around him, especially someone who has been doing this for a long time. Mrtka was just selected 9th overall by Buffalo in the NHL Draft. 

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In his playing days, Matt O'Dette was a defenseman.  He played for the Kitchener Rangers in the OHL and was drafted in the 7th round of 1994 NHL Draft by the Florida Panthers. He played parts of 14 seasons as a d-man professionally.  Now he has become a developer of D-men. As a T-Birds assistant coach he helped guide both Shea Theodore and Ethan Bear into becoming WHL Defenseman of the Year winners. Had Kevin Korchinski come back for his 19 year old season, rather than sticking in the NHL, he may have had a third earn the honor. In his 12 years in the T-Birds organization, first as an assistant coach and now as head coach, a dozen T-Birds defenseman have either been drafted (10) by the NHL or signed pro contracts. The latest two are Mrtka and Ashton Cumby.

The T-Birds acquired Cumby from the Wenatchee Wild in January of 2024 in exchange for a 6th round pick.  Seattle and O'Dette helped turn him into a prospect of the Chicago Blackhawks, who chose him in the 6th round (162nd overall) of the 2025 NHL Draft. 

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I'm not too surprised Cumby got drafted.  At the end of the season he was mulling over five or six offers from NHL team to attend their training camp if not selected in the draft. He was a wanted man.

Another Season for the Books

 

What constitutes a successful season? Someone would argue that success goes only to the team that wins the Cup. Everyone else is in second place. You  know, to the victor goes the spoils.  That's a bit of a myopic view, especially at this level of hockey. The roster turnover is so rapid at this level that it is quite impossible to compete for, let alone win, a championship every season.

So, success looks different for every team depending on where they are in their "championship window". If the T-Birds hadn't won the Chynoweth Cup in 2023, I think a lot of fans would say that team came up short of a successful season.  The expectations for that team were to win a league title. But they met their expected goal, thus the season is deemed a rousing success.

The year prior, 2022, I don't think winning the WHL title was expected. They weren't the favorite that season.  They were considered a contender though, then upset a couple of higher seeded teams in the postseason and they made it to the league championship series before losing in six games to the favored Edmonton Oil Kings. Still, the T-Birds finished that season with the seventh best record in the league and made it within two wins of taking the Cup. I think, as a result of exceeding expectations, that too was a season of success.

So where does this season fall on the "successful season" scale? Is it a success because of how the team started and how they finished the regular season?  It was an unbelievable second half, but we also can't discount the first half. Or does the second half make up for the first half? I think the answer lies in between.  The T-Birds used the first half to find out who they were, to figure out what parts of the roster were working and where changes, whether through addition or subtraction, needed to be made. It's like fiddling around in the kitchen with a cake recipe until you get the ingredients right.

The T-Birds were 11-19-2-1 heading into the Christmas break.  They went into that break, having dropped two in a row and five of seven.  They promptly came out of the break and lost their first three games. They began 2025 with a record of 11-22-2-1, eleven games below the break-even mark after a 6-4 loss at home New Year's Eve. They then lost three of their first four games in the new year. 12-25-2-1 at the WHL trade deadline on January 9th.  A season low point of thirteen games below .500. with just 28 games left.  Doubtful anyone was putting the season into the "success" category at that point.

But the season isn't 40 games long, It's 68.  The cake isn't done baking until the oven timer goes off, and even then, you have to check it to make sure it is baked all the way through. The T-Birds finished the season by going 18-8-1-1, a winning percentage of .642 over that 28 game stretch.  Only six of those games were against teams with a record below .500. And even with some veteran additions to the roster for the second half push, they still accomplished that second half success with one of the youngest rosters in the WHL. They then pushed the team with the WHL’s best regular season record to six games in round one, including a double overtime thriller, before bowing out.

I guess the best way to describe the season is to say while overall, finishing with a sub .500 record usually doesn’t lend one to call the campaign an overall success, there were many successes along the way that left everyone with a good feeling about the just concluded hockey year.

A young team got a year of experience. They took their lumps but after bumping into a few walls, they found their path.  They learned to battle for and achieve something, a playoff spot. And they got a lesson in playing playoff hockey and passed that test. Maybe it wasn’t an A on that test, maybe just a solid B, but it should be enough for them to graduate to the next level.

There will be questions to answer before next season. Who will be the three 20 year olds? Is the organization satisfied going into next season with just two 19 year olds? Who will pick up the scoring slack created by the departure of Pilling? And who steps into the leadership vacuum now that Schuurman and Pakkala have moved on? How many of the seven signed 2009s will they carry on the roster next season, outside of Brock England? These questions will all be answered in due course, but let’s spend some time enjoying the successes that came from the 2024-25 season.

All Gas no Brakes

The Seattle Thunderbirds left it all out on the ice in Game Six. If you're going to go out, empty the tank, and they did. I'm sure it's a  tough pill to swallow though.  They did everything but score. Every bounce or deflection turned the puck right when they need it to go left, often inches away from forcing Game Seven. As the eight seed they didn't wilt under the pressure.  They played their opponent, the one seed, toe to toe but came up short. There is no shame in that. No one to lay blame on. That's just playoff hockey. There is always a winner and there is always a loser.

Was there a key point in the series where the balance may have tipped (no pun intended) against them? There are always moments in every game where, when you dissect it afterwards, you says to yourself "if only". Of course, if you spend too much time going over every moment with a fine tooth comb, you'll drive yourself crazy.  

Some might point to the final four minutes of the first period of Game Five. Seattle took four minor penalties and Everett cashed in with three power play goals.  At the time Seattle was winning and driving the play. It definitely changed the complexion of that game, but I'm not sure about the series.

To me, I would go back to the second period of Game Four. Seattle had started the series by getting the road split in Games One and Two. In fact they came close to winning both games in Everett that weekend before the 'Tips pulled out an overtime win in the second game. Still, off that road split the T-Bird came home and came from behind for a 6-3 win in Game Three. Old Mo was certainly on their side.

Game Four started the way Seattle needed it to start. They got the lead. They were playing much as they had played in the first three games. They had bought in and were playing a playoff brand of hockey. They were being physical and wearing down their opponent. They had to have left the ice after that first period of Game Four feeling good about their game, even if it was just a one goal lead. 

But I think Everett realized their season was at stake. The team that finished with the best record in the regular season was in danger of falling behind in the series, three games to one. They probably knew if they ended up in such a hole, the chances of climbing out were bleak.

Give the Silvertips credit. Their desperation mode kicked in and they dominated period two.  The young T-Birds didn't have the proper response and before you could blink Seattle was on their heels and couldn't get back on their toes. Seattle lost that game, 6-2, and I'm not sure if they completely got back to the way they had played the first three games, the rest of the series.  There were moments and definitley chances. Yes, the end of the first period of Game Five felt like falling off a cliff, but I think the second period of Game Four is where the complexion of the series changed. Before that period I thought Seattle was in control. Those twenty minutes got Everett back in it. When you have your opponent down on the mat, don't let them back up.

Does getting six games of playoff experience really push the needle for the young Thunderbirds going into next season? I think it does and you only have to look at the play of two rookie defenseman in the series to see it matters.  Both Tai Riley and Vanek Popil took huge steps in their hockey maturation versus Everett. 

Has Scott Ratzlaff played his last game as a T-Birds? It sure seems that way.  But Seattle has found a way to put a quality player in the crease. Whether through draft or trade, they've had solid goaltending for a long stretch.  Trust the process.  

Seattle doesn't get to the postseason this year without their three 20 year olds.  I really enjoyed Nathan Pilling embracing being a T-Bird since he came over after Christmas in December of 2023. I know he's made an NCAA commitment and if that's where he ends up next season he'll thrive,  but I've got to believe his heart wants a pro contract. 

The T-Birds don't turn their season around without the second half additions of Hayden Pakkala and Brayden Schuurman. A young team needed some veteran guidance and those two gave them that.

This series reminded me a bit of the 2013 first round playoff series against Kelowna. Seattle was a seven seed, Kelowna the two seed.  The Rockets had 28 more wins and 50 more points during the regular season than the T-Birds that year.  Seattle won the first three games in overtime before the Rockets came back to win the final four, but it took overtime in the final two games to do it. But Seattle wore down the Rockets in that series. Kelowna went into round two a beat up team and got swept by Kamloops. It will be interesting to see how healthy Everett will be in round two against Portland.

We Have a Series

I have no idea how long this first round series between the Thunderbird and Everett will go.  Could it be over as soon as Game 5 next Saturday? Yes. Could it last until a Game 7 next Tuesday? Definitley.  But based on the first two games, it is clear that whoever wins it, is going to have to earn it. And after two games, there is no clear cut favorite. It's now a  best of five and it is going to be a dogfight to the end.  

Should there be a clear frontrunner? Probably, just based on the regular season. The Silvertips were 18 wins and 39 points better in the standings during the regular season.  The 'Tips won the eight game regular season series 6-2.  Everett is the number one seed, not just in the Western Conference, but in the entire WHL. No one in the league had a better regular season record than they did.  Of the sixteen teams that qualified for the 2025 WHL postseason, the Thunderbirds are 16th. The 'Tips finished with a plus 99 goal differential. Seattle? Minus 45. 

On paper most prognosticators would look at that and predict a cakewalk to the second round for Everett, but as the saying goes, games aren't won on paper. Still, I was cautious heading into the weekend. Seattle certainly turned around their season with their terrific second half that saw them climb out of the Western Conference cellar into that final playoff spot. But would this young team understand the that the playoffs are a different animal conpared the regular season, and that, as well as they played over the last three months, they would need to bring their game to another level in the postseason?

After two games, that question has been answered with an emphatic yes. Win or lose, they are going to do it playing playoff level hockey.They're not going to be perfect and they'll make mistakes along the way but the entire roster has bought in to the postseaon mindset. It's 25 players with a singular focus. To a man, they understand the gravity of each game, each period, every shift. As a result they have put themselves in a position where they are a bounce, a deflection, a rebound away from being up 2-0.  The lesson learned isn't how close they came to winning the first two games. The lesson learned, especially by the younger players, is they know they can win if they bring that level of compete from the first two games into the rest of the series.

And how did they get to that point?  The simple answer, coaching.  More specifically, Matt O'Dette. This isn't his first rodeo. He knows how to prepare a team for the playoffs.  His track record speaks for itself, whether as a head coach or an assistant coach. He has a formula for postseason success. Even in past playoff series where his team has lost, they have always played at a higher level then the regular season. Whether his team is a one seed or an eight seed, this team is going to play the Matt O'Dette way. It's no surprise that in his twelve seasons with the organization, the T-Birds have enjoyed their best and longest sustained success. As an assistant he learned lessons from his predecessor, Steve Konowalchuk, and since taking over as head coach he has refined those lessons and added his own touch to the process.  You may beat his team, but you're not going to outprepare him. 

And part of that coaching success is choosing the right assistants, guys he can work with as a unified coaching group. He's had five different assistants in his tenure as head coach and the beat still goes on with his current assistants Carter Cochrane and Taylor Makin.  He knows what he wants from his players and he knows how to get the most out of them, especially in the playoffs, and the same can be said of his assistant coaches. As I said above, I had trepitations heading into this series, wondering which T-Birds team was going to show up. That was my mistake. I should have known better with O'Dette at the helm.

A few thoughts before I sign off. I still marvel at that December 27th trade GM Bil LaForge made with Lethbridge, sending the rights to Jordan Gustafson to the Hurricanes. He got some draft capital (two 3rds, two 5ths) back but the most tangible return from that deal? The direct acquistion of Hayden Pakkala and the indirect acquistion of Brayen Schuurman (used one of those 3rd round picks to get Schuurman from Moose Jaw).  

That one move played a big part in turning the T-Birds season around and put them in a position to compete in this first round series. We all think the trade of Sawyer Mynio to Calgary for a couple of firsts, two fourths and Sawyer Mayes, was the whopper trade LaForge made this winter, but the December 27th deal was sneaky good.

Brock England isn't going to be an impact player for T-Birds someday. He already is.  The 15 year old (won't turn 16 until August 22nd) was inserted into the lineup at the start of these playoffs and he's leaving his mark. You notice him when he's on the ice because he plays the right way.  For such a young player, he already has a high hockey IQ. 

Through two playoff games he has one big assist, drew a penalty that led to a power play goal and is plus one. There are two 15 year olds playing in this series. One is Everett's exceptional status defenseman, Landon Dupont, the first overall selection in the 2024 WHL Draft. He's living up to the expectations put on him.  The other is England, taken 10th overall in that draft by Seattle. He too is standing out for all the right reasons.

Yes, Scott Ratzlaff has been terrific in the first two games of this series, credited with 89 saves. The shot keepers have Everett with 94 shots in those two games. But I'd argue that those are more like shots at goal than shots on goal, so the number is probaly less than that.  Not every puck a goalie stops is a shot on goal. Often a goaltender will stop a shot going wide, so it doesn't carom off the end board back out in front of the goal. They'll freeze pucks on the side of the net to alleviate pressure and slow the game down. 

It's not the number of saves Ratzlaff is making that is significant. It is his ability to make saves on the high quality chances. It's him knowing when to freeze a puck that is in close proximity of the net and when to steer a puck to the corners. It's a little like a chess game and a good goalie knows when to make the right move. Ratzlaff, more often than not, is making the right moves.

Hyde Davidson was a member of the 2023 T-Birds championship. But at age 16 he was the team's seventh defenseman and only played in two playoff games, both in the first round that year agaisnt Kelowna.  But I think it is clear he paid attention that spring to how those older d-men prepared and played in that postseason run because he has been a solid, if understated, presence on the back end for the T-Birds through the first two games against Everett.  

The Heat is On

Six games remaining. Six games to determine your fate. Six games to earn a playoff spot or fall short. As they, say, nothing comes easy.

A few times since the T-Birds climbed out of the Western Conference cellar and into that eighth playoff position, they've had a chance to put a fork into their nearest competition for that final playoff spot. They've just come up a little short. Back on February 21st they could have essentially ended Wenatchee's chances to stay in the hunt.  The T-Birds were four points up on the Wild. A win and Seattle would have been six points clear of the them in the chase. But Wenatchee came back late in that game to earn a 2-1 overtime win and stay within three points of Seattle.  Two weeks later and they are still just three points back. Seattle just can't seem to shake them.

March 4th at home, the T-Birds had the opportunity to put eight points between themselves and the Kamloops Blazers, but a subpar first period put the T-Birds in a three goal hole they couldn't climb out of and lost the game, 3-2. Instead of being eight points back the Blazers got within four points of the T-Birds. They are now six points back but that win kept them alive.

Even this past weekend, after a big road win in Portland, Seattle had a chance to again erase the Blazers from the chase and put Wenatchee on the verge of elimination, but another sluggish start and the T-Birds fell at home to the Winterhawks, 4-1.

I bring it up only as a reminder that this is a young team and so many of these players have not been in this situation in the WHL before, facing the pressure of needing to win almost every night. They are still developing their killer instinct, that need to follow up a big win with another big effort.  It will come.  Baby steps.

Despite not yet putting the hammer down on the Wild or Blazers, Seattle still controls their own fate.  Right now their magic number to clinch the final playoff spot outright is eight points.The T-Birds currently have 55 points, Wenatchee 52 and Kamloops 49.

With just five regular season games left, the most points Wenatchee can finish with, if they win their final five games, is 62 points. That would mean the T-Birds have to earn eight of 12 points in their final six games to finish ahead of the Wild.  Wenatchee's final five games? One against Kamloops, two versus Prince George and two against Everett. Four of those five, including their next four, are on the road. Only their final game of the season, against Everett, will be at home.  The odds they win out are pretty slim, but you never know.

Kamloops has six games, and a possible 12 points to play for. They do have three against the last-place in-the-conference Kelowna Rockets. They play Wenatchee once as well and have single games against Victoria and Vancouver. Four of their final six are at home. Again, the odds of a team with a .395 winning percentage winning their final six games seems remote but if they did they would finish with 61 points. That would mean the T-Birds would need to earn seven points in their last six games to eliminate the Blazers.

Because they play each other this Wednesday, we know one of the two teams, either Kamloops or Wenatchee, is not going to close out the season by winning all of their remaining games.  One of them is going to drop either two or a single point in that matchup.  So, in reality Seattle's magic number to clinch is either six or seven, depending on who wins and who loses that game Wednesday in Kamloops.

Of course a road win for Seattle Tuesday in Kennewick, the night before Kamloops and Wenatchee square off, would slice two points off the T-Birds magic number. It is very possible the 'Birds go into next weekend's three games in three nights, with a magic number of as few as five points. This is where the T-Birds advantage of controlling their own destiny comes in to play. Take care of business Tuesday night in Kennewick and you've almost forced the other two teams to win out to have a chance.

Of course beating the Americans is easier said than done. they are a tough out.But Seattle is coming off two big road wins in their last two road games. They beat Spokane last Saturday in Spokane, 6-3,and then Friday they went down to Portland and earned a 7-2 win.  It's the kind of road effort they will need Tuesday at the Toyota Center against Tri-City. 

In reality, the playoffs start now.

A few thoughts before I sign off:

Finn Bagley started the season with the T-Birds, stuck around a few weeks, and then was reassigned to the JPHL's Calgary Rockies U18 team. He had 11 goals in 16 games and them and then was recalled to Seattle in Mid-January. Though he has only played in seven games since his return and hasn't registered a point, I like what I have seen from 2008 born (16 year old) forward, in that limited sample. He plays with tenacity. As a result, he has a knack for drawing penalties.  A fifth round pick in the 2023 WHL Draft, he plays bigger than his 5"11, 169 lb frame would suggest. He just has the makings of another solid md-round pick by GM Bil LaForge and his scouting staff.

What to make of the T-Birds recent home-away goal scoring stats? Last three road games, 14 goals. Last seven home games, just 15 goals. To be fair, those home games have been, for the most part, low scoring affairs. Neither Seattle or their opponent are scoring a lot recently at the ShoWare Center. But maybe it is a good thing that four of Seattle's final six games are on the road.

I think most analysts would say that the T-Birds should have been a playoff team last season, based on their roster. Of course injuries clearly derailed that. Those same analyst might would argue that, again based on their very young roster, the T-Birds should miss the playoffs this season.  But here they are, with a chance good chance to be a 2025 playoff team.  I think that's coaching. 

More often than not, the Coach of the Year award in the WHL goes to the coach with the team at the top of the standings, one of the favorites to win the Cup (unless of course, you're the T-Birds coach as neither Steve Konowalchuk or Matt O'Dette have won the award despite both guys guiding the team to two two Western Conference titles and a Chynoweth Cup each. Heck, Dave Lowry won it twice in Victoria and they naver made it to a Conference Final, let alone the WHL Championship series. Makes you wonder why, But I digress). 

A few years back Portland's Mike Johnston was named the Western Conference Coach of the Year with a fifth place team. I think what Matt O'Dette has done with this T-Birds team the second half of the season deserves recognition. It may be his best work yet. I doubt he gets a sniff but he should at least be considered.

His first half will keep Scott Ratzlaff from consideration when it comes to awarding the top goaltender prize, but his second half has been phenomenal. Since the start of the new year he is 12-7-2-0 in 21 starts with a 2.37 GAA and .928 SVS. In those 21 starts he has faced 42 or more shots eight times. His .908 SVS on the season is the real measure of how good he has been in net for the T-Birds. This team isn't close to a playoff spot without him.

After 62 games and six plus months, it comes down to the final ix games to determine your fate. This is why we love hockey.

How Far We've Come

It's been a good 2025 thus far for the Seattle Thunderbirds. With their win Saturday at home over the Everett Silvertips, the T-Birds record since January 1st is 12-7-1-0. Only five of the T-Birds 20 games in the new year have been against a team with a losing record; three against Kelowna and two versus Wenatchee. Seattle went 3-1-1-0 in those five games, meaning the Thunderbirds record in 15 games against teams with winning records in the new year is a very solid 9-6. It includes two wins against the team with the best record in the WHL, Everett, a win agaisnt the team with the top record in the Eastern Conference, Medicine Hat, as well as a win versus B.C. Division leader Victoria.

When the calendar page turned from 2024 to 2025, the T-Birds sat in 11th place in the eleven team Western Conference.  Their 25 points had them five points behind Wenatchee for 10th place and seven points back of both Kelowna and Kamloops, who were tied for the 8th and final playoff spot in the west with 32 points each. They were coming off a month of December in which they had gone just 2-8-0-0 and ended the month on a five game losing streak.

Three games into 2025 The T-Birds went 1-2 while Kelowna was going 2-1 through their first three games, meaning Seattle was now nine points back of the Rockets for the final playoff spot in the Western Conference ten days into the new year. In fact, the Thunderbirds came off the Christmas break by losing five of their first six games to start the second half of the season, and had just traded away one of their best players, Sawyer Mynio.

Seven games into January and the 'Birds were 3-4. Respectable at nearly .500, but still staring up at a seven point deficit in the chase for that final Western Conference playoff spot. They still needed to climb over three teams in the standings. You can give up, or you can chose to get into the fight. Seattle chose to join the battle.

In reality, it wasn't until January 21st, one month ago, that the T-Birds began their climb out of the cellar. With their 7-1 win over the Vancouver Giants on January 21st, Seattle would begin a 13 game stretch in which they would go 9-3-1-0, vaulting them past Wenatchee, Kamloops and the Rockets into 8th place and a playoff postion. 

They have put together back-to-back winning months. With still one more February game to go, they have already put together their best month of the season at 6-2-1-0. They are four points up on Wenatchee for the final playoff spot in the west with a dozen games to go. They control their own destiny. They have done a one-eighty and turned their season around.

The schedule going forward is still going to be tough, inlcuding two 3-in-3 weekends where two of the three games will be on the road. Every game except one will be against a team with a winning record. But they have proven they can compete on a nightly basis with the best the league has to offer.  Where this ends, we don't know yet. That chapter has yet to be written, but these last two months may just be the best work GM Bil LaForge and head coach Matt O'Dette have done together since joining forces back in 2018. 

Some quick notes before I sign off:

1). Scott Ratzlaff is 11-2-1-0 in his last 14 starts. That inlcudes a 3-0 mark against the two teams currently sitting atop their respective divisions, Everett and Medicine Hat. In those three games he turned aside 110 shots or about 37 a game. Only two of the goals he gave up in those three games were in the third period. 32 saves on 34 shots with the game in the balance. If their was an MVP for the second half of the WHL season, he'd get my vote.

2). An unsung hero emerging almost every night. A game winning goal from Sawyer Mayes in Wenatchee, the fourth line stepping up with a tying goal from 16 year old Brendan Rudolph versus Everett with an assist to 16 year old Colton Gerrior. A Radim Mrtka shootout winner. Brayden Holberton with points in three of five games and Ashton Cumby blocking multiple shots every night. The list goes on. As O'Dette said, 20 guys for sixty minutes.

3). Next man up mentality. Last weekend Seattle plays three games in three days without their leading point prodcer, Braeden Cootes, in the lineup. They were missing Hyde Davidson, one of their top four d-men. They go 2-1 and came oh so close to a three game sweep.  This weekend they play two games without Nathan Pilling, their leading goal scorer, and earn three of four points. 3-1-1-0. Seven of ten points earned. Just two goals allowed in regulation in the two games this weekend. Team defense, led by Ratzlaff, is trending up.

The Hunter Becomes the Hunted

A strong effort over the last 18 games has propelled the Thunderbirds from being an afterthought to being a team being chased for the last playoff spot in the Western Conference. In fact 12 games ago, the T-Birds lost at home to the Kelowna Rockets, 5-2, and as a result were seven points out of a playoff spot, dead last in the West, needing to leapfrog three teams. Since then, they have gone 8-3 and now have a three point lead for the eighth seed.

How did we get here? Well, I think there are many factors but it starts at the top with the general manager, Bil LaForge. 

I think when we assess what makes a good GM, we generally look at two areas. Do they draft well and do they make smart trades? No one is going to be one hundred percent in those two categories, but with LaForge, the batting average in both areas is Ted Williams-esque. If you want to judge his body of work as a winning percentage, I would say he is well over .500.

Some examples of his best work? Drafting players like Reid Schaefer and Nico Myatovic in the later rounds. How about the trade with Kelowna at the 2019 draft that netted, among other things, a first round pick he turned into Kevin Korchinski. There was letting all the young players eat up all the ice time in the pandemic shortened season, hastening their learning curve which led to back-to-back trips to the WHL Championship Series.

There was recognizing that the Western Conferene was wide open in 2021-22, so he made a post-Christmas deal to acquire Lukas Svejkovsky, giving his lineup a little more pop. That extra offensive punch came in handy in winning bact-to-back seven game playoff series against Portland and Kamloops.

It was knowing he had a special core group of players in 2022-23 that could take the team far and he was willing to acquire the elite talent to help them win a Chynoweth Cup. He let them know he believed in them and was willing to pay a huge price to help them achieve that goal.

Now, there are those out there who say yeah, but what about 2023-24? Why didn't he sell off the high end assets he had left over from the championship roster to hasten the rebuild? Because on paper, he saw a roster that could compete and maybe had a couple of playoff rounds in them.  No one could have guessed the Chicago Blackhawks would keep Korchinski up in the NHL all season as a 19 year old.When Korchinski left T-Birds training camp that September for the Blackhawks NHL camp, he fully believed he was going to be sent back to Seattle. There was also a belief that Seattle could get Thomas Milic back for his 20 year old season but that too didn't happen.

Injuries decimated that team. Who could have predicted Myatovic getting hurt in a goal celebration in October of that year, essentially costing him two-thirds of the season.It wasn't just injuries, it was injuries to their best players, some long term: Gustafson, Mynio, Sawchyn and Dunn. It makes it hard to compete but it also makes it hard to trade assets that aren't healthy or even on your roster. HIndsight being 20/20 maybe deals should have been made but there are just some things you can't anticipate.  A GM doesn't have a crystall ball. 

Which brings us to 2024-25.  Traveling around the league the first half of the season, there was a definite vibe that Seattle was going to be a seller. After Christmas LaForge traded the rights to Jordan Gustafson to Lethbridge for four picks and overager Hayden Pakkala. He got five assets for a player who wasn't just not on the T-Birds roster, but hadn't played a game since last spring. The fire sale was on, right?

At the trade deadline in early January, he sent his best asset, Sawyer Mynio to Calgary, getting back six assets in return, including two first round draft picks. The last time Seattle got two first round picks for one player? You have to go back to 13 years when the T-Birds got two first round picks from Portland for Marcel Noebels. One of those picks turned into Keegan Kolesar, who just happened to lead the T-Birds in playoff scoring in the spring of 2017 when they won their first Chynoweth Cup.

So, there you have it. Seattle was selling off, looking to the future. They were dead last in the Western Conference, nine points out of the playoff picture with no chance. Postseason? Nope, just play out the second half and look forward to next year.

But then LaForge did something that caught eveyone off guard. In the final minutes leading up to the trade deadline, this GM of a last place, dead-in-the-water team, traded a third and a fourth round pick to Moose Jaw for Brayden Schuurman.

Is he crazy? What is he doing burning prime assets to bring in a 20 year old on a last place team.  I saw some of those online comments, not just from other fans around the league but from T-Birds fans as well.  LaForge just made the dumbest deal in the history of the WHL, if you read between the lines. What a loser!

Come on! It's not like he brought in a Dylan Guenther to light the lamp nightly and pile up dozens of points. In 13 games with Seattle Schuurman has just three goals, along with seven assists. Definitely not worth the price paid, right? Funny though, that before he arrived Seattle was well outside the playoff picture and now they are in the driver's seat for that last playoff spot.  That's because he, and Pakkala, brought leadership and a veteran presence to a young team.  They gave the team stability and let young players play down the lineup. 

But what LaForge did with that deal more than anything, was send a message to his young club and his coaching staff.  He told them with that trade, he believed in them. He said he trusted them to pick up their game and fight for that playoff spot.  It's not guarenteed Seattle will hold on to 8th place. They still have to fend off Kamloops, Wenatchee and Kelowna, so the possibility still exists that they miss the postseason despite that trade. But the players know their GM has their back, has their best interest at heart.  He understands how important a few postseason games can be for their development. As a result the players are juiced. they are pumped up and excited to be in the chase. They now go out on the ice each game, not hoping they'll win, but believing they will win.

Which brings us back to the initial question, what makes a great GM?  Sure, it's good drafting and making smart trades whether you are a buyer or a seller. It's also knowing that sometimes you have to be both a buyer and a seller. But don't overlook that intangible of knowing how to send a message to your players that you believe in them, that you have their backs. LaForge has that.

Before I sign off, some quick notes:

1). I loved Jordan Gustafson as a T-Bird. Huge part of their 2022 and 2023 playoff runs. Feel bad that injuries have sidetracked him the last two plus seasons now. I wish nothing more than for him to get healthy and have a long terrific pro career. I check the boxscore, even now that he is in Lethbridge, to see how he is doing. The only problem, he's not in the lineup lately. He's hurt again.  How frustrating. But if he gets healthy, he's going to help the Hurricanes in the postseason. He does have five goals for them but has only played five games.

Meanwhile, Pakkala, since coming to the T-Birds in that deal has 11 points (6g, 5a) in 20 games and is +7. Seattle used one of the third round picks in that Gustafson deal to acquire Schuurman. In 13 games with the T-Birds he has 10 points (3g, 10) and is +4. So combined Pakkala and Schuurman have played 33 games and have 23 points and are +11. Good deal for both sides.

2.) I firmly believe if the Pilling match penalty hadn't occured in the second period Monday afternoon in Portland, Seattle would be riding a five game winning streak. They were the better team for most of that game. The penalty led to a Portland power play goal and Seattle lost Pilling for the rest of the game. Already without Braeden Cootes, the absences changed the complexion of the game and Portland squeezed out a 4-3 win.  Now Seattle faces the possibility of playing some key games with Pilling, their leading goal scorer, suspended.

3.) Starting to see what LaForge and the T-Birds like about Sawyer Mayes, the player acquired in the Mynio/Clagary deal.  Remember he's a 2007, so just 17.  But he's another big body who can be a handful around the net and win battles along the boards. Nice, greasy game winning goal in Wenacthee Sunday and had a couple of close in chances Monday in Portland. He also had a breakaway in Portland but lost the puck at the last second and never got a shot off. That '07 forward group is gonna be fun to watch develop together with Cootes, Martorana, Holberton, Pekar, Charko and now Mayes.

4.) Scott Ratzlaff is back!  What a stretch! Ten wins in his last 12 starts, his first shutout since 2023  Sunday in Wenatchee, a terrific 40 save effort Saturday at home against the Winterhawks.  The team is playing better in front of him because his play behind them gives them confidence. If Seattle makes the postseason he is the biggest reason for their turnaround.

The One Third Mark

With 22 games played, the Thunderbirds 2024-25 season has just about reached the one-third mark.  That's a good spot to step back and do a little evaluating of what we've seen so far. 

But first, let's take a big step back and juxtapose this season onto how things usually develop in the up and down world of  the WHL.  If we go back to, let's say 2012, the T-Birds had just drafted the core of what would be their 2016 and 2017 teams.  That would be the Barzal, Bear Kolesar, Neuls group. That group was augmented with players from the 2011 draft (Gropp) as well as the 2013 draft (Volcan), a couple of Import picks in True and Moilanen, a list player like Eansor and a shrewd trade that brought in Ottenbreit, but the main body of the team that made two runs to the WHL championship series was gathered up in 2012 WHL Draft.

It took that group a couple of years of learning to win together. They suffered a couple of tough playoff losses, then it all gelled for them in 2016 and 2017, culminating in the 2017 Chynoweth Cup.

In 2018 and 2019, Seattle began the gradual descent down the top of the WHL mountain when that core group left for the pro ranks.  There were a couple of seasons of first round playoff exits. But in the background, the wheels were spinning as Seattle went to work building their roster back up again through the 2018 and 2019 WHL Drafts. The climb back up to the top had begun.

In 2018 they selected another core group to build around with guys like Ciona, Roulette, Milic, Popowich, Sanders and Schaefer. the next spring they added Korchinski, Gustafson and Myatovic into the fold. That young group was headed for a 7th or 8th seed in the Western Conference postseason in 2019-20 when Covid shutdown the season. In the shortened 24 game 2021 season, with no playoff spot to hunt down, the T-Birds let the young guys eat up all the ice time.

The next year that group, with that experience under their belt, got within two wins of a 2022 WHL Championship, then won it all in the spring of 2023. And then the gradual descent down the WHL mountain began. Seattle had what should have been a playoff roster a season ago.  Long term injuries to key players derailed that trip to the postseason for a team that, if healthy all year, could have competed potentially for home ice in the first round.

You see the pattern here though? Slowly build up a team and when that roster is at a peak, they should be in prime position to battle for a trophy. Then a couple years falling back and then building it back up again. It looks like a roller coaster ride if you drew it out on paper.

I think the T-Birds are a year or two behind the schedule of those two Chynoweth Cup winning teams.  I'm not saying that, because of their track record, they'll waltz into another league title. No, what I'm saying is they are at the bottom of the roller coaster dip and this season starts the slow climb back up into contention just as they did after 2017. 

It may not seem that way on the ice with the results through the first 22 games this season, but remember, three seasons before advancing to the 2016 WHL Championship that young team built around the 2012 draft finished with a .400 winning percentage. The core group of the 2023 Chynoweth Cup winners had a .437 winning percentage when the season was shut down in 2019-20.

Does it mean this year's young team is on the same trajectory? Personally I thnk it might take the team an extra season or so. My reasoning is because unlike the 2017 team, Seattle had to augment the 2023 team by spending a lot of top end draft capital.  When the T-Birds built the 2017 championship club I don't believe they traded away any draft picker higher than a third rounder. In 2023 they traded five first round picks as well as second and third rounders. That's a lot of ground to catch up, especially when the teams around you have the majority of their high picks.

The reason they had to spend more in 2023 is twofold. Teams around the league are willing to put all their chips in now. And not just one team, but multiple teams.  Secondly, in 2023 Kamloops was hosting the Memorial Cup so they went all in. Winnipeg had built a deep club in the Eastern Conference and they went all in.  To keep up Seattle had to do the same. So the price was high.I believe prices are richer when your league hosts the Memorial Cup because your league automatically gets two spots in the tournament.

So unlike after the 2017 championship when Seattle had eight combined draft picks in the first three rounds of the 2018 and 2019 drafts including multiple first and second round choices, the T-Birds had only a combined four picks in the first three rounds of the 2022 and 2023 WHL Drafts and only one of those was a first round selection (2022-Cootes). 

It has meant the work of GM Bil LaForge and his scouting staff really gets put under the microscope.  Under the circumstances, I would say they have done a pretty good job of restocking the system.  We won't know the true results for a year or two, but the Cootes pick was a home run, considering ten teams past on him. To be fair there were some very good players selected before him at the top of that 2022 draft, but remember LaForge traded up five spots to get him.  Me thinks the GM knows what he's doing.

Seattle didn't have a first or second round pick in 2023, they even had to trade up just to get back into the third round. Most of those 2023 selections came in the later rounds.  Players like Popil, Bagley, Dikur, Gerrior and Rudolph are barely scratching the surface of their skill level.

Where LaForge and his scouts may have really done some of their best work was in the draft last spring.  Seattle has already signed eight players from that draft as well as their top pick in the 2024 U.S. Priority Draft. The top pick, Brock England, was recently named the MVP of the WHL Cup.  Look for Seattle, along with most of the WHL teams, to augment those players by signing players next summer who were avoiding the WHL to protect their NCAA eligibility. That is no longer a thing.

So, as far as the evaluation of this year's team at the one-third mark?  We knew scoring was going to be an issue and it has been. I thought they'd do a little better at keeping the puck out of their net but injuries, inconsistent goaltending and  inexperience are leading to too many goals against. The penalty kill is another victim of their youth. 

But the biggest issue has been the groups lack of playing time together.  They are young and most of the older players came from other organizations.  They are still looking for that chemistry. Those two cup winning teams had a sense of where their linemates or defensive partners were on the ice. That came from playing together for three and four years. That doesn't exist yet with this group.

There have been some bright spots among the inconsistency.  Cootes is an obvious one. I think Coster Dunn has been better than his stats would lead you to believe. You get a glimpse of why the organization believes rookie players like Riley, Gerrior and Rudolph have a chance to be big pieces of the puzzle in a few years but they're going to take their lumps this season, just as the rookies did a year ago. 

Don't get me wroing. The team is fighting for and believes they can make the playoffs. But it is also true every season the players are being evaluated.  The organization is looking to see who can separate themselves, looking for the cream to rise to the top, the wheat to fall away from the chaff. There are alot of young players on the roster and in the system. Thirteen players on this roster are age 17 or younger. It is their job to use this ice time to hasten their development. 

I've been encouraged the last two games and hopefully it carries over to the rest of the season. I know both games ended up in losses but the play was so much cleaner. They kept it simple.  They stayed disciplined without losing a core piece of their identity; physicality. There was more time in the offensive zone. The passing out of the d-zone and throught the neutral zone was better than it has been. There is still much to be worked on.They need to get better in all areas but these last two games seemed to me a step in that direction.   

 

Finding a Foothold

It has been, to say the least, a sluggish start to the season for the Seattle Thunderbirds. As a result, they sit at 1-3-1-0 through their first five games. Too many repeated, but correctable mistakes are being made and it all begins in the defensive zone.

Puck management is the biggest issue. Seattle is losing too many board battles. They are not executing zone exiting passes.  Opponents are getting to the net front a little too easily. When the T-Birds play well, such as opening night on the road in Langley or the home opener against Wenatchee, and even to an extent, the home loss to Prince George, they keep these problems to a manageable amount. That gives them a chance to compete for sixty minutes. But when these errors pop up too often, the T-Birds make it hard on themselves to get in a positon to win.

Eleven players on the current roster weren't on the team a year ago.  Another seven are just beginning their second season and taking on bigger roles and more responsibility this season. That's essentially three fourths of your roster. So there is a lot of both inexperience and unfamiliarity. I think that leads to a lack of cohesion. The team is still trying to build its chemisty.

It's hard to say be patient because wins and points matter just as much now as they will in January and February, but the T-Birds have had to reload on the fly after their two year run that took them to the league championship series in both 2021-22 and 2022-23. 31 players who played a role, big or small, in the success of either one, or both of those seasons, have moved on.  That's a lot of roster churn in a short amount of time.

We almost forget that after Seattle captured the Chynoweth Cup in 2017, it took five years to get back to the top of the WHL mountain.  It seems like just yesterday that Mat Barzal was stepping off the team but in the ShoWare Center parking lot with that first ever Ed Chynoweth Cup, but in reality he's entering his 8th season in the NHL. Time flies. 

We also have to remember that to win the 2017 title, the T-Birds made very few roster moves that season.  They added just a couple of role players without spending any real draft capital or trading too many prospects. It was a different landscape in 2017. The WHL wasn't hosting the Memorial Cup that spring.

It was a completely different story in 2022-23.  There were a number of teams in contention besides Seattle.  Because Kamloops was hosting the Memorial Cup, the prices to add significant roster pieces were high.  As good as the T-Birds roster was, they had to pay a steep price to add guys like Nolan Allan, Colton Dach, Luke Prokop and Dylan Guenther to their team because that's what the Blazers and Winnipeg Ice were doing. They had to keep up with the Jones's. And it pretty much guarenteed Seattle was going to have a young team without much veteran presence for a season or two.

That's just the reality of Junior hockey.  If you want to win a title now, you have to develop talent but you also have to be bold.  General Manager Bil LaForge was bold and it paid off. Kamloops and Winnipeg/Wenatchee were bold and fell short.  

So Seattle is back to where they were after the 2017 run. They are reloading. They are looking for that group of players they can build around. In 2023 it was the 2003s. Is it the 2007s turn? Maybe. It could be the 2009s. They're still in their WHL infancy, so only time will tell. But Seattle has done it before, they can do it again.

The Thunderbirds scored the second fewest goals in the WHL last season with 190. Through their first six games this season they are averaging 2.6 goals per game, putting them on pace for even fewer goals (181) this season. They need to generate more offensive punch. It isn't necessarily a lack of shots.  It's a lack of high end scoring chances. The good news is that through six games those 16 goals have come from 10 different players. They will need scoring by committe to be successful so, to a certain extent, we are seeing that early on. They just need more of it. 

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.

Build Back Better 'Birds

The annual CHL Import Draft is the big "If". The picks are great "if" the players report.  The picks are great "if" they live up to the hype from your European source or the player's advisor/agent.  So, until you see the player report or get a live look at him in action at training camp, you just never know what you've got.

That being said, it would appear the Thunderbirds selected a couple of solid prospects out of Czechia with their two picks in the 2024 CHL Import Draft. Seattle went with a couple of 2025 NHL Draft eligible players in Matej Pekar and Radim Mrtka. Pekar is a center who put up good offensive numbers back in Czechia, including playing as a sixteen year old in 18 games at the U20 level. I saw someone post that they thought Pekar was one of the best players at the 2023 Five Nations tournament last December.

Mrtka is a defenseman, a 6'6" 200 lb defenseman. He just turned 17 on June 9th.  His numbers won't wow you but like Pekar, he played at the U20 level quite a bit last season as a 16 year old. He has quite a bit of international experience, representing Czechia on the world stage. And if hockey webites are to be believed, both these players should hear their names called at next summer's NHL Draft.

When the picks were made I scoured the internet for draft ratings on both players. Some of these sites seem to be one guy in his basement just throwing names at a wall and seeing what sticks. Others are collaborative efforts to compile as much information as possible and give an honest assessment. I took the aggregate of four or five of the more reputable sites and it seems these two Czechs should be picked next summer between rounds two and five.

The bigger tell though for me, with these two selections by Seattle, is what it says about the direction of the T-Birds.  Seattle could have selected older Import players (age 18 or 19). They could have opted for a couple of players already NHL drafted that would have a more immediate, but shorter term (one season) impact. These two players are, as mentioned earlier, 2007 born players. They are entering their 17 year old seasons.  If they report, the T-Birds could potentially have their services for the next three seasons. 

The Thunderbirds currently have ten 2007 born players signed to standard WHL Player Agreements. Those ten players are Braeden Cootes, Kaleb Hartmann, Kazden Mathies, Antonio Martorana, Sam Charko, Brayden Holberton, Caleb Potter, Grayson Malinoski, Tai Riley and Jaxson Pawlenchuk.  All but Riley and Pawlenchuk have played in at least one WHL game.

The addition of Pekar and Mrtka, should they come over to North America, gives Seattle a dozen 2007 born players to build around. They'll all be 19 year olds in the 2026-27 season.  As many as three years for this group to play together beginning this fall, with six of them already one year into their WHL careers. This is how Seattle constructed two Ed Chynoweth Championship rosters, by building around a core group and then supplementing through trades and other drafts.

That's why the build back better group doesn't just include the '07s.  First, the Thunderbirds have a 2006 group that includes Hyde Davdson, Simon Lovsin and Nishaan Parmar. The T-Birds have also signed five players (Vanek Popil, Colton Gerrior, Jaxson Dikur, Finn Bagley and Brendan Rudolph), chosen in the 2023 WHL Draft, the 2008 born group. It's even possible they could sign one or two more players from that class.

Meanwhile the top four selections from the 2024 WHL Prospects Draft (Brock England, Mathew Hilderman, Grayson Tash and Marcus Laraque) and the T-Birds first pick in the 2024 WHL U.S. Priority Draft (Ewen Willers) have all put pen to paper and signed their player agreements. 

In total that is 27 players to build around for the future. The odds that all these players stick together for 3-4 years are slim.  There will be trades made. Some won't develop as hoped for. A camp invite could earn a roster spot ahead of a drafted player or there may be a listed player on the teams protected list that they convince to come this way. These imports may not report and Seattle has to do it all over again next summer.  But the core group is there, the core that the T-Birds believe can get them back to hoisting an Ed Chynoweth Cup. 

A Look Back at a Key Draft

With the Memorial Cup completed, the 2023-24 CHL season comes to an end. An end is a perfect time to reflect back on the past few years. As I look back on this most recent era of the Western Hockey League, I'm astonished at just how good the top half of the first round of the 2019 WHL Prospects Draft was. And it certainly explains why a number of teams, including the Thunderbirds, traded up into the top half of the draft to get a chance to draft those 2004 born players. Four teams ended up with multiple selections in the top ten.

The first round consisted of 22 selections, so the top half of the draft would be picks one through eleven. To be fair there were picks in the second half of the first round that were solid picks but among the top eleven choices there was more than a handful of players who have left their mark on the WHL. That draft hasn't completely finished making its mark on the WHL. Many players from that draft, including some of the first round picks, will return next season for their 20 year old seasons, but the majority are moving on, if they hadn't already.

The first overall selection was Matthew Savoie, taken by the Winnipeg ICE. In fact the ICE had the first two picks, having acquired that second pick from Swift Current. After Savoie they selected Conor Geekie (ironically Geekie was traded to Swift Current by Wenatchee at the 2024 trade deadline). 

With Savoie and Geekie, Winnpeg would capture two Scotty Munro trophies, finishing with the best regular season record in both 2021-22 and 2022-23. They won two Eastern Division pennants and one Eastern Conference championship. This past winter Savoie was traded to Moose Jaw and helped lead the Warriors to the Eastern Conference Championship and their first ever Ed Chynoweth Cup. Both Savoie and Geekie would end up being NHL first round draft picks.

The Prince George Cougars had picks three and four in that 2019 Draft, choosing Keaton Dowhaniuk and Koehn Ziemmer. Together they helped the Cougars capture the 2024 B.C. Division banner and led them to the Western Conference Championship Series, where they fell to the Portland Winterhawks. 

Despite falling short, they helped PG to one of the best seasons in franchise history.  Ziemmer was drafted by the NHL's L.A. Kings (third round) and is likely headed to the AHL next season.  Dowhaniuk has gone undrafted thus far and could return to the Cougars for his 20 year old season and help make Prince George one of the favorites again next season in the B.C. Division.

Picks five and six belonged to the Brandon Wheat Kings. Going fifth overall to Brandon was Nate Danielson.  While Danielson could not lead the Wheat Kings to any significant playoff success in his tenure there, he did get selected by the Detroit Red Wings in the first round of his NHL draft year. His WHL postseason success came this past spring after he was dealt to Portland and helped the Winterhawks to a U.S. Division title and a Western Conference championship, before being ousted by Moose Jaw in the league final.

With the sixth overall selection in the 2019 draft the Wheat Kings chose Tyson Zimmer. Zimmer's time in Brandon was brief, playing parts of two seasons there before being traded to Lethbridge. He had a solid, if not spectacular season and a half with the Hurricanes before they traded him this past winter to Vancouver where he helped the Giants reach the playoffs.  He should get one more season as an overager with the Giants this coming season as they, like PG, should be a favorite in the B.C. Division.

Pick number seven belonged to the Kamloops Blazers and they chose defenseman Mats Lindgren (the Blazers would pick again later in the first round, selecting Connor Levis 20th overall). Lindgren was part of a couple of Blazer teams that won B.C. Division banners and was still with the team when they advanced to the Western Conference Championship Series in the spring of 2022, where they lost to Seattle.

Lindgren requested a trade in the summer of 2022 and was dealt to the Red Deer Rebels, where he played the last two seasons. He was part of the Rebels 2022-23 Central Division pennant winners. In the summer of 2022 he was drafted in the fourth round by the NHL's Buffalo Sabres.

The Thunderbirds had two picks in the top ten of the 2019 draft and the first of those, at pick number eight, was Jordan Gustafson.  Gus, of course was part of a T-Birds team that won one U.S. Division title, two Western Conference Championships and an Ed Chynoweth Cup. Along with that he played in the 2023 Memorial Cup Championship game. He was a third round draft pick of the NHL's Vegas Golden Knights and was T-Birds captain this past season.

In between Seattle's two top ten picks, Saskatoon chose Brandon Lisowsky with the ninth overall pick.  Lisowsky's Blades went to back-to-back Eastern Conference Championship series, won one Eastern Division title and captured the 2023-24 Scotty Munro Trophy after finishing with the league's best regular season record. Lisowsky is a Toronto Maple Leafs 2022 draft choice (seventh round).

The Thunderbirds executed a 2019 draft day trade with Kelowna to move back into the first round and used that 10th overall pick on Kevin Korchinski.  Korch did not disappoint, helping the T-Birds to a division title, two Western Conference Championships and the franchise's second ever Ed Chynoweth Cup as well as a berth into the Memorial Cup Championship game last spring in Kamloops.  Additionally, he won a gold medal with Canada at the 2023 IIHF World Junior Championship.

He was taken seventh overall in the 2022 NHL Draft by the Chicago Blackhawks and instead of returning to the T-Birds for his 19 year old season, spent the entire campaign playing regularly at the NHL level.

Lastly, with the eleventh selection in the 2019 WHL Draft, the Moose Jaw Warriors took Denton Mateychuk. With Mateychuk the Warriors won this past season's Eastern Conference Championship. A few weeks ago Mateychuk help the Warriors win their first ever WHL championship and was named the 2023-24 WHL Defenseman of the Year. In the summer of 2022 he was taken 12th overall in the NHL Entry Draft by the Columbus Blue Jackets.

To summarize, nine of the top eleven picks from that 2019 WHL Prospects Draft were drafted into the NHL. Five of those nine were taken in the first round of the NHL Draft (Savoie, Geekie, Danielson, Korchinski and Mateychuk).

Ten of those top eleven picks won at least one WHL division title and played at least once in a WHL conference championship series. Five of them won at least one conference championship, three of them won two conference titles and four of them (Savoie, Gustafson, Korchinski and Mateychuk) raised the Ed Chynoweth Cup.

Shockingly, the second half of that 2019 first round was pretty, well, mediocre at best. We mentioned Levis going to Kamloops with the 20th overall pick and he was probably the best of the remaining first round picks. Swift Current did select Tyson Jugnauth 21st overall but he never signed with the Broncos and they surrendered his rights. He was subsequently listed by Kamloops.  But Jugnauth stayed in the NCAA with Wisconsin until this past winter when his rights were dealt to the Portland Winterhawks. So he only played half a season in the WHL but did earn a U.S. Division banner and Western Conference Championship with the 'Hawks. 

So who was the best pick of those top eleven players? Or maybe a better way to state it is which of those top eleven picks ended up being the most bang for the buck? A case can be made for Savoie. He was the first overall selection and ended up with two Scotty Munro trophies, a couple of Eastern Division banners, two Eastern Conference Championships and an Ed Chynoweth Cup, though it took a trade for him finally to raise the Cup. But admittedly with a little bias, my pick would be Kevin Korchinski. 

Korchinski was passed over nine times in that draft. Eight other WHL teams had a chance to pick him and chose not to. Two other defenseman were picked higher.  Yet he was part of four banners (one U.S. Division, two Western Conference Championships and one WHL Championship) all with the same team. He came within one win of a Memorial Cup and he won gold with Team Canada at the World Junior Championships. He was the highest drafted WHL player in the 2022 NHL Entry Draft, taken two picks ahead of Savoie, and was the first of those players to make it to the NHL full-time.

Some notable later round bargains? Everett chose Ben Hemmerling in round three. Moose Jaw took 2023-24 CHL Player of the Year Jagger Firkus in the fourth round, Swift Current got NHL drafted defenseman Owen Pickering in round nine and the T-Birds drafted a kid out of Prince George in the sixth round who would go on to score the 2023 Ed Chynoweth Cup clinching goal, then get picked at the top of the second round of the 2023 NHL Draft...Nico Myatovic.