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5.14.2012

Two Trades

Seattle made two trades last week that could have an impact on the team next season.

The first trade most certainly will. Seattle acquires 20 year old goaltender Brandon Glover from the Calgary Hitmen in exchange for a 3rd round bantam selection. Glover's numbers in the regular season were somewhat pedestrian with a record of 20-12, 3.11 GAA and an .885 Save%. He really stepped up his game in the playoffs for the Hitmen going 1-1-1 in 4 games with a 1.87 GAA and a .941 Save% that lead all WHL goaltenders in the playoffs.  I haven't seen him play a ton but I'm told that this is a really solid pickup for the Tbirds.  I'm a little surprised at the cost being a 3rd round bantam selection but Ty Rimmer netted a 2nd and a 3rd round pick so this was definitely the going rate for landing a 20 year old goaltender.

What does this mean? Well I think this officially puts Chance Lund and Brendan Rouse on notice. I think Brad Deagle is a lock for the team because of an overall lack of defensive depth and I find it very hard to believe that Luke Lockhart wouldn't make the team after being your captain last season. Glover would obviously be the 3rd.

This also means that the backup goaltending job is probably wide open. The team clearly didn't feel comfortable with Daniel Cotton as a potential starter which means he probably isn't a lock to be the backup as well. Danny Mumaugh will be in the mix as well as Justin Myles and maybe Nolan Kruizenga.

Here are some highlights of Brandon Glover after he won WHL Goaltender of the Month for December this past season.


The second Seattle trade saw fan favorite Jacob Doty shipped out to Medicine Hat in exchange for 18 year old forward Riley Sheen. Doty is probably the most feared fighter in the WHL but he just wasn't ever able to contribute anything more than that. His skating didn't improve a whole lot and it appears that he demanded a trade thinking he should be getting more playing time than he got this past season. I think Doty is a great kid but I didn't see him with any kind of future with this team and for that reason alone I think this was a great trade.

Sheen could be a huge boom or bust player for the Tbirds. Where Doty was going to be a 19, Sheen is an 18... so the Tbirds gained a year (good) and they lost a lot of size. Sheen is listed at just 5'9" and 148 lbs. He had just 3 points in 43 games with the Tigers but added a goal and an assist in just 8 playoff games.

I don't know a lot about Sheen and I don't know why Medicine Hat would be willing to give him up to get Doty (and we might see why next season) but from the highlights I have seen, Seattle may have plucked a real sleeper here. Given a chance to play on the Power Play and play more of a scoring role I wouldn't be shocked to see Sheen flourish. I know the popular thing to do is rag on Russ Farwell and numerous people have commented here and elsewhere that they hope the Tbirds "get a new GM" and I think there is a ton of failure to go around when looking at the bantam draft selections over the past 5 season... having said that... Russ makes some pretty nifty trades and I have a feeling this may turn out to be one of the good ones.

Here is a video of his team profile from the Tigers website.

http://tigershockey.com/video/index/id/71c03209ea41622f2fe4cc1917b2fded

5.08.2012

Chris Rumble Video

I'm a day late getting this posted but who cares... it needs to go up either way.

Most of you know the situation with Chris Rumble and you may also know that Chris is the one responsible for the Seattle vs. Portland rivalry video... this one...


Chris put together this inspiring video about the hem/oncology floor of Seattle Children's Hospital. He filmed it on Saturday, edited it on Sunday and posted it yesterday. Truly talented. I dare you to get through a minute of this video without getting goosebumps or getting a bit choked up. Chris is featured in the video towards the middle wearing an orange shirt and the video has already passed 64,000 hits as of this morning.


5.03.2012

Bantam Draft Selections

1st Overall Selection - Mathew Barzal. Whether he said yes or no to Seattle... the Tbirds have selected him. This draft has been described as Barzal and everyone else which makes the pick the right selection and a good selection. Now we all hold our breath and hope that he signs and comes to Seattle.

Barzal had 39 goals and 68 assists for the Burnaby Winter Club Bruins. Barzal is a swift skater and was an elite scorer against the best Bantam competition in British Columbia.



Links on Barzal: Seriously... just google Mathew Barzal.

20th Overall Selection - Keegan Kolesar. Kolesar is 5'11". Seattle takes another forward, which should satisfy the "We need offense" crowd. Kolesar played last season for the Winnipeg Hawks, notching 22 goals and 11 assists in 27 games. He is also listed in other places as being 6'0" and is believed by some to be the best power forward in the draft.

Links on Kolesar: http://thepipelineshow.blogspot.com/2012/04/whl-bantam-draft-preview-forwards.html

25th Overall Selection - Ethan Bear, Defense, Whitewood, Sask. Bear is stands 5'10.5" tall and played last season for POE Bantam Team - Tier 1. Seems to be some mystery on Bear. I believe he actually played for Kelowna's Pursuit of Excellent (per Alan Caldwell) and is listed in other played at being 6'0" already. And the lesson as always is that I am a complete idiot and obviously POE stands for... you guessed it... Pursuit of Excellence... take a bow Hunnex.

Links on Bear: http://westernelitehockeyprospects.blogspot.com/2011/08/top-saskatchewan-97-dman-ethan-bear-to.html
http://thepipelineshow.blogspot.com/2012/04/2012-whl-bantam-draft-preview-top-10.html

47th Overall Selection - Logan Flodell. Flodell is a goaltender from Regina, listed at 5'10" which is a solid size for a goaltender at age 15. He played this past season for the Regina Senators Bantam AA. Seattle appeared to get very good value on their first three selections... this pick seems like more of a reach. Flodell was ranked by two different places outside of the top 10 goalies available and he becomes the 6th goaltender taken in the draft.

By some accounts Flodell has a bad year on a bad team. (Disclaimer: I'm just throwing out as much information as I can find. Please don't treat any of this as the gospel. I really don't have any idea on these guys until I have seen them play and the only one I have seen play is Barzal. Just throwing that out there.)

Links on Flodell: http://www.swbooster.com/Sports/Hockey/2012-01-15/article-2864785/Raiders-settle-for-draw-with-Senators/1
http://www.network54.com/Forum/40684/message/1331750150/Bantam+Draft+Sask+List
http://westernelitehockeyprospects.blogspot.com/2012/04/sask-first-tournament.html

Seattle doesn't have a 4th round selection and I need to get some real work done. I will circle back later with the later picks.

I guess Seattle does have their 4th rounder.


69th Overall Selection - Mason McCarthy, Center, Blackie, AB. McCarthy played last season for the Okotocks Bantam AAA. Listed at 5'7" and only 130lbs he is very small but he has been described in one summary by Western Elite as an elite scorer who was buried on a bad Okotoks team and that he can really be a good player when playing with other elite players.


Links on McCarthy: http://westernelitehockeyprospects.blogspot.com/2011/01/monday-morning.html
http://westernelitehockeyprospects.blogspot.com/2011/01/tuesday-stuff.html

I was right the first time. Seattle did NOT have a 4th round selection. That was the pick that went to Red Deer to the right to select Dave Sutter in the Import Draft.  Everything I just said... applies to Red Deer.

Btw... if you can't tell already... Western Elite is pretty much the place to find information on a lot of these players.

91st Overall Selection - Lane Pederson, Center, Saskatoon, SK. Pederson played for the Saskatoon Generals Bantam AA and served at the captain of the team. He is listed at 5'8" and 149 lbs. 27 goals and 24 assists in 33 games played. Caldwell has him listed at 5'9" and 155 now.




Bantam Draft Day

Ok... here we go. The draft kicks off in about... ohhh... 8 minutes now.

Will Seattle select Mathew Barzal? Did Barzal agree to come to Seattle? Will Seattle trade the pick? We're going to find out shortly here.

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