Friday, February 26, 2021

Initial Roster Thoughts

The Tigers have a lot of changes this season. Players not returning
Soogard, Brinkman, Plouffe, Hamblin, Gavlas, Brown, Lockner, Anderson,McNabb, Plouffe, Perna

The Equivalent of 2 full lines + 1. Big changes usually bring some volatility.

Forwards
McCarry Chyzowski Hopwo
Danielson Svejkovsky Kemp  
Glover Weisblatt  Wilms
Boehm/Shtrom Patton Ferster

Initial Thoughts
The Tigers could go with a top-down approach of giving a lot of ice-time to a powerline of Chyzowksi, Kemp, Svejkovksy, which they may do in crunch time, powerplay, and late in games. For overall health and longevity, they may decide to spread the wealth out for more balance which is the typical direction of Desjardins coaching style.

 Experience wise this is probably one of the leanest or more polarizing forward groups the Tigers have seen in a long time. The loss of the imports not coming back dampers secondary depth up front. They have some top-end strength and then a lot of inexperience. They have a record high of 5 16yr olds up front...which will probably mean a more powerful forward group in a few years

The interesting thing is that when the USHL season ends and Cole Sillinger returns it will change the dynamic of this group to be above average barring any significant covid tests or injury issues. 

Youthful lineups tend to do well early and then fade quickly. With a shortened season let's hope that this youth comes out of the gate strong and then Sillinger is able to return to provide some stability.


Defence

Baker Clayton
Krebs Van Impe
Agyman/Brook/Parsons

A balanced and above-average group. Great veterans in Baker and Clayton. A good mix of future top liners with Krebs and Van Impe and some youth.  I think Van Impe has been a little under-rated. I've seen flashes of incredibly strong smart play when he's on his game and playing with confidence
Krebs is a puck mover who will likely be a cornerstone for fast transitions in years to come. With that top 4 there is a degree of strength there.


Goaltending 
Bjorklund
Langkow

Bjorklund competed for the top position last year and we have full confidence that he will become a top goaltender in the league and should be again next year.


Overall Thoughts
The Tigers defence and goaltending are above average. A veteran defensive group and strong goaltending. Their forward core has a very high turnover and there is potential volatility there. An injury to a key player could spell a bit of trouble.  Defencemen may need to adjust based on if they are playing with the experienced forwards vs the inexperienced youth.

The positive is that the Tigers have 3 players in the top 2 rounds of the whl bantam draft entering as 16 yr olds, including highly-touted Oasiz Wiesblatt. It could not be a better time to infuse youth into the lineup with a short season.

However...there is a catch22  Does the competition stack their lineup with shortened benches? Jumping right into the season the risk/reward ratio of using older players with more ice-time is definitely a factor. There could more a lot more recovery time than usual, which also comes with the risk of losing those players to injury with a shortened season.  If you are a coach that has an "overwhelm" type strategy or is at risk at their job expect them to quickly shorten their bench. 

We don't know the full schedule and it's very possible that we see 1 or 2-week gaps between schedule releases so other divisions can catch up to games being played.

Normally I would have gone through all the opposition rosters and grabbed a feel for their strengths but I haven't this season. I know Edmonton is going to have a team to beat and probably a favorite to win the league and the Tigers play them twice in the first 4 games.

In this 24 game short season anything can happen and it will be exciting to watch all these new younger kids. 

Some News Articles





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Friday, February 19, 2021

2020-2021 Season

Who knows If anyone still checks this blog, but I've decided to start posting occasionally again. It will be read-only no comment mode.

Us Prospects Draft
The whl now performs a 3rd draft called the US Prospects draft. All WHL eligible US regions are eligible. The first draft was online almost a year ago and the first batch of  players hopefully arrive in the 2021-2022 season depending on the covid situation.

Banff Hockey Academy
The Banff Hockey Academy has moved to Medicine Hat.  Former Tigers Stefan Meyer, Emerson Etem, Jarred Sauer, Ben Thomson, Lorne Toews are listed as instructors. Tigers goaltending coach Matt Wong as well as Willie's son Brayden are listed as coaches.   The Tigers organization will have great insight to some High Caliber Alberta prospects with this school in their backyard. Unfortunately due to covid Hockey Alberta has cancelled all remaining games for the 2020-2021 season with a possibility of a spring season.


2021 Season Format
The WHL has announced they will compete in a 24 game season. The playoff format has yet to be announced. 

Teams will be competing against teams within their own division. To make things interesting, some divisions will be starting at different times

The U.S division will start play on March 18th
The Central division Starts play February 26th.
East division "intended" start date is March 12th.
The B.C division is not settled yet.

The East Division will have a "hub city" in Regina where all games will be played. 
In the BC division it's suspected they will have 2 Hub Cities in Kamloops and Kelowna; however details are still being worked out.

 The Calgary Hitmen will be playing out of the Tsuut'ina Nations Seven Chiefs Sportsplex as the saddledome has been taken up by the Flames and AHL's Stockton Heat


2021 Season Roster & Predictions
I'm not going to do a prediction this year as everything is so different and it takes up a ton of time.  
Their are a handful of players who are playing in other leagues. A positive covid test to a coach or key player could change everything as well.

 I've read that a few Imports are playing back in their home countries. There are also handful of American and Canadian kids who are playing in the USHL. There are older players and potential overages who've decided to play in leagues closer to home or elsewhere.

From what I remember Edmonton has an expected powerhouse team and is likely a strong candidate to win the league. Both Red Deer and Lethbridge seem to have youthful backends, but decent goaltenders.
 Every central team except Calgary has their rosters up on the WHL website.

Talent Losses Tigers
For the Tigers Imports Mads Sogaard, Jonathan Brinkman are playing in their home countries of Denmark and won't be back and I don't see the newly drafted import oskari kuntonen on the current roster

Cole Sillinger is expected to report after his season with the USHL Sioux Fall Stampede where he is putting up a 2PPG pace. The USHL season goes until April 24th. I don't know the status as to their playoffs. Sioux Falls has a 13-14-3-0 record for 6th out of 8 teams.

 It's also unfortunate that the plethora of good quality overages the Tigers have developed will be lost without any return value. Players such as Elijah Brown, Cyle Mcnabb, and Bryan Lockner appear to either be playing for other leagues or have been dropped from the roster.  In a normal year, I would think the Tigers could get an extra couple of draft picks from that.

Teams that were high in the cycle in terms of skill and experience will lose a lot of value, teams that are low in the cycle will highly benefit. I expect the overall age of the league may decline as a shortened season would benefit a rebuilding team.

WHL Fans & LIVE Stream
The whl has announced they are not letting fans in to watch games. As such the only method for viewing games would be online.

The CHL has changed its broadcasting partner to Verizon and I'm optimistic that means better quality.
They haven't said anything yet about the costs to watch. The season gets underway next Friday so hopefully, they have something in place shortly.

Is the broadcasting platform. All Home Openers will be available for free

Other Reading Material About the Tigers






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