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.
Edit: https://watch.chl.ca/
Is the broadcasting platform. All Home Openers will be available for free
Other Reading Material About the Tigers
No comments:
Post a Comment