As usual, the Western Hockey League begins the regular season on a plug-and-play basis. With top players away at NHL training camps, most teams are forced to get an early indication of their bench depth.
The Victoria Royals and Prince George Cougars are no different as they open the 2016-17 WHL regular season with a back-to-back set tonight and Saturday night at Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre.
Four Royals are currently in NHL camps — forward Jack Walker with the Maple Leafs, forward Tyler Soy with the Ducks, forward and 2015-16 WHL rookie of the year Matthew Phillips with the Flames and defenceman Chaz Reddekopp with the Kings. Defenceman Joe Hicketts, eligible to return as a 20-year-old to Victoria, is expected to remain in the Red Wings’ minor-pro system this season.
Royals blue-liner Ralph Jarratt, meanwhile, has returned from the camp of the New Jersey Devils.
A total of 140 WHL players were invited to NHL camps and they will be coming back, like Jarratt, in drips and drops over the next few weeks. Each of the 22 WHL clubs sent at least one player to an NHL camp with the Red Deer Rebels topping the list with 12 players, followed by the Calgary Hitmen and Kelowna Rockets with 10 each and the Kamloops Blazers with a surprising nine.
The Cougars have an equally-surprising eight players who were tabbed for NHL camps — Brogan O’Brien and Duncan’s Josh Anderson to the Avalanche, Tate Olson to the Canucks, Jesse Gabrielle to the Bruins, Jansen Harkins to the Jets, Kody McDonald to the Islanders, Brad Morrison to the Rangers and Sam Ruopp to the Blue Jackets.
While this connection to NHL camps is great for the overall marquee value of the WHL, it can make for thin gruel in early-season game action.
“This weekend is all about [other] guys getting an opportunity to play in real games,” said Royals head coach Dave Lowry.
“It’s no different than when some guys get a chance when other players go down with injury. That’s the way we look at it.”
What it does is put a great deal of early-season leadership responsibility onto the shoulders of veteran players who weren’t invited to pro camps. So it doesn’t help Victoria to be missing 20-year-old forward Carter Folk, who has three games remaining on a five-game suspension.
“I don’t view it as pressure on me to produce [early],” said returning Royals forward Dante Hannoun, who had 26 goals and 58 points last season.
“It’s more just a matter of us going out and doing things the way we always do, the right way, and focusing on our systems and what we’ve been doing in practices, no matter who is here or not.”
The undrafted Jarratt said he returns to the Royals’ blue line having learned a lot in the New Jersey camp as an invitee.
“It was an unbelievable experience. Getting to put on an NHL jersey [for two exhibition games with the Devils rookie team] was special. It’s just a faster game up there,” he said.
“While I’m disappointed I didn’t get invited to Devils’ main camp, I will take that experience and apply it to my season here.”
Meanwhile, the strong Blazers and Cougars representations in NHL camps shows why some prognosticators have Kamloops and Prince George challenging Victoria and Kelowna for the B.C. Division title.
Yet, we’ve seen this plotline before. At this point last year, on the eve of the 2015-16 WHL campaign, the Cougars were also a trendy pre-season pick to do what the then-unheralded Royals eventually did. That is to win the Scotty Munro Trophy as WHL regular-season champions.
It’s a fresh sheet of ice for a new season and the Cougars will try again to live up to their billing. They do so with a new head coach, Richard Matvichuk, and a deep and veteran roster featuring nine 19-year-old players.
While no one is making the mistake of underestimating the Royals again — they are starting the season as the eighth-ranked team in the Canadian Hockey League pre-season top-10 poll — the Victoria brain trust remains wary. Lowry is not whole-heartedly buying the common wisdom that the Western Conference will come down to the CHL No. 4-ranked Seattle Thunderbirds, No. 8 Royals or honourable-mention Kelowna Rockets,
“You can put Kamloops in the mix and let’s not forget about Prince George. Plus, Vancouver has made improvements,” said Lowry. “Parity is what we are going to see.”
