The final leg of the WHL regular season is on. Clinching scenarios, positioning battles, and many different teams making last-ditch efforts to make the dance have been just some of the storylines to come out of the league during the second half. With just two weeks until the season concludes, the time to push is now.
Portland Winterhawks: 43-15-2-1 — 89 points
A favorite throughout the year to win the Ed Chynoweth Cup has been the Portland Winterhawks, and for good reason. The Winterhawks have been one of the most well-rounded teams in not just the WHL, but the CHL as a whole. They rank second among all CHL teams in goals scored at 300 and eighth in goals allowed at 184.
The CHL itself agrees with the sentiment of Portland being among the best nationally, as the Winterhawks have been included in 19 out of the 22 CHL Top 10 lists put out bi-weekly throughout the season. With two weeks to go before the regular season concludes, Portland is exactly where it expected to be.
Winterhawks defenseman and Seattle Kraken prospect Tyson Jugnauth was on the CHL TopX Show this week, stating the importance of clinching home-ice advantage in the playoffs and being only a point behind Prince George for the Western Conference lead. “To secure that top spot is gonna be huge,” Jugnauth said. “It’s talked about in the room… it’s more important to us to win each game every night. [We] hope to be in first by the end of the season and hope to be in the Memorial Cup.”
Jugnauth has seven goals and 25 assists in 31 games since joining the Winterhawks in November. He made it a point to mention his team’s balanced attack being about as good as it gets in the league, which is spot on for what this group has accomplished. Nine total players on the roster have 15 or more goals on the season, and there are 12 players with over 30 total points, both of which rank among the best in the league.
“We’re a really consistent team,” Jugnauth said. “We play with skill and [have] poise with the puck every single night. I think the biggest thing is it’s hard for teams to handle the depth… We have four good lines, six good defensemen, and two good goalies… Over the course of 60 minutes, that just wears different teams down.”
Highlighted by Gabe Klassen who recently hit the 100-point mark on the season, James Stefan with 46 goals, top five in the WHL, and San Jose Sharks prospect Lucas Cagnoni leading all defensemen in assists (63) and tied for points with Wenatchee’s Graham Sward (76), this roster already had plenty of depth before the trade deadline.
Even with all the firepower the Winterhawks already had, general manager and head coach Mike Johnston felt they needed another forward piece to push them over the top. And that’s what he did when Portland acquired Detroit Red Wings first-round pick Nate Danielson from the Brandon Wheat Kings at the WHL trade deadline. Danielson has nine goals and 21 assists in 23 games played with the Winterhawks, and the team has benefited from the added production, going 19-4-0-0 since Danielson entered the lineup on Jan. 17.
So, what could do Portland in? Despite having a gargantuan 35-13-1-1 record against teams currently in playoff positioning, the thorn in the Winterhawks’ side throughout the year has been a team they might face in the first round of the playoffs. Portland has one more meeting with the Spokane Chiefs before the end of the season, having gone 4-2-0-0 against the Chiefs through their first six meetings, with Spokane winning two out of three of the games played in the Rose City this season. An upset could be in the works if the Winterhawks don’t get off to a fast start in the first few games in a potential series between the two.
The Winterhawks were semifinalists in last year’s playoffs, taking out the Everett Silvertips in five games in Round 1 before being swept by the Memorial Cup hosts Kamloops Blazers in round two.
With Memorial Cups in 1982-83 and 1997-98, as well as a WHL championship under Johnston in 2012-13, the current version of this Portland team is about as good as it gets in the league this season, and it is poised to make a run at a fourth Memorial Cup appearance.
Everett Silvertips: 41-18-2-3 — 87 points
Another team that’s been electrifying on home ice this season has been the Everett Silvertips. The environment in Everett is about as good as you can find in the Western Hockey League, and there’s no exception come playoff time. The cowbells will be in full effect when they ring in the first round at Angel of the Winds Arena at the end of March.
The Silvertips hold the third-best winning percentage in the WHL on home ice, having lost just twice since the calendar flipped to 2024, and they haven’t lost back-to-back games at home all season. Defenseman and Kraken prospect Kaden Hammell knows how the benefits of home ice will aid his team.
“Holding home-ice advantage is very big,”Hammell said. “Having your own fans behind you for the first two games is huge. I think every win matters at this point of the year for that exact reason.”
Top goal scorers in Austin Roest and Dominik Rymon continue the charge for the Silvertips going into the playoffs, and Everett is getting contributions from all four of its forward lines. The roster may not be as deep with talent like the aforementioned Winterhawks, but the Tips can still come at teams in waves and stay in games even when it seems like they’re out of it.
Just last week hosting the Moose Jaw Warriors, the Silvertips clawed back from two separate two-goal deficits to force overtime, gathering the point that would clinch them home-ice advantage in the first round. While they wound up losing in a shootout, they showed they’re a group that gets invigorated by the home crowd.
“Getting to play the extra home game in a series in front of your fans is as important as ever,” Roest said following the game. “In front of these fans, it’s the best place to play regardless. But especially come playoff time.”
The troubling part for this team might just be leaving the friendly confines of Angel of the Winds Arena, as the Silvertips are more mediocre on the road at 18-13-0-0. Also recalling the fact they haven’t won a game against top-seeded Portland at Veterans Memorial Coliseum in over two calendar years, it could mark some trouble if they wind up meeting in the later rounds.
The Silvertips have made the playoffs in every season since their franchise began play in 2003, but they’ve only made the finals twice throughout their 21-year history, losing in the inaugural 2003-04 season to the Medicine Hat Tigers in four games, and again in 2017-18 to the Swift Current Broncos in six games. They had trouble in the first round of last year’s playoffs, struggling to find success down in Portland yet again, and losing in five games.
As of now, Everett would play host to the Victoria Royals in the first round. The Silvertips went 4-0-0-0 against the Royals in the regular season, including taking both games from the Royals in a home-and-home this weekend, winning 4-1 on Friday in Everett, and 6-2 on Saturday in Victoria.
Wenatchee Wild: 32-26-4-0 –68 points
It’s been a tale of two halves for the Wenatchee Wild in their inaugural season in the WHL. Despite trading away Conor Geekie and Matthew Savoie in January, the Wild maintained a steady pace in the Western Conference playoff picture, clinching their first ever appearance in the WHL playoffs.
There’s no true gamebreakers on this roster right now, though, and it could be a fatal flaw when they begin the first round. They have capable scoring pieces, like the team’s lone 30-goal scorer Kenta Isogai, and a pair of near-25-goal scorers in Briley Wood and Evan Friesen. But they now lack the elite talent that Geekie and Savoie brought in the first half of the season.
This is a team with some serious playoff experience, however. The Wild, when they were known as the Winnipeg Ice, made the WHL Finals last season, falling in five games to the Seattle Thunderbirds. The franchise has one Memorial Cup win in 2001-02, as well as three WHL championships in 1999-00, 2001-02, and 2010-11 from their days in Cranbrook, B.C., as the Kootenay Ice.
Seeing them be more careful with the puck in their own zone would help their goaltending, but it’s difficult to see how they will generate enough offense, especially against a clamp-down defensive opponent like the Kelowna Rockets.
Spokane Chiefs: 27-29-5-1 — 60 points
While they haven’t officially clinched a playoff spot as of now, being 10 points ahead of the Tri-City Americans with fewer than eight games left in the regular season makes it safe to assume the Chiefs will be the last team to make the playoffs in the Western Conference.
While they will likely be the eight seed, Spokane is not a team to fool around with. It’s hard to ask for much else from a top-line combination of leading scorer Berkly Catton (106 points), Conner Roulette (97), and Shea Van Olm leading the way, but they will need those guys to have huge performances, as well as timely goaltending performances from Dawson Cowan to survive past Round 1.
Catton became the fourth player in the WHL to surpass the 100-point mark, as well as the third to surpass 50 goals. His week was highlighted by a gorgeous move to get around two Victoria Royals defenders on the way to putting it in the back of the net.
Assuming they clinch their spot, the Chiefs will return to the playoffs after a one-year hiatus from postseason play, last making it in 2021-22 when they were swept by the Kamloops Blazers in Round 1. The Chiefs have two WHL championships and two Memorial Cup championships in franchise history, winning in both 1990-91 and 2007-08.
On the outside looking in: Seattle Thunderbirds (50 points) and Tri-City Americans (47)
There’s not much to write home about for either of these squads this season. The Thunderbirds have felt like a shell of their former championship-level selves all season, with many of their players graduating out of hte WHL and many of their returning players suffering long-term injuries at various stages of the season. And for the Americans, what looked like it was about to be a strong season from their quick start in October quickly got away from them. Both teams have solid foundational pieces that they will look to nurture for better results next season.
Neither team is officially eliminated, but the playoffs are becoming less likely by the day for these clubs.
Entry-level contracts signed
Austin Roest has been one of the more consistent players on the Silvertips this season, as he’s above a point-per-game pace at 32 goals and 31 assists in 56 games. The Nashville Predators drafted Roest in the sixth round of the 2023 NHL Draft, and last Friday, he signed his entry-level contract with the organization. Roest was focused on getting a deal done as soon as possible.
“It’s been talked about for the last month or so, so to finally sign it and make it official is an unbelievable feeling,” Roest said. “Ever since I was little, it’s been the goal and the dream [to make the NHL]. To get one step [closer] is an amazing feeling and tough to describe how it feels.”
Nashville did quite the business within the U.S. division this week. On Thursday, the Colorado Avalanche signed Seattle Thunderbirds defenseman Jeremy Hanzel to an entry-level contract, then promptly dealt him to Nashville as part of the Yakov Trenin trade. In return, the Avalanche received Wenatchee Wild defenseman Graham Sward, along with a 2025 third-round pick.
The first round of the WHL playoffs are set to begin on March 29. Header photo by Brian Liesse, courtesy Seattle Thunderbirds.
Thanks for providing these updates! I don’t think a lot of people realize how great of a deal a night out at a WHL game is and I hope more people who found their way to PNW hockey through the Kraken check them out!