While the Kansas City Chiefs were electrifying the world with their Super Bowl win on Sunday night, we were thinking about a different kind of “Chiefs” team, specifically a key player on the Spokane Chiefs of the Western Hockey League. Berkly Catton, a player who has the speed and agility of Patrick Mahomes and the ability to always find open space like Travis Kelce, is making a case to hear his name called early at the 2024 NHL Draft.
A native of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Catton spends most of his summers just like any other Canadian kid with NHL aspirations: shooting pucks. The 18-year-old said he takes pride in the amount that goes into working on his shot and how he’s been able to translate that to the WHL.
“I spend a lot of my summers just shooting pucks, learning that it’s not easy to score goals in this league,” Catton said. “I think by doing that I’ve taken my shot to the next level.”
The forward leads the Chiefs with 38 goals on the season, good for fourth in the league. “I’m getting to scoring areas a lot better with the maturity and confidence I have in myself. It’s about growing my game, and it’s been growing quite a lot lately.”
Catton appears on the highlight reel almost every night for the Chiefs and got them on the board twice last Friday against the Tri-City Americans. His first goal was a display of his spatial recognition and passing instincts. It was a goal he said he had “blind confidence” on in his celebration, as no one knew initially the puck was in the net. The goal was confirmed minutes later.
Catton tries to emulate some of the most skilled NHLers to separate himself from other prospects and create open ice. “[I watched] players growing up that had a similar style game I strive to play.” Catton used Jack Hughes as an example of a player he looks up to. “Seeing how they do it, and then implementing that into my game. I think I’m a player that can see those opportunities unfold on the ice, then execute very quickly and quite well.”
While he is on the shorter end for a forward at 5-foot-11, Catton more than makes up for it with his hands and his hockey sense and his explosiveness that allows him to create odd-man opportunities for himself.
He showed off this explosiveness with another highlight on Friday evening with his second goal of the contest. Bolting to support linemate Connor Roulette on a 2-on-1 rush, Roulette found Catton open once he caught up. Catton made a dazzling move down low on Americans goalie Lukas Matecha, a shorthanded goal that extended the Chiefs lead to 4-1.
“I pride myself on my ability to accelerate,” Catton said about how his speed would translate professionally. “Lots goes into having elite-caliber speed, but ultimately it’s about that want and drive to score that a lot of the top-level players have, and I think I have that.”
Catton’s knack to find the open ice, then make smart adjustments on the fly will entice teams with a need for more dynamic offensive players.
Chiefs head coach Ryan Smith had high praise for Catton as well. “He’s simply electric,” Smith said. “One of the best there is in this league, if not the best. His edge work is great, he gets around guys and really controls the puck well.”
For a younger, 2006-born player, it was surprising to hear the list of players Catton rattled off when reminiscing about some of his childhood favorites.
Berkly Catton takes the ice. (Photo/Larry Brunt, Spokane Chiefs)
“There’s so many options, but I probably liked watching Pavel Datsyuk and Sergei Federov the best growing up,” Catton recalled. “Those two were some of the best at creating space and making the most insane plays. Sidney Crosby too, with me being a smaller guy like him, and seeing how well he protects the puck. I have been trying to emulate them as best I can for a long time.”
A budding leader
Another asset of Catton’s game would be his leadership abilities. Of course, he leads the Chiefs statistically in goals, assists, and points (38-44=84), but he is also one of Spokane’s alternate captains and was a captain at this year’s Kubota CHL Top Prospects game in Moncton, New Brunswick.
He has the qualities of making his linemates better while making himself better along the way. “He wants to be the guy to make the plays when he has the puck,” Smith said. “He’s got that confidence about him where he knows that the sky’s the limit, and he’s just going to continue getting better and better.”
Now the main question. Where could Catton end up landing? Most draft rankings have him getting selected in or around the top 10, with the biggest knock on his game being his size. Columbus, Buffalo, Montreal or Minnesota are a few teams bound for a top-10 pick that could use the help to diversify their offensive attack in the ways that Catton can provide.
We do also wonder if the Seattle Kraken might grab Catton, should he be available when they select. The super-skilled forward does fit an organizational need for Seattle, which has shown a penchant for drafting locally, with three prospects playing in the U.S. Division this season. Having that high-end prospect developing in your backyard could be beneficial for both the organization and the player.
While size and physicality features on Catton don’t strike many as appealing, his strong work ethic, offense generation, and elite, game-wrecking instincts may be too good to pass up. Whichever team has the opportunity of drafting him will be getting a developed hockey mind.
Header photo by Larry Brunt, courtesy of the Spokane Chiefs.
This is Part I of a two-part series where we will look at the best player at each position group from each U.S. Division team. This week is a glance at the goaltenders, an area that has seen strong performances of late.
Portland Winterhawks: Jan Spunar
18 GP: 13-3-0-1, 1.73 GAA, 0.933 SV%
One of the most well-rounded teams in the WHL might just have one of the best goaltending situations with the tandem of Jan Spunar and Nick Avakyan finally being at full health. When it comes to identifying who most likely gets the nod going into the playoffs, it’s hard to look away from the abilities of Spunar.
Spunar won WHL Goaltender of the Month in September/October but went down with a lower-body injury in mid-November, sidelining him for over two months. Portland has had it rough on the injury end with goalies, at one point being down to their fourth-string netminder. Fortunately, this tough stretch didn’t phase the Winterhawks, who still sit in first place in the Western Conference.
With a WHL-leading 1.63 GAA and .936 SV% through the months of September and October, @pdxwinterhawks netminder Jan Špunar is the WHL Goaltender of the Month!
Spunar, still leading the league for goals against average at 1.73, returned to the lineup this past Friday against the Kelowna Rockets. He didn’t skip a beat, only allowing one goal while stopping 28 Rockets shots, then stopping 25 of 26 shots the following night against Seattle.
Spunar is ranked No. 21 by NHL Central Scouting for North American Goaltenders.
Honorable Mention: Nick Avakyan (13-7-1-0, 3.81 GAA, 0.876 SV%)
Everett Silvertips: Tyler Palmer
34 GP: 21-8-1-2, 2.57 GAA, 0.909 SV%
It’s hard to pick just one goalie from a true tandem that the Silvertips have going, especially with the amount of success their goalies have brought this season. Everett currently holds the second seed in the Western Conference, but if our rankings are based off statistics and eye test alone, Tyler Palmer has been the rock in net for the Silvertips. Palmer, like the rest of the Silvertips, shines brightest at Angel of the Winds Arena, where he has gone 13-3-1 on the year.
Palmer displayed his impressive athleticism on Sunday with a 28-save performance against the Wenatchee Wild. He took home the first star that night as the Silvertips cruised to a 6-1 win.
A veteran by Western Hockey League standards at this point, Daniel Hauser has a ridiculous .785 win percentage since entering the league in 2020-21. While the winning has slowed considerably this season for Hauser, who has seen more losses in 2023-24 than the entirety of his time with the now-defunct Winnipeg Ice, he’s still producing and helping lead the Wild down the stretch into the playoffs.
Playing in a total of 31 playoff games with a career save percentage of 0.907 over the past two seasons, it might be the experience Hauser has in those high-pressure moments that can help carry the Wild farther than anticipated.
While it hasn’t been the most consistent of seasons for the Spokane Chiefs, one thing they haven’t lacked is consistency from their 18-year-old starting goalie.
Draft eligible this coming summer, Dawson Cowan has been a stable force for the Chiefs. Despite sporting a losing record this season, Spokane is also privy to seeing 35-plus shots per game, with Cowan having to do much of the heavy lifting.
When I observed Spokane in December, one of the main draws from the amount Cowan played was how much confidence he had in his game. Even with his hefty workload, Cowan has shown the poise and alertness that goaltenders are expected to have at the next level.
Cowan represented the Chiefs at the Kubota CHL Top Prospects Game in Moncton, New Brunswick. He is ranked fifth by NHL Central Scouting for North American Goaltenders.
Tri-City Americans: Lukas Matecha
27 GP, 10-13-1-1, 3.16 GAA, 0.909 SV%
Much like Cowan, Lukas Matecha’s team allows plenty of shots through to him, which can be overwhelming for a young goalie. Also NHL Draft eligible this summer, Matecha has kept the Tri-City Americans afloat during the middle portion of the season and nearing the playoffs.
The 18-year-old from Chrudim, Czech Republic has a large frame at 6-foot-3, 187 pounds, but still makes the proper reads with his responses being adequately quick.
Matecha represented the Americans at the CHL Top Prospects game as well. He is ranked No. 9 by NHL Central Scouting for North American Goaltenders.
Seattle: Scott Ratzlaff (BUF)
32 GP, 13-16-1-0, 3.38 GAA. 0.904 SV%
We might be saving the best for last here. When talking about Scott Ratzlaff and the potential he has to succeed at the NHL level, it’s best not to look at the stat sheet, at least from this season. And even then, he has numbers that are still respectable, even with how low Seattle has sunk in the standings this season. Stats from 2022-23 are way more of a reflection of the type of player and leader Ratzlaff is.
But looking beyond the stats, he’s about the sharpest he’s been all season right now. The way Ratzlaff has been trending with some of the athletic stops he’s made over the past month, including an incredible sprawling save in a game recently against Prince George, it wouldn’t surprise me if he starts to get similar levels of hype and attention that fellow Sabres goaltender Devon Levi has received.
Ratzlaff’s best outing of the season thus far came this past week in Everett, against a Silvertips team with one of the best home records in the league. This was a game he basically won single-handedly for Seattle, as he stopped a whopping 62 of 63 shots faced in the 3-1 victory.
With January nearing a close, Everett and Portland are continuing to solidify themselves as two of the teams to beat down the stretch in the WHL. The top teams in the U.S. Division are getting hotter and hotter, and with a little under two months left in the regular season, the time to be hot is now.
Everett Silvertips
What a second half it’s been for the Everett Silvertips so far, as they have gained sole possession of first place in the Western Conference, thanks in large part to their current eight-game win streak. It’s been a streak full of high-danger scoring chances and key players emerging at the right time.
One of their more notable performances of late was their match last Friday with Spokane, a night which saw the Silvertips put up 11 goals on Chiefs goalies Cooper Michaluk and Dawson Cowan, shooting a ridiculous 32.3 percent on the night. 13 Silvertips players tallied points, with Ben Hemmerling (VGK), Austin Roest (NSH), Dominik Rymon, Jesse Heslop, and Tarin Smith each notching three or more points that night. Hemmerling has thoroughly impressed over the last seven games, with six goals and nine assists, and him sporting a 17.1 percent shooting percentage.
The Tips have been simply dominant throughout this stretch, as they’ve outscored opponents 45-16, nearly doubling opponents in shots on goal with them averaging 44 shots a game, versus seeing only 23 shots against. They most recently extended their streak on Wednesday night in Kelowna where they took down the Rockets, 4-3 as Carter Bear scored in the final minutes to seal the victory.
This streak has turned some heads nationally, as the Silvertips made an appearance at No. 7 in this week’s CHL Top 10. Everett has a great opportunity to extend their streak even further, with their next five games coming against teams in fringe playoff contention.
Portland Winterhawks
Still racing with the Silvertips, and arguably just as hot as Everett, are the Portland Winterhawks, who are 8-1-1-0 over their last 10 games. Plenty of their success is due in large part to Gabe Klassen and James Stefan, combining for 29 points across their last 10 games.
Portland was aided by their deadline acquisition coming in hot, as Nate Danielson (DET) officially debuted as a Portland Winterhawk on Jan. 17. The ninth overall selection in 2022 immediately made an impact in his first game by tallying a goal and an assist against the Kelowna Rockets, showing off some of the flash that the Winterhawks were hoping to get out of him.
Danielson contributed yet again with an assist in Portland’s 3-2 win over Tri-City on Friday, and he now has points in each of his first four games with the Winterhawks thus far (2-3=5). Portland sits in second place in the U.S. Division, only four points behind division-leading Everett with four games in hand.
The Wenatchee Wild continue to be steady, even after their deadline overhaul, keeping pace in third place. A few marks behind them are Spokane and Tri-City. The Highway 395 rivals sit in eighth and ninth in the Western Conference, both within a point of each other for that final wild card spot. Then there’s Seattle who continues to be lackluster, going 2-8-0-0 over their last 10 games and sitting six points behind Spokane, good for last place in the U.S.
CHL Top Prospects Game
It’s always an exciting time of year when the CHL invites many of their top prospects, most of them ready to hear their names called at the NHL Draft this summer, to its showcase event at the Kubota CHL Top Prospects Game. This year, the event was held at Avenir Centre in Moncton, New Brunswick. A handful of players from the U.S. Division made the voyage eastward.
A couple goaltenders made appearances with Spokane’s Dawson Cowan (N.A. goaltenders: #5) and Tri-City’s Lukas Matecha getting invites (N.A. goaltenders: #9). Only two skaters from the U.S. attended the event, with Spokane’s Berkly Catton (N.A. skaters: #9) and Everett’s Julius Miettinen (N.A. skaters: #49) skating for each side. Catton served as captain for Team White.
The day before the game, the event featured a few on-ice tests for prospects to show off some of their skills. Catton did well in the agility drills they held, placing third among WHL attendees with weave agility with a puck, first in transition agility, and third in transition agility with a puck. Miettinen tested well with speed drills, most notably placing first in the 30 meter forward test.
Both netminders were solid in their half-game showings on Wednesday, with Cowan on Team White stopping 16 of 17 faced, while Matecha shut the door on all 19 shots he saw for Team Red. Matecha and Miettinen for Team Red wound up winning over Team White, 3-1. Miettinen had just one assist. Kelowna Rockets forward Tij Iginla won the game’s MVP.
Reported by Sportsnet’s Jeff Marek, the CHL plans to remake this event to include NCAA players, with them facing off against the CHL’s best.
CHL News – sounds like last night's CHL/NHL Top Prospects game will be the final one. Look for the event to be replaced with a two-game series between the best prospects in the CHL vs the best prospects in the U.S.
The Seattle Kraken went defense heavy in the later parts of the 2023 NHL Draft, as they looked to find more future offensive production from their back end. With 13 points in his last 10 games, including a goal and an assist in Wednesday night’s game against Everett, Kelowna defenseman and Kraken third-round choice Caden Price is starting to become that and more, as he’s making a name for himself as an elite first-pair defender in the WHL.
Header photo courtesy Brian Liesse, Seattle Thunderbirds.
Things are starting to shape up in the Western Hockey League, and the cream seems to have risen to the top of the standings. The dust has settled from the IIHF World Junior Championship, and the WHL trade deadline has come and gone. We recap the day of the deadline and the outlooks of the U.S. Division teams going down the stretch.
Trade deadline recap
Portland Winterhawks
Portland is firing on all cylinders. Winners of 10 of their last 12 games, the first-place Winterhawks made one of the final and arguably biggest splashes of the day by trading for Brandon Wheat Kings captain and Detroit Red Wings No. 9 overall selection in the 2023 NHL Draft, Nate Danielson, in exchange for forward Nicholas Johnson (’05), defenseman Rhett Ravndahl (’05), and three future bantam draft selections, including first-round picks in 2025 and 2027.
With Danielson’s recent return from the WJC with three points in five games for Canada, the Winterhawks get yet another impact forward to group with Gabe Klassen and James Stefan as they hit the stretch run of the season.
Danielson, a 6-foot-2 center from Red Deer, Alberta, has 12 goals and 14 assists in 26 games played in the WHL this season.
Everett Silvertips
The Silvertips stayed quiet throughout deadline day, relying on the return of some key players to make an impact down the stretch.
Everett welcomed back to the lineup Dominik Rymon from World Juniors, where he played for team Czechia. Rymon promptly put up two goals and two assists in his first game back with the Silvertips, helping them pick up an 8-2 win up in Kamloops.
Bringing it back to my talk with Ben Hemmerling last Sunday, “Once we get our team healthier and continue to build off of these games, it’ll all come around.”
Seattle and Wenatchee
The Thunderbirds and Wild kept each other company through the ensuing madness around the league by swapping forwards, with Wenatchee receiving Cru Hanas (’05), and Seattle grabbing rookie Oscar Lovsin (’06). Lovsin notably potted the first goal in Wild franchise history and has nine points in 31 games played this season, while Hanas had four assists in his brief 20-game stay with the T-Birds.
Seattle Thunderbirds
Seattle sits at the bottom of the division standings, a far cry from where it was just a year ago when it took home the league championship. The Thunderbirds continued to sell at the deadline.
The T-Birds sent defenseman Braeden Wynne (’04) to the Lethbridge Hurricanes in exchange for a seventh-rounder in 2024. The 6-foot-1, 19-year-old had just eight assists in 43 games with the T-Birds this year.
Seattle did take down Portland on Friday night with a gutsy 5-4 overtime victory, thanks to Coster Dunn’s monstrous game with four points, including the overtime winner.
Is it enough to claw back into playoff contention? While consistent goaltending and solid wins like Friday’s are positive signs, being last in the division might be too big of a hole to climb out of.
Tri-City Americans
The Americans added forward Mason Finley (’04) from the Edmonton Oil Kings for a 2026 eighth-rounder. Finley has three assists in 36 games this year.
The Americans finished off their day trading away defenseman Pasha Bocharov (’04) to the Calgary Hitmen in exchange for a fifth-round selection. With only 20 points in 184 WHL games, this was likely a corresponding move to free up roster space for Finley.
Spokane Chiefs
Spokane sits on the bubble of a playoff spot, and if they plan on making a run towards the postseason, they needed to make some changes with their forward lines.
The Chiefs needed better depth scoring, and they got it by trading for Kamloops Blazers forward Shea Van Olm (’04) in exchange for forward Cole Wadsworth, a 2026 second-rounder and a 2025 third. Van Olm had 17 goals and 38 points in his 89 career games with the Blazers. He’ll join up with Berkly Catton and Connor Roulette atop Spokane’s lineup. Wadsworth has only 11 points in his 71-game WHL career.
Kraken CHL spotlight
This was already a pro-Kitchener Rangers media outlet with Kraken prospect Carson Rehkopf lighting it up in the OHL, but we just became even more pro-Rangers with that team acquiring Kraken 2023 first-round selection Eduard Sale from the Barrie Colts.
Sale had seven goals and 20 points in the 25 games played in Barrie, and he returned from the World Juniors after a point-per-game showing in seven games for Team Czechia. Sale joins a Kitchener team currently atop the OHL in total points.
I’ll be taking a break from WHL Weekly this next week to regather from the madness that was, but I will be back the week after to catch up on everything you need to know about from the U.S. Division.
Under a week remains until the trade deadline for the Western Hockey League, and the biggest mover so far has been the Wenatchee Wild, who made it clear that an overhaul is needed for the organization to move forward.
Wenatchee retools
During their time playing for Team Canada at the IIHF World Junior Championship in Gothenburg, Sweden, rumors began to circulate that the Wild would be looking to trade away their phenom forwards Conor Geekie (ARI) and Matthew Savoie (BUF) to regain the draft picks they lost from previous years. Wenatchee had no first- or second-round selections in the WHL Bantam Draft for the next five seasons.
As Sportsnet’s Jeff Marek began reporting early last week, trades with the Swift Current Broncos for Geekie, and the Moose Jaw Warriors for Savoie were in line, with the only questions being what would be the return packages.
In recent years, trades in the CHL have been far more off the rails than before, the types of trades you would make with your friends in fantasy football. One example from last season was when the hosts of the Memorial Cup, the Kamloops Blazers, gave the Everett Silvertips four roster players and 10 Bantam Draft selections (14 totals assets) for Olen Zellweger and Ryan Hofer. So with Geekie and Savoie both being top NHL Draft selections a couple seasons ago, the return for them was bound to be steep.
The trades were finalized Thursday, Geekie to Swift Current in exchange for three players and four picks including two first-rounders, while Savoie to Moose Jaw brought the Wild seven picks in return, including two first-round selections.
Additionally, the Wild traded defenseman Ashton Cumby to the Seattle Thunderbirds for a sixth-rounder in 2024.
Put bluntly by Wild general manager Bliss Littler, “These are tough decisions – we do not want to be in a position, nor do we want our fans to see us in a position, where we would likely win seven to 10 games a year for the next five years.” Wenatchee needed to balance the present team with future stability, and the way to do that was by offloading their higher-value, expiring assets.
Wenatchee may not be done either. Rumors are swirling about them looking to move some more of their roster pieces, including names like captain and defenseman Graham Sward (NSH), Zach Benson’s WHL rights (BUF), and goaltender Daniel Hauser.
The Wild being very candid about the decision they are faced with…..it sure sounds like they are admitting they need to tear it down this week and trade "expiring" assets.
So….Geekie, Savoie, Sward, Benson (conditional on return from the NHL). Who else could go….Hauser? https://t.co/llD6XA6aaI
While trading away Geekie and Savoie does hinder Wenatchee’s chase for the division title, scoring isn’t entirely depleted. The Wild will continue to rely on the production from Kenta Isogai and the aforementioned Sward if he stays put.
With 10 points in Isogai’s last three games, including his first career WHL hat trick against the Kelowna Rockets on Saturday, and Sward becoming the first WHL defenseman to 50 points this season, the Wild will look for more players like them to step into the roles played by Geekie and Savoie for the rest of the season and into the playoffs.
Top teams meet in the Rose City
The two other horses battling with Wenatchee atop the U.S. Division met in Portland on Friday night.
Everett Silvertips and Portland Winterhawks alternated the scoring in a back-and-forth game. Everett had the lead towards the back half of the third before a last-minute, shorthanded, game-tying goal from Portland’s Marcus Nguyen forced overtime and eventually a shootout.
Despite Everett goalie Tyler Palmer (CGY) and his 51-save performance on the night, it wasn’t enough. The Silvertips were defeated 5-4.
Everett has had noteworthy struggles in Portland for a while now. Including playoffs, the Silvertips losing streak at Veterans Memorial Coliseum extended to 13 games, with their last win there coming on Nov. 16, 2021.
With the win, the Winterhawks moved into sole possession of first place in the U.S. Division and became the first U.S. team to 50 points on the year.
Everett salvages week
Despite the loss on Friday, the Silvertips came home to energetic crowds for the rest of the weekend, starting Saturday against the Seattle Thunderbirds, when Everett pelted T-birds netminder Scott Ratzlaff (BUF) with 57 total shots on net. Despite the 54-save performance from Ratzlaff, two goals from Julius Miettinen and one from Ben Hemmerling (VGK) were enough to down the Thunderbirds, 4-2.
The next night was much of the same formula for the Tips. Welcoming in the top team in the Western Conference in Prince George, Everett displayed yet again why it’s a force to be reckoned with on home ice. Two early first-period strikes from Hemmerling and another from Miettinen to begin the second had Everett in the driver’s seat.
A lengthy glass maintence delay halted the Silvertips momentum a bit, as the Cougars would eventually pull within one goal, but it was too little, too late. With the 4-2 victory, Everett clinches the season series over Prince George, winning three out of four, as well as taking five out of a possible six points on the weekend.
“Even though we let one slip away on Friday, we really battled back on Saturday and Sunday in front of our home crowd,” Hemmerling said. “Once we get our team healthier and continue to build off of games like we just played against Prince George, it’ll all come around.”
The Silvertips continue to jockey position with Portland and Wenatchee. With the win on Sunday, they sit tied for second place with the Wild at 51 points and one point back of the Winterhawks for first place. “We’re right there,” Field said. “If we play the way we know we are capable of, hopefully by the end of the year we’ll be the last team standing.”
Bolstering their blue line
On New Year’s Eve, the Silvertips swapped overage defensemen with the Regina Pats, trading Ty Gibson and a 2025 second-rounder for Parker Berge.
Following the game on Sunday, I asked Berge about his transition to the City of Smokestacks. “It takes a little bit to get used to playing with all new guys, as well as the different systems in place,” Berge said. He has three assists in the games he’s played with Everett thus far. “It was a quick turnaround from being told I was traded to then playing with a brand new team the next night, but going from a team that’s not doing very well to a team that’s in contention has been pretty cool.”
“Berge fits in really well with this group,” Field said. “He has a presence to him that no matter what is going on, he tends to settle the group down, make simple yet smart plays.”
Jagger Firkus
Bringing it back to the Moose Jaw Warriors, Jagger Firkus (SEA) returned to the WHL following his abbreviated call up to Team Canada at the World Junior Championship. With seven points in his first two games back, Firkus boosted his season point total to 66, ranking first in total points in the Eastern Conference and third in the league overall, as well as collecting his 250th career WHL point Saturday night in Swift Current.
Those in the Pacific Northwest wishing to see Firkus and the Warriors will have the opportunity to do so Feb. 23 through Mar. 3, as they make their journey through the U.S. Division and visit Tri-City, Spokane, Portland, Everett, Seattle, and Wenatchee.
The WHL trade deadline is set for this Wednesday, Jan. 10.
The second half is underway for the WHL. For teams like the Wenatchee Wild, notable pieces are off at the IIHF World Junior Championship, whereas for teams like the Spokane Chiefs, they get to take advantage of temporarily weakened opponents.
Wenatchee Wild without key pieces
The Wenatchee Wild ended the first half in first place in the U.S. Division thanks in large part to the presence of top contributors Conor Geekie (ARI) and Matt Savoie (BUF).
But with the duo playing for Team Canada at the WJC in Gothenberg, Sweden, as well as Rodzers Bukarts playing for Latvia, the Wild are relying more on their depth pieces. But on nights like Wednesday’s 5-2 loss in Spokane, their absence is more than noticeable.
”We have significant players out right now,” Wild head coach Roy Sommer said. “When we have Geekie and Savoie in the lineup, it’s a completely different ballgame. Complete with Kenta Isogai, I think they’re the best line in the Western Hockey League.”
The Wild likely won’t do much around the deadline due to the scarcity of their draft choices but will be aided once Geekie and Savoie return from Sweden in a week or so.
Spokane starting to climb
The vibes are about the best they’ve been all season for the Spokane Chiefs. After concluding the first half by taking three out of four points from the Portland Winterhawks, the second half started on Wednesday with the Wild.
Taking advantage of Wenatchee’s depleted roster, the Chiefs pounced on Wild goaltender Daniel Hauser, putting in five goals from five different skaters on the night.
One of those goal scorers was Ben Bonni, who made a highlight reel play to beat Hauser. “I was planning on trying to get in the middle somehow,” Bonni said. “Then I saw [Hauser] was a little bit out, so I made a move and it went in.”
Ben Bonni on his own @TicketsWest Player Magnet giveaway night!
Hauser’s counterpart, Dawson Cowan, backstopped the Chiefs to the 5-2 win with 39 saves on 41 shots faced. Cowan is 3-0 across his past three starts with a .954 save percentage. He made some massive stops during Saturday’s game against Tri-City as well, including a minute and a half 5-on-3 penalty kill time to hold the lead and eventually pull away to a 6-2 win.
“For us, it was a momentum swing, and it killed the momentum for them,” Spokane coach Ryan Smith said of his team’s performance on special teams Saturday.
The Chiefs have points in four consecutive games for just the second time this season, propelling them over the Vancouver Giants into the final playoff spot as of today.
“Every night, points are always on line,” Cowan said. “Every game feels like a playoff game where we have to give it our all.”
With the trade deadline nearing, Spokane is in a good position with their draft capital to make a splash, though with the roster being on the younger side, there likely won’t be many trades from the active roster.
“The players understand that [the deadline] is looming,” Smith said. “If you play this game long enough, you’re gonna get traded, sat, scratched; that’s just the way it works.”
Spokane concludes 2023 with a rematch against Tri-CIty down in Kennewick,WA, before beginning a road swing through Alberta.
Player highlight: Berkly Catton
It’s no secret that Berkly Catton is destined to hear his name called early in this summer’s NHL Draft from Las Vegas. His offensive awareness and complete hockey instincts are exactly why most have projected him to go near the middle of the top 10, with some models projecting him as high as fourth overall.
Following the game on Saturday in which Catton assisted on four of Spokane’s goals, I asked coach Smith what makes his top-line center so dominant. “He has elite vision and playmaking, he can make plays that not many in this league can,” Smith said. “Whoever gets the opportunity to take him not only is getting a great player, but an even better person.”
“He’s got all the attributes you could possibly want,” Cowan added to coach Smith’s rhetoric. “No matter what team he’s on at the next level, I think he’s the type of guy who will dominate wherever he goes.”
Catton wrapped up the month of December with points in all nine games played, including eight goals and 19 points during that stretch. He currently leads the team in assists with 29, and points with 51.
Everett and Seattle kick off the trade deadline
It’s officially trade season. Making the first big splash was Seattle, as they began to sell pieces to regain draft picks they traded away over the past two seasons. On Wednesday, they traded away Gracyn and Lukas Sawchyn and Tracen Ashley for eight assets including a first-rounder in 2026, and two second-round picks in 2026 and 2027.
As for the Silvertips, they made a trade with the Regina Pats on Sunday, sending 20-year-old defenseman Ty Gibson and a 2025 second-round choice to Regina in exchange for another 20-year-old in Parker Berge. Berge has 10 goals and 36 points in 37 games with the Pats this season, ranking fourth in league for points by a defenseman.
Everett and Seattle will likely continue to scour the market before next Wednesday’s deadline. Tri-City and Portland did a lot of transactions earlier in the year, so they may be quieter.
The trade deadline is set for Wednesday, Jan. 10.
Header photo taken by Brian Liesse. Photo courtesy of Seattle Thunderbirds.
