Thursday's Portland Winterhawks News and Notes: 17 Former Hawks on NHL Opening Day Rosters

Joe Morrow

17 Former Winterhawks in NHL:
-The NHL has announced the opening night rosters for all 30 NHL teams and there are 15 people listed who once played in Portland.
Here they are:

1. Joe Morrow D(Boston Bruins)- Played in Portland from 2007-12. Has played 15 total games in the NHL.
2. Marian Hossa RW(Chicago Blackhawks)-1997-98. Has played 1172 NHL games.
3. Cody McLeod LW(Colorado Avalanche)-2001-05. Has played 549 NHL games.
4. Brandon Dubinsky C(Columbus Blue Jackets)-2002-06. Has played 545 NHL games.
5. Ryan Johansen C(Columbus Blue Jackets)-2009-11. Has played 271 NHL games.
6. Colton Sceviour RW(Dallas Stars)-2004-08. Has played 99 NHL games.
7. Andrew Ference D(Edmonton Oilers)-1994-99. Has played 901 NHL games.
8. Rob Klinkhammer LW(Edmonton Oilers)-2006-07. Has played 179 career NHL games.
9. Mathew Dumba D(Minnesota Wild)-2013-14. Has played 71 NHL games.
10. Nino Niederreiter RW(Minnesota Wild)-2009-11. Has played 225 NHL games.
11. Paul Gaustad C(Nashville Predators)-1999-2002. Has played 664 NHL games.
12. Seth Jones D(Nashville Predators)-2012-13. Has played 159 NHL games.
13. Braydon Coburn D(Tampa Bay Lightning)-2000-05. Has played 618 NHL games.
14. Sven Baertschi LW(Vancouver Canucks)-2010-12. Has played 69 NHL games.
15. Jannik Hansen RW(Vancouver Canucks)-2005-06. Has played 471 NHL games
16. Luca Sbisa D(Vancouver Canucks)-2009-10. Has played 342 NHL games.
17. Nic Petan C(Winnipeg Jets)-2010-15. Has yet to play in an NHL regular season game.

Ference

-As it stands now, dating all the way back to 1994, there has been a player from each year's Winterhawks team, playing in the NHL this year.
-I'd really like Andrew Ference, who is one of my all time favorite Winterhawks, to break the 1,000 NHL games played plateau over the next couple of years.

New Names on the Weekly Injury Report:
-This weeks injury report and for the Winterhawks, there were several new names, some we were expecting and some we were not.
Here is who is on the list:
#5 D-Jack Dougherty- Lower Body-"Day to Day."
#12 C-Igor Larionov II- Illness- "Day to Day."
#14 D-Nick Heid- Upper Body- "Day to Day."
#20 C-Carl Ericson- Lower Body- "Week to Week."
#29 RW-Austin Gray- Illness- "Indefinite."

Ericson

-The strange-ness continues for the Winterhawks injury report. Evan Weinger goes from "indefinite" last Tuesday to playing in Saturday's game and Gray, who has yet to play a game this year goes from un-listed on the first two week's reports to out "indefinitely."
-Here's hoping that Heid's upper body injury is not related to his shoulder, which he had operated on last year and missed most of the season over.
-Dougherty left Saturday's game after blocking a shot late in the 2nd period and is probably nursing an injury related to that. I would not expect him to miss much time, if any.
-The Ericson injury is the big surprise to me. I did not see him leave Saturday's game, so he may have done it in practice this week. For a guy getting used to the WHL, this is terrible for his development and his line's chemistry which seemed to be coming along well.

Spokane and Seattle Injuries/Suspensions:
-Portland takes on Spokane this Friday and Seattle on Sunday, so let's take a look to see who is on their injury report:
Spokane:
#5 D-Jeff Rayman- Was released from the team.
#6 D-Tyson Helgesen- 2-4 weeks.
#19 RW- Jacob Cardiff- Suspended for three games for a charge major and game misconduct received after he put a hit on Tri City D-man Braden Purtill on October 3rd. He will be serving his last game of that suspension vs. Portland on Friday.

Whittingham Checking a Teammate

#25 RW- Riley Whittingham- Suspended for 3 games starting with Friday's tilt in Portland for his actions in their October 6th game in Victoria.
-Counting Hudson Elyinuk who was suspended 3 games for a preseason hit, the Chiefs are responsible for 9 of the total 28 WHL games suspended under supplemental discipline so far this year. 

Seattle:
#12 LW-Ryan Gropp- Day to Day.

 -Rayman getting released from the Chiefs is not too surprising considering he is a depth defenseman who was unlikely to be kept as a 20 year old next year anyways.
- We will know more about Gropp's availability when Seattle hosts Prince Albert Saturday.

Petan Scores in his NHL Debut:
-Of the 17 former Winterhawks in the NHL, 4 started their season on Wednesday night, while 11 more got going tonight.
Wednesday 10/7:
-Jannik Hansen scored Vancouver's first goal en route to the team's 5-1 opening night win over Calgary.
Thursday 10/8:

Petan

-Nic Petan scored a goal off a deflected shot to put Winnipeg up 5-2 on their way to a 6-2 victory over the Boston Bruins. Petan scored a goal in his first career NHL game, despite skating on the 4th line and only having 10:00 of total ice time.
-Seth Jones assisted on both of Nashville's goals in their 2-1 win over Carolina.
-Nino Niederreiter scored a goal and Mathew Dumba had an assist helping Minnesota to a crazy 5-4 win in which they came back from a 4-1 3rd period deficit to take down the Colorado Avalanche..

Former Hawks Price Scores vs. Spokane:
-In Victoria's 4-1 victory over the Spokane Chiefs on Wednesday, former Winterhawk Ethan Price scored a nifty deflection goal. This was his first  marker in the WHL regular season since December 28th of 2014 also against the Chiefs, when he was still playing for Portland.