Returning Winterhawk Profile: #9 Chase De Leo

(Editors note: In the countdown to the Winterhawks season opener, I will be looking, individually, at each of the returning Winterhawks who look to be on the opening night roster).

Next up (in numerical fashion): #9 Chase De Leo

Born: 10/25/1995
Hometown: La Mirada, California
Position: Center
How Acquired: 9th Round Pick (192nd Overall) in 2010 Bantam Draft

Stats:
-2011/12: 69 Games Played, 14 Goals, 16 Assists, 30 Points, +12, 25 Penalty Minutes
               Playoffs: 22 GP, 0 G, 1 A, 1 Pt, 2 PIMs
-2012/13: 71 GP, 18 G, 38 A, 56 Pts, +28, 24 PIMs
               Playoffs: 21 GP, 5 G, 12 A, 17 Pts, 15 PIMs
-2013/14: 72 GP, 39 G, 42 A, 81 Pts, +49, 36 PIMs
               Playoffs: 21 GP, 10 G, 9 A, 19 Pts, 6 PIMs

NHL Drafted: Winnipeg Jets 4th Round (99th Overall) in 2014. Unsigned.

Analysis:
-Chase came into Portland as another under-sized yet skilled forward. He found a real home in his 17 year old season as the second line Center between Taylor Leier and Oliver Bjorkstrand. Chase at first concentrated on setting up these two skilled forwards, but last year, during his draft year he showed a real goal scoring touch around the net and had 7 multi-goal games. This despite being the odd man out on the Hawk's top power play unit.

He will, most likely, take over Brendan Leipsic's spot as Center on the top unit this coming season. In a lot of ways, prior to last season he was a little lost in Petan's shadow, but emerged as a play maker in his own right, finishing 19th in the WHL in points. He is one of the Hawk's top puck carriers and one of the best two way forwards, as well. Countless times last season. Chase's back-checking tied up an opponent's stick and prevented a scoring chance. He plays a crucial role on the Hawk's penalty killing unit and should continue to be one of Portland's most trusted players this coming season in every situation. One weakness that was exploited last season was his poor faceoff skills, which could see him move to the wing on the second line with Dominic Turgeon and Alex Schoenborn.

Outlook:
-Of all of the Winterhawks who attended USA jr. Development Camp; Chase should be the biggest lock to make the team. His type of NHL ready play-making and puck handling skills are an asset to a team competing in a short tournament like the World Juniors and will even more valued on a team lacking a lot of those like the U.S. Chase could also miss time at the beginning of the season at Winnipeg Jets training camp.

He impressed the Jets during Rookie Development Camp in July and could get an extended look and even a contract before returning to the Hawks for his 19 year old season. Chase has put on 7 more lbs this past off season and will need to show more strength in the corners, as well as, an improved shot to guarantee a contract from Winnipeg and a spot on the USA WJC roster. If he played on a team with a less skilled forward unit, Chase would be the go-to Center, but his drive and all around ability, should be enough to push for increased playing time. One things for sure, his good looks and personality will continue to win over fans of the Jets, not even considering his unique personal connection to another Jets prospect that will interest the common fan.

Previous Returning Winterhawk Profiles: Brendan Burke, Anton Cederholm, Ethan Price. Josh Hanson, Paul Bittner

Returning Winterhawk Profile: #7 Paul Bittner

(Editors note: In the countdown to the season opener on September 19th, I will be looking, individually, at each of the returning Winterhawks that look to be on the opening night roster).

Next up (in numerical fashion): #7 Paul Bittner

Born: 11/4/1996
Hometown: Crookston, Minnesota
Position: Left Wing
How Acquired: Signed on 4/9/2012, after being listed on the Winterhawk's protected list

Stats:
-2012/13: 45 Games Played, 12 Goals, 11 Assists, 23 Points, +8, 12 Penalty Minutes.
               Playoffs: 19 GP, 0 G, 0 A, 0 Pts, 0 PIMs.
-2013/14: 63 GP, 22 G, 27 A, 49 Pts, +25, 27 PIMs.
               Playoffs: 21 GP, 6 G, 6A, 12 Pts, 11 PIMs.

NHL Drafted: Eligible in 2015

Analysis:
-Bittner came in as a 16 year old in 2012 and immediately turned heads as someone on skates that stands 6'4" is bound to do. He also showed that he moves well for someone his size and has a nice wrist shot. All of those abilities have improved as the last 2 years have gone on, along with even longer strides in being able to deflect point shots, while parking his large frame in front of opposing goalies. You had to think, when seeing Bittner score 9 points over 4 games in his 16 year old season, while playing on the top line with Nic Petan and Brendan Leipsic, that he was primed to be an elite pro prospect. He was one of the youngest players in the WHL that year (as he has a November birthday) and had struggles with consistency as the long season began to wear on him. In his 17 year old season, he took strides in that consistency and supplanted the older Alex Schoenborn on the top line as the season went on.

While it had to be difficult adjusting to the fast pace that Leipsic and Petan played at, he slowly cemented his spot getting top minutes and was one of the Hawk's top scorers in the WHL final with 4 goals. A player his size is really perfect to place with speedier stick handlers as he creates room for them with his long reach and size (like Jaromir Jagr does). His accuracy definitely needs continued improvement as he could've been a 40 goal scorer with better touch last season as Petan and Leipsic set him up in perfect spots, time and time again. His play along the boards and stick handling should also be improved, as he figures out to use his now 202 lbs in the tough spots. Bittner also would be an elite penalty killer given his long reach if his defensive positioning improves.

Outlook:
 -Bittner, because of his late birthday had his draft eligibility pushed back to this coming June and has been projected as a first rounder, even as high as 6th overall on some sites. With how NHL teams continue to draft size and combined with all the other things he excels at (ice vision for one), this high projection should not be surprising. He also has the opportunity to showcase his skills for scouts when he plays in the All American Prospects Game on September 25th. He should be slotted on the Left Wing of the first line again this season with Oliver Bjorkstrand and Petan, which should give him every chance to score a lot of goals and make sure that he gets selected as a high first round pick. Scoring these goals, parking in front of goalies on the power play and dominating board play is his surest route to the next level of hockey and I have little doubt he will do this.

With all this said, it was rather surprising that he was not included along with teammates: Brendan Burke, Chase De Leo, Keegan Iverson and Dominic Turgeon on the roster this summer for the USA jr.Development Camp. This does not necessarily mean that he cannot be asked to play in the World Junior Championships in late December/early Jaunary, but it does mean that he has a lot of scouts to impress before this happens. With the inclusion of the other Winterhawks on the Development camp roster, it does seem that he was not just left off the roster because he chose the WHL over the NCAA, as some people believe. Regardless, Bittner being a top prospect for this year's draft, the hype will increase and if he does not go to the WJCs, he will be needed to help carry the offense in the absence of others that will be there. We should certainly see more of his "C" for Crookston goal celebrations.

Previous Returning Winterhawk Profiles: Brendan Burke, Anton Cederholm, Ethan Price, Josh Hanson

Returning Winterhawk Profile: #4 Josh Hanson

(Editor's note: In the countdown to the season opener on September 19th, I will be looking, individually, at each of the returning Winterhawks that look to be on the opening night roster).

Next up (in numerical fashion): #4 Josh  Hanson

Born: 1/14/1994
Hometown: Eagle River, Alaska
Position: Right Defense
How Acquired: 8th Round Pick (156th Overall) in the 2009 WHL Bantam Draft

Stats:
-2010/11: 43 Games Played, 1 Goal, 2 Assists, 3 Points, -1, 10 Penalty Minutes
              Playoffs: 1 GP, 0 G, 0 A, 0 Pts, 0 PIMs.
-2011/12: 72 GP, 0 G, 13 A, +6, 25 PIMs.
              Playoffs: 22 GP, 0 G, 0 A, 0 Pts, 2 PIMs.
 -2012/13: 72 GP, 1 G, 10 A, 11 Pts, +32, 22 PIMs.
              Playoffs: 21 GP, 1 G, 2 A, 3 Pts, 2 PIMs.
-2013/14: 68 GP, 2 G, 16 A, 18 Pts, +17, 37 PIMs.
              Playoffs: 14 GP, 0 G, 2 A, 2 Pts, 2 PIMs.

NHL Drafted: Has not been drafted and is a free agent.

Analysis:
-Hanson is entering his 5th season in Portland and has played 255 WHL regular season games and 58 playoff games in a Winterhawks sweater. It seems that he has been chosen as one the Hawk's 3 over-age players for this season and as an experienced Defenseman, should be relied upon to play a lot of minutes this season. This actually was the case the past season as well, considering Hanson had shown enough to think he would improve and be a top 4 pairing D-man. What happened instead was a slow regression down the defensive depth chart, resulting in him getting healthy scratched from some late regular season games and from 7 post-season games (including Games 6 and 7 of the WHL Final). His perceived potential has thus far not been realized and has been the object of frustration for a lot of Winterhawks fans. It's kind of unknown really why this potential hasn't been discovered. He seems mobile enough and has a decent shot; is a good size (6'3" 209 lbs), but just does not excel enough at one thing to cement his spot in the lineup and draw attention from NHL teams. There are games where he looks confident in carrying the puck up the ice and into the opponent's zone, but then again others where almost every pass he makes is ill-conceived. There are also games where he defends well, checking forwards and making it difficult for opponents to get to rebounds; but also others where he is out of position and gets burned, leading to situations where his goalie is hung out to dry. At the root of it, I don't know if he was ever the type of D-man who really fit into the Hawk's up tempo system. A lot of the other D-men give up the puck in bad situations as much as he does, but they bring way more offensive potential to the table. There has to be some hope this year that Hanson can finally show that he excels enough at one of these things, in order for him to stay on the roster in this valuable over-age spot.

Outlook:
-Whether Hanson has improved enough is completely unknown as he is battling some type of hand injury and has not played in any preseason games. One would think that with 3 D-men missing off last year's squad, Hanson should at least start his season, in a top 4 role for the Hawks. At one point last season, NHL Central Scouting listed him in their NHL draft rankings . The fact that he was once again untouched, means that scouts became dis-interested in him, even though he was healthy. This is really his last chance to get them interested in him again and earn a free agent tryout and contract (like Troy Rutkowski and Taylor Peters did). His size is a real asset on the back end and could be one reason why Portland has decided to keep him. In my own person opinion, he really needs to start expressing this toughness more, in order to earn his 20 year old spot. But like the following clip show, he has not really excelled at this yet either. My prognosis is that at some point Blake Heinrich, Nick Heid and Layne Viveiros will supplant him on the back end, making him expendable. Hanson has earned 4 years of college with his time in Portland and maybe he can earn some interest through playing hockey in Canada.

Previous Returning Winterhawk Profiles: Brendan Burke, Anton Cederholm, Ethan Price

Returning Winterhawk Profile #3: Ethan Price

(Editor's Note: In the countdown to the season opener on September 19th, I will be looking at each of the 15 returning Winterhawks that look to be on the opening night roster).

Next up (in numerical fashion): #3 Ethan Price

Born: 1/17/1997
Hometown: Lincoln, Nebraska
Position: Right Wing
How Acquired: 6th Round Pick (130th Overall) in the 2012 WHL Bantam Draft

Stats:
-2013/14: 67 Games Played, 4 Goals, 4 Assists, 8 Points, 30 Penalty Minutes, -9.
              Playoffs: 12 GP, 0 G, 1 A, 0 PIMs.

NHL Drafted: Eligible in 2015

Analysis:
-As a 16 year old last season, Price had very limited playing time, residing mostly on the 4th line for the Hawks. He has quite a bit of size for someone as young as he is, but is short (5'10") and is the same size as he was last year (182 lbs). Last year, he showed flashes of some offensive ability, getting 2 of his 4 goals on absolutely wired wrist shots. He also looked like he has a nice slap shot, but does not have the accuracy needed to expect he is going to shoot that much for the Hawks this year. He showed impressive improvement on the defensive end and was even given quite a bit of penalty killing time as the season went on and was relied upon more than 20 year old Adam Rossignol in crucial time during playoff games. This looks to continue this year as Price fore-checked the heck out of Tri City in a preseason game and was slotted as a top p'ker in that day's lineup.

Outlook:
-Price is eligible for this year's draft but is virtually off the NHL scouting radar so far as he was not listed in Central Scouting's Futures North American list released this July. With Coach Jamie Kompon looking to pair Chase De Leo, Alex Schoenborn and Dominic Turgeon on a second line, Price could be primed to take a spot on the wing of  Keegan Iverson or Adam de Champlain on a 3rd line. With his reliability and fore-checking tenacity, this does seem like a bit of a lock for a checking line with one or both of those older players. Should he show some offensive ability in this increased role and with scouts going to Hawks games to look at Paul Bittner and Keoni Texeira, he could climb his way onto the CSS list and earn a spot in some scout's heart and get drafted. Even if he does not do this, I think he will quickly become a crowd favorite, as he does absolutely everything you want a player to do, as far as effort is concerned. He is a strong player, who goes into all the tough areas, forces turnovers, throws checks and fights well. This is one of the players I am most excited about seeing this upcoming season. He will benefit from the older Hawk's forwards missing time at NHL training camps and at World Juniors, with increased playing time and responsibility.

Previous Returning Winterhawk Profiles: Brendan Burke, Anton Cederholm

Returning Winterhawk Profile: #2: Anton Cederholm

(Editors Note: In the countdown to the season opener on September 19th, I will be looking individually, at each of the 15 returning Winterhawk's players that look to be on the opening night roster).

Second up (in numerical fashion) is #2 Anton Cederholm

Born: 2/21/1995
Hometown: Helsingborg, Sweden
Position: Left Defense
How Acquired: 1st Round Pick in the 2013 CHL Import Draft (60th Overall)

Stats:
-2013/14: 71 Games Played, 4 Goals, 12 Assists, 16 Points, 95 Penalty Minutes, +42
              Playoffs: 21 GP, 2 G, 3 A, 5 Pts, 16 PIMs

NHL Drafted: Vancouver Canucks 5th Round (145th Overall) in 2013. Signed Rookie Deal on 5/20/14

Analysis:
-Cederholm came in as a bit of unknown after being selected with the last first round pick in last year's CHL import draft. We knew that the Hawks thought enough of him in order to release Russian Defenseman Kirill Vorobyev as one of their two protected imports. But besides that, there was not a lot known about the Swede. My first exposure to him was at his first WHL game: a preseason tilt in the 2013 Everett tournament. On his first shift he threw a massive and legal open ice check that got the small crowd present, excited. This type of play, does not really fit too much with the way the Hawks want their Defensemen to play though so this was dialed back as the regular season began. The message had been sent though that Anton was a big physical D-man, who knows how to use that size. Last year, as he took awhile getting used to the system and making sure that he was not out of place. His size was more useful along the boards, where he made life difficult for opposing forwards in his own zone.

For most of the season and playoffs he was paired with CHL D-man of the year Derrick Pouliot; who played on his right and handled the puck the majority of the time. As he began to get used to the WHL playing surface, he looked more comfortable in handling the puck in tougher situations. He just simply became a player who was not out of place defensively too often. Anton does not seem phased by anything, as evidenced by the season of Swedish Elite League he played as a 17 year old. Though he only notched 4 goals on the season, last year, he was not asked to play too much power play time (especially after Mathew Dumba was acquired) and was more a stay at home D-man then somebody who was asked to light it up offensively. Because of this, he was one of the Hawk's top penalty killers, nearly from day one of the season and will be asked to be the main cog defensively this season. He actually lost 5 lbs (down to 6'2" and 209 lbs from 214 last year) and maybe this will increase his agility, which could use some improvement. The few times he led the rush into the opponents zone, he looked confident and rushed back. It is obvious now in the NHL that Europe (and specifically Sweden) have been cranking out some of the games best D-men and Cederholm looks like he could play at the next level eventually. His case to make this sooner rather than later, would be helped if he develops his shot more and has more big moments like December 27th, 2013, when he rushed up the ice and scored an OT winner vs. Tri City, when Pouliot was at World Juniors. Continued improvements in physical play would help his professional outlook as well.

Outlook:
-The biggest concern for Hawks fans is whether or not Cederholm actually returns to the Hawks for his 19 year old season. He is eligible to play in the AHL for former Hawk's assistant coach Travis Green with the Utica Comets, as he was drafted by Vancouver prior to becoming property of the Hawks and thus is not protected under the CHL-NHL agreement. This decision is anyone's guess right now, but having just been signed, he was an object of interest for the Canucks at July's Prospect Camp. He is a lock for Vancouver's roster at the Young Star's classic from September 11th-15th in Pentiction as he was there last year. As a signed player, he should also be at training camp for the Canucks from the 19th-22nd. Depending on how he performs at this camp, he may get some playing time in some of their 9 preseason games from Sept. 23rd-October 4th. From there it is up to the Canucks on whether he will come back to Portland or head off to Utica.

Even if he does come back to the Hawks, after missing part of the beginning of the season, he might miss some more time around Christmas to go to the World Junior U-20 Championships in Toronto and Montreal from December 26th-January 5th. He is a finalist for the roster as he played in 4 games this summer for Sweden at the USA jr. Development Camp in Lake Placid, where he faced off against 4 Winterhawks teammates (Chase De Leo, Keegan Iverson, Dominic Turgeon and Brendan Burke). Sweden is only returning 2 of the 7 D-men on last year's roster, so Anton has a good chance of making it onto the the reigning Silver Medalists.

Should he be back in Portland (which I expect), he goes from being a support D-man for guys like Pouliot and Dumba to the Hawk's go-to guy on the back end this season. He will most likely notch the most minutes a game on the team and may also be relied upon as a power play quarterback, depending on what newcomers Blake Heinrich and Nick Heid show offensively. It is believed that he has bigger offensive abilities than he has shown so far in Portland and this year, we will get to see those abilities unleashed a lot more. Should Cederholm take a big step forward this season, the Hawk's defense will be a lot less of a question mark than we thought. Because of the other responsibilities he will have this season, he will probably be asked to fight a lot less.

 

Previous Returning Winterhawk Profiles: Brendan Burke.

Returning Winterhawk Profile: #1 Brendan Burke

(Editors note: There is 15 days until the season opener for Portland on September 19th. Over those days, I will be looking at one returning Hawk a day).

First up ( in numerical fashion) is #1 Brendan Burke

Born: 3/11/1995
Hometown: Scottsdale, AZ
Position: Goalie
How Acquired: 3rd Round Bantam Draft Pick (49th overall) in 2010.

Stats:
-2011/12: 18 Games Played (GP), 3.58 Goals Against Average (GAA) and 0.875 Save %.
-2012/13: 33 GP, 2.65 GAA and 0.908 Save %.
-2013/14: 48 GP, 2.75 GAA and 0.911 Save %.

NHL Drafted: Arizona Coyotes 6th Round (163rd overall) in 2013. He is currently unsigned.

Analysis:
-Burke enters his second season as the Winterhawks go-to starting Goaltender. Though he has many detractors, I believe he has improved in each of the 3 years he has spent in a Winterhawks sweater. His numbers over the last 2 seasons were some of the best in the WHL, but he was also playing for teams that were stacked with talent. Burke, in his time in Portland, can really be seen in one of two lights and is very unique in that way. The root of this I believe is his playing style. He plays a stand up/butterfly style and is very large in his net (6'4" 190 lbs). This style works for him in that he covers a large part of the net and, due to his butterfly ability, he is great at saving pucks in the 2 and 4 holes (down at his feet). I constantly see his make great scrambling saves when opponents are trying to bang home rebounds down low. Despite the fact that this style is great at this, it means that if he wants to play aggressive and shut down a shooters angles, he has to make sure that his coverage of said angles is nearly perfect. This is really the crux of it for me. Burke has never consistently displayed the confidence necessary to be successful in playing this style. I have see him let a goal in and stay back in his net, letting shooters pick their angles. His glove hand will look fantastic on one shot, but after he's given up a couple weak goals, it will not be the same.

Despite this, last year he played a stretch from January 11th to February 1st (7 games) where he never allowed more than 2 goals and had 3 of his 4 shut outs on the year. Confidence is always an issue for Goalies, they are the most important players in this game we love, so they feel the weight of each loss on their shoulders, especially if the goals they gave up were of the weaker variety.

In order to have the 19 year old banner year that I know he has to expect and that the Arizona Coyotes will need from him in order to sign him, he has to improve at coming out of the net. One major difference between Mac Carruth and Burke, is that confidence necessary to make these saves. In the 2012 Western Conference Semi-Finals vs. Kamloops, Carruth had 2 straight abysmal performances in giving up 7 goals in games 5 and 6, forcing a game 7 in Portland. I never had a doubt about Carruth responding with a great performance in Game 7 due to the irrational confidence that is a large part of how he play. He pulled off a 2-0 shut out, eliminating the Blazers. Carruth had every reason to believe that he would fail in game 7, given how the last 2 games turned out, but he just chose not to believe that it would happen. I have yet to see this same irrational confidence from Burke.

Sure there are technique improvements that a 19 year old Goalie could make that would allow Burke (especially with his glove hand) to launch him to the next level, but to me the difference maker is improving his confidence.

Outlook:
-There is reason to believe that Burke's confidence did improve for this season, as he seemed to have a stellar U.S.A. Hockey World Juniors Evaluation Camp and should be a finalist at being in Goal for the WJC this year. He needs a solid season for the Hawks, though, by the time invites are handed out in order to make this dream come true though. He also had another prospects camp with Arizona, where his Dad: Sean Burke, the Goaltenders coach got to spend a lot of time coaching him. What will make it harder on him to get signed to an NHL contract and make the USA WJC team, is that Portland's defense has some growing pains ahead of themselves. Of the 6 Defensemen on the ice for Game 7 of the WHL Final last year, only 3 are back (Anton Cederholm, Layne Viveiros and Keoni Texeira). And these D-men definitely were not relied upon as much as Derrick Pouliot, Mat Dumba and Garrett Haar were for the Hawks last year.

Burke Replacing Boes

Even with these D-men in the lineup, Burke had an up and down playoff run last year, culminating in him getting pulled from net in game 2 of the Western Conference Final vs. Kelowna after giving up 3 goals on 9 shots. He did get put back in for Corbin Boes in Game 6 of the WHL Final and also played Game 7 for the Hawks. Him starting game 7 was probably more due to the way Boes was playing, then some belief that Coach Mike Johnston had that he would be the reason the Hawks would win game 7.

Again though, the Hawks look to be among the league's leaders in goals this season, as they are returning the #s 2 and 3 WHL season leaders from last year. However, this up temp play that creates this goal total, also leads to breakaways or 2 on 1s in the other direction. This means that even when Burke does not face a ton of shots, the quality of some of those shots will be high.

Sitting behind Burke this season is 18 year old Goalie Adin Hill, who is finally getting his chance to prove himself at the WHL level after playing fantastic in limited starts the past 2 seasons. Burke will be handed the starting gig and my guess is that he will given a lot of leeway at the start of the season.

Overall, Burke, now a year older, should show improvements on his angles and hopefully this will give him the confidence necessary to prove that he really does belong among the top goal stoppers in the WHL. Suffice it to say, the Hawks season really is relying upon him to take this next step forward.

Lofthouse, Elson, Morison and Glass No Longer On Preseason Roster



Lofthouse



The Portland Winterhawks un-ceremoniously made their decision about their over-age dilemma today, by removing Trent Lofthouse and Trace Elson from the preseason roster on their website. Both were invitees to training camp, played the Neely Cup and each played 2 games at the preseason tournament in Everett last weekend.

The decision somewhat cements the Winterhawks with their limit of 20 year olds on the roster. They are: Center Adam de Champlain and Defensemen Joshua Smith and Josh Hanson. De Champlain was 10^th round Bantam Draft pick in 2009, joined the Hawks as an 18 year old for the 2012-13 season and has spent most of his time on the 4^th line for the last two years. Hanson was an 8^th round pick in the 2009 draft and has played 255 games over the past 4 seasons with the Hawks. Smith is the only free agent invitee that is still around. He was actually drafted much higher than Hanson or de Champlain, as he was a first round pick (19^th overall) by the Prince George Cougars in 2009. This decision is more likely in wet cement, as Coach/General Manger Jamie Kompon could choose to take one of these three off the roster if a better perceived option presents itself, especially since it has been reported that Hanson is injured and could be out at least until the regular season starts on September 19^th.



Elson



Cutting Lofthouse and Elson is not too terribly surprising, as both did not stand out in the same way Smith did this last weekend, or free agent invitee Adam Rossignol did a season ago. Lofthouse notched 2 assists in Friday’s 7-5 preseason win over Spokane, but failed to register a point and was a minus 1 in Saturday’s win over Tri City. At times his play was sloppy and you could tell that he was frustrated. The chemistry was just not there between him and his then potential 3^rd/4^th line teammate de Champlain and he was used sparingly in both games as a penalty killer; something your over-age forward not playing in the top 6 usually does.

Elson, meanwhile played Friday and Sunday, notching 1 assist and recording an overall minus 1. I really don’t have much to say about his game on Friday, as he really just wasn’t that noticeable on the ice. He really never made any big mistakes, but did not really present one asset that the Hawks could not live without.

There may be other opportunities for these two out there, as injuries happen and they have both proven that they can contribute at the WHL level. The best of luck is wished to both of them. Lofthouse is eligible to play collegiate hockey and get free tuition for 3 years, as per his WHL education contract.

The roster now sits at 29, as both 15 year old Center Cody Glass and 16 year old Center Reed Morison are no longer listed as of today. Both players are signed by the Winterhawks and are still protected as they are not over-agers. We knew at some point Glass would get sent down, as he is only eligible to play 5 games this season during the regular season for the Hawks. I am somewhat surprised he is not hanging around for the start of the season as Portland will most likely be missing, at least, 6 forwards at NHL camps, but they probably want the preseason games to go to the eligible forwards they will have to make tough choices on to start the season.

Morison appears to be that first 16-19 year old cut, but it is possible he left for some other reason and could be back. Though a recent Tweet he sent from the Vancouver airports appears to confirm he will not play anymore preseason games, nothing has been released by the Winterhawks officially and this is an educated guess. Morison played Friday and Saturday for the Hawks in Everett and had 1 goal and 1 assist, but was an overall minus 2. If I were to guess at a reason the Hawks sent Morison down, it would be for him to put a little more size on his frame and to work on his 2-way play. He appeared out of position at times defensively and was prone to bad plays. That being said, this guy has a bright future with the organization and if any injuries occur, I would expect them to call him up. He played last season for the Calgary Royals Midget AAA team and could return there.

Portland’s roster now sits at 29 players at this point (15 forwards, 11 Defensemen and 3 Goalies), meaning there are a few more cuts to make after the preseason games this weekend.