Top 3 All-Time Hurricanes

As the WHL's regular season winds its way to an end, so too does the Lethbridge Hurricanes Hockey Club list of Top 30 players over the last 30 years. It has been one heck of a list (in descending order):

#30. Cam Braes #29. Travis Brigley #28. Jamie Pushor #27. Colton Yellowhorn #26. Mark Smith #25. Kelly Ens #24. Dwight King #23. Brantt Myhres #22. Carter Bancks #21. Tyler Wong #20. Juha Metsola #19. Corey Lyons #18. Brad Rubachuk #17. Mark Szoke #16. Colton Scevior #15. Shane Willis #14. Luca Sbisa #13. Jamie McLennan #12. Zach Boychuk #11. Bryce Salvador #10. Domenic Pittis #9. Bryan Bosch #8. Nathan Barrett #7. Mark Greig #6. Byron Ritchie #5. Shane Peacock #4. Kevin St. Jacques

So now we're down to our final three. And I think we can safely begin the arguments over who will be in that top three, and in what particular order. Here are my bold predictions on who gets in: #3. Logan Koopmans He spent a ton of time in the Windy City, and holds the team career records for games played and shutouts. Koopmans has been kind of overshadowed based on the fact the Hurricanes just didn't have any playoff success when he was in net. That said, the only other goalies on this list are Juha Metsola and Jamie McLennan, which makes me think Koopmans is a shoe-in, albeit not in the top two. #2. Brent Seabrook This felt like a bit of a toss-up. If we're factoring what these players did in the NHL, then Brent Seabrook makes it to #1. But I think this list has been based solely on the resume during Hurricane playing days. Seabrook spent four years with the Canes, was a captain for three seasons and sits #2 in points by a defenseman (only behind Shane Peacock). He was pretty darn good. But not quite good enough. #1. Jason Ruff Say hello to the team's all-time goals and points leader. He had 62 goals in one season. Ruff also wasn't afraid of sitting in the sin-bin. And while he didn't have himself the same kind of pro career that Seabrook had, but he still had a lengthy life in hockey and is considered one of the greatest Hurricanes to ever play for the team. I reckon he's sitting in top spot when all is said and done. If my combination does hold true, one guy who might have mysteriously missed the list is Wes Walz. The one knock against him is he wasn't in Lethbridge for very long. But he put up a shwack of points in those two seasons, leading the team in all-time points-per-game. I just don't know if he had the longevity to break through. So what do you think? Am I on the mark or did I miss someone? Let me know!

#HurricanesWatch - Dylan Cozens

Talk about making an impression. Dylan Cozens doesn't seem to know how NOT to do that when he's on the ice. With the Delta Hockey Academy Bantam Prep program, Cozens put up 31 points in 25 games, prompting the Lethbridge Hurricanes Hockey Club to take him with their first-round bantam draft choice in 2016. Not only was Cozens making headlines in Lethbridge for his play, but he was also making headlines in the hockey world for being the first Yukon-born player to be picked in the first round of the WHL bantam draft. No small feat to get the attention of scouts. But he's taking it in stride.

LISTEN: Full interview with Dylan Cozens "Coming from Whitehorse, there's a lot of pressure on me to perform and stuff but I try not to worry about that," Cozens said in a phone call this week. "Just go out there and play my best and just hope I make it all the way." Cozens, who turned 16 earlier this month, has been lighting it up with Yale Hockey Academy this season, picking up 49 points in 24 games (at the time of this) to lead both the team and the CSSHL. He remains modest about his accomplishments so far. "There's no secret really," he said. "I'm just going out there every game, playing my game, not worrying about points or anything, just doing what I have to do." He has some pretty good company at Yale as well, as Medicine Hat Tigers prospect Josh Williams is second on the team and in the league in points. He knows they will have to be enemies at some point. "We just joke about it and compare teams," Cozens smiled. "When we play together, we just both play to the best of our abilities, we use each other." "There's no competition there."

LISTEN: Episode #26 of Canes This Week Listed at 6'2", 159 pounds, the youngster also made a splash with the Hurricanes earlier in the year, scoring a goal in his debut in November against Saskatoon. He played two more games before heading back to school. He's happy with his contributions and looks forward to honing his skills for whenever the 'Canes come calling next. For now, he'll finish out the regular season with Yale in February, then playoffs in March, then the future might depend on how the Hurricanes do during the playoffs. His focus on making an impact with the Hurricanes: "training really hard, practicing and doing everything I need to do to get prepared for next year." You can catch the full interview with Dylan Cozens in the next #CanesThisWeek, coming up on Monday.

The Long Way To Get To Wong

It's amazing how the smallest of deals can change the tide for an organization or a player. Every junior hockey team knows this, as it's always a bit of a mystery what will happen with a young player taken in the bantam draft. Puberty hits the wrong way and a highly-touted prospect can evaporate quickly. On the flipside, puberty hits the right way and a fifth-rounder can turn into a gem. Might I be foreshadowing a bit?

LISTEN: Episode #25 of Canes This Week Let's start on June 26, 2008, when the Lethbridge Hurricanes Hockey Club made what seemed like a pretty meaningless, pedestrian deal. They sent their 1st round CHL Import Draft choice (54th overall) to Official Kootenay ICE Hockey Club for a 7th round WHL Bantam Draft choice. The Ice used that import pick to grab Ales Frieb. He played five games with the Ice before heading back to the Czech Republic. His career highlight came in HC Unicov, where he netted 36 points in 14 games in one season. Not bad... As for that 7th round choice the 'Canes got back, it didn't last long in their hands. On September 28, 2008, Lethbridge traded that pick to Edmonton Oil Kings for forward Brent Henke. The Oil Kings used that selection to grab goaltender Wade Moyls, a 6'7", 181-pound behemoth. But he spent most of his playing career in the Kootenay International Junior Hockey League. Nothing to write home about. Henke spent a couple of years in Lethbridge, grabbing 30 points in 110 games. Near the end of the 2009-2010 season, the 'Canes decided to send him packing one more time, this time to the The Official Vancouver Giants Page for a fifth-round pick. Henke played 18 games there, then went to the AJHL's Spruce Grove Saints Junior A Hockey Club for a year, before moving back to Lethbridge to play with the University of Lethbridge Pronghorns for the better part of five seasons. That 5th round choice that came back to the Hurricanes? Tyler Wong. Yes, the captain, Tyler Wong. If I'm the Lethbridge Hurricanes, I'm sending the Ice, Oil Kings and Giants a little "thank you" card at the end of the season.

'The Trade' - Part III

I've never been a big fan of making a bunch of moves to make a run for a championship. It has the potential to mess with team chemistry and backfire. Anyone else remember the years when the Rangers, Red Wings, Avalanche and others would try to stock up at the deadline in hopes of putting themselves "over the top", then end up not winning the Stanley Cup? That's one thing I wondered about when looking back on the '96-'97 Lethbridge Hurricanes Hockey Club and that massive deal which allowed them to get Chris Phillips and Shane Willis. GM Bryan Maxwell said in our chat last week that it wasn't really a factor for him, as he knew he was getting a couple of really good pieces (and admittedly the third good piece was Blaine Russell). The interesting thing to me was that Maxwell didn't pull the trigger on many deals outside of that during the season. And believe it or not, two of the deals happened to be with the team they would end up playing in the WHL Championship series: Seattle Thunderbirds. The first was to get their 20-year-old situation sorted out: Randy Perry was sent to the Thunderbirds just six games into the regular season. From what I was able to gauge through online searches, Perry was traded for future considerations. What those future considerations were is unclear right now. Perry ended up being a good performer for the Thunderbirds in their playoff run, before heading out on a solid minor-league career. The second was a one-for-one deal where the Hurricanes acquired defenseman Shane Belter from the Thunderbirds for forward Dave Taylor. This deal actually worked out really well for the Canes, as they sent Belter to Kamloops Blazers the following season for future captain Thomas Scantlebury (who spent his whole career in Lethbridge), while Taylor ended up in Moose Jaw Warriors, then spent part of his last season in the WHL back with the Hurricanes. The interesting thing with these two trades is that I'm not overly clear on what the full return was, like if other draft picks or future considerations were included in either of the deals. What I can tell you is that during the 1997 WHL Bantam Draft, a couple of picks did change hands: - 3rd round, 48th overall - originally Seattle's pick, the Hurricanes used it to grab forward Scott Edwards. Edwards didn't play in the WHL, but had a couple of seasons with the U. of S. Huskies. - 4th round, 72nd overall - originally Lethbridge's pick, the Thunderbirds used it to grab forward David Allman. His career didn't turn into much, as http://www.hockeydb.com doesn't even have him listed anywhere. The Hurricanes did engineer one other move in the '96-'97 season and that was with a not-so-regular bed-fellow. The Canes sent forward Mike Bayrack to Medicine Hat Tigers. I found an article from the Prince George Citizen, that stated Bayrack was part of a three-team deal involving Portland, where Bayrack thought he was going to the Winterhawks, ended up in Medicine Hat, where he'd be playing against the Canes, which he didn't like. So before too long, he ended up in Prince George Cougars Hockey Club. Bayrack ended up having himself a pretty good career at a few different stops around the world. Again, the one challenge in dissecting that deal is coming up with the pieces for that deal involving the Canes, Tigers and Winterhawks. I believe one of the draft picks moved ended up being Nathan Marenko, but again, can't really confirm it. Bottom line: all of the deals worked out for the Hurricanes. Thanks so much to all for tuning in and reading these blogs. It's been a blast to work on them. If you have a trade you'd like me to dissect, drop us a line on Facebook or Twitter, and we could make it part of an upcoming episode. (NOTE: please make it a little more recent, as getting old info is hard to do hahaha!)

'The Trade' - Part II

“You never think it's going to happen but we just kept pounding away and pounding away and finally, we made the deal happen." It's not every day we get to talk about a blockbuster deal, in particular in the WHL. I think back over the past few years and the Brayden Schenn deal to Saskatoon Blades Hockey Club and the Cody Eakin move to Official Kootenay ICE Hockey Club certainly come to mind. That's part of the reason why looking back on the 9-player deal between the Lethbridge Hurricanes Hockey Club and Prince Albert Raiders in 1997 fascinates me. But believe it or not, then-Hurricanes GM Bryan Maxwell says it wasn't something you saw a lot back then, either. LISTEN: Bryan Maxwell chats with Joe McFarland about ‘The Trade’ Discussions with the Raiders had been going on for weeks about Chris Phillips, who everyone knew was bound for the NHL after the season. The Raiders were fielding offers from a number of teams. Despite a very strong start to the season, Maxwell felt the Hurricanes were a couple of pieces away from making a big run. He targeted Phillips and sniper Shane Willis from the onset, but knew he would have to give up some future pieces. The talks went on for weeks. "It was kind of back-and-forth and back-and-forth to make it happen," Maxwell said. It was during league meetings at the WHL All-Star Game in Prince George where the two teams finally able to come up with something they could agree to. The Hurricanes acquired Phillips, Willis, defenseman Dylan Kemp and goaltender Blaine Russell for forwards Cam Severson and David Cameron, defenseman Richard Seeley, prospect Ross Lupaschuk and a second-round bantam draft choice. Maxwell admits Russell was the real find in the trade, as he took the reigns between the pipes late in the season and turned in a stellar performance in the playoffs, as did the other three. But it came at a cost for the future. "We ended up moving some players we didn't want to move but that's always the case, I guess, when you're dealing with elite players," Maxwell said. He looks particularly at the youngster Lupaschuk, who he believed was going to be an asset for years to come. "We told them that he was the one guy we didn't want to move and probably shouldn't have said that," Maxwell said about how Prince Albert really pursued Lupaschuk, making him an integral part of the deal. Looking back, Maxwell remembers one conversation he had, which really set a high expectation after the deal. "I'll never, ever forget Al Tuer called me, he was in Moose Jaw at the time, and he said 'I don't know how you did it Maxy but I'm picking you guys to win,'" he said. And win, they did.

'The Trade' - Part I

Over the next couple of days, we’re going to resurrect Joe’s 3-part series of “The Trade”. We introduced this a few months back, as the first real “trade tree” involving the Lethbridge Hurricanes Hockey Club. Without further adieu: ***** It was a trade that shocked the entire WHL. Everyone knew the Lethbridge Hurricanes were going to be a good team, and they started the 1996-1997 season on absolute fire. But they wanted to shore things up, and on January 24th, GM Bryan Maxwell pulled off one whopper of a deal. The Canes picked up 1st overall NHL draft pick Chris Phillips, sniper Shane Willis, goaltender Blaine Russell and defenseman Dylan Kemp from Prince Albert Raiders for forwards Cam Severson and David Cameron, defenseman Richard Seeley, prospect Ross Lupaschuk and a 2nd round bantam draft pick. We all know what happened after that. As I alluded to last week, I love history, so one of the things I enjoy is going back and looking at what happened after a deal to each of the players. Call it the "6 Degrees of Trade Separation." It's like how you can connect the Barry Pederson-Cam Neely trade to end up with Milan Lucic. There is a bit of a caveat that comes with this though. I'm not entirely sure if I have all of the information, because it's hard to track down trade information from before the internet. There is no website that lists players and draft picks involved in trades over the years, like what you can do with the NHL on HockeyDB. So I'm kinda of patching things together and extrapolating a little bit through old newspaper clippings, random websites, and a few points of contact (including our very own Dylan Purcell). So here you go: Chris Phillips - Some people were shocked he was moved in the first place because he could have potentially come back to the WHL after the Canes won the league championship. Alas, he didn't. But the Ottawa Senators were pretty pleased with how his career turned out. Shane Willis - He ended up tearing up the league the following year for the Hurricanes, scoring 58 goals and 112 points in 64 games. He bounced around in his career afterwards, including time with the Carolina Hurricanes and Tampa Bay Lightning, hanging up his skates in the AHL in 2009. Blaine Russell - This kid was integral to the Canes run, but left right afterwards for a career in the AHL and ECHL. He was an Anaheim Mighty Ducks draft pick, but never saw time in the show, ending his hockey career in 2004. Dylan Kemp - The Buffalo Sabres took a waiver on Kemp in the 9th round of the 1997 Entry Draft, but he didn't play much hockey after the trade. He ended up being traded to Saskatoon the following season for Vladislav Klochkov. As for the guys the Raiders got: Cam Severson - The future Anaheim Duck enforcer only spent about a year in PA before being shipped off to Spokane for Marc Brown and Justin Kelly. Brown ended up second in Raider scoring in '98-'99 before a few years in the AHL, then going overseas. We'll get to Kelly in a second. David Cameron - Cameron spent a year and a half with the Raiders before being shipped off to Saskatoon with the aforementioned Justin Kelly for Garrett Prosofsky. Cameron bounced around the minors for a bit before he finished his hockey career with the 4-year stint with the Manitoba Bisons. Kelly led the Blades in scoring in '01-'02 before he lived out of a suitcase across the world for the rest of his career. And Prosofsky, a Philadelphia Flyers draft pick, spent a couple of years in PA before being sent to Portland for James Demone. Interestingly enough, Demone spent a couple of years with the U. of L. Pronghorns and is now a member of the Lethbridge Police Service. Richard Seeley - The LA Kings draft pick spent the rest of his junior career in Prince Albert. He then bounced around the AHL then headed overseas. He's now the head coach of the Manchester Monarchs of the ECHL, where he spent three years when the team was in the AHL. Ross Lupaschuk - Yet another guy who ended up spending a lot of time traveling around the world. Lupaschuk's career actually included another major trade. Prince Albert sent him and Craig Brunel to Red Deer for Regan Darby, Brent Hobday, Scott McQueen and Steve MacIntyre. He ended up helping the Rebels win the WHL championship in 2000-2001 before playing 3 games in the NHL and a bunch more across the world. Of note on the return: Hobday played a few years with David Cameron at the U. of M., while MacIntyre fought his way to 91 games in the NHL with Edmonton, Florida and Pittsburgh. 2nd Round Draft Pick - this pick turned into Riley Cote. He had himself a solid four-year career with the Raiders, and found himself in the NHL in Toronto's system before being shipped to Philadelphia, where he fought pretty much anyone who asked. Cote is now a coach with the Flyers farm team in Lehigh Valley Phantoms. And believe it or not, I've been able to connect a current high-profile Hurricane to this entire trade. Guess who was an assistant coach with the Red Deer Rebels when they acquired Ross Lupaschuk and Craig Brunel? That's right. GM Peter Anholt, who served with the Rebels from 1998-2000, just missing out on their drive to the WHL championship. So there you have it. Hope you enjoyed this little retrospective. And this is only part one! And if you’d like, here’s a little write-up on the trade from the ‘Canes themselves.

Breaking Down A Blockbuster

It's easy to see that the Carter Ashton trade from Lethbridge Hurricanes Hockey Club to The Regina Pats Official Page set off a firestorm of deals over a few weeks in 2010-2011. That blockbuster set the stage and frankly, the asking price, for big-time deals that saw Brayden Schenn pack his bags for Saskatoon from Brandon, while Cody Eakin went from Swift Current to Kootenay. We might break down those trades later, but let's focus on the Ashton deal for now. At the time, the deal was Ashton, Craig Orfino and a 3rd rounder in 2010, for Graham Hood, Taylor Balog, a 2nd in 2010 and a 1st in 2011. And you probably won't be surprised to hear that we're still feeling the ramifications of that deal.

LISTEN: Episode #23 of Canes This Week You can wash out Orfino, Hood and Balog, as they weren't involved in any future deals with their respective teams. Ashton was traded to Tri-City for Nils Moser, Tanner Olstad, a 1st in 2011, as well as a 2nd and 5th rounder in 2012. Those picks turned into Miles Warkentine, who ended up bouncing around the WHL and was actually traded to Lethbridge at one point for Kolten Olynek. The other picks turned into Aaron Boyd, who is still in Prince George, and Ryley Zimmer, who was eventually traded to Moose Jaw. The 3rd rounder in 2010, meantime, turned into Kyle Burroughs. He would eventually get sent to Medicine Hat with Dryden Hunt for Connor Hobbs, a 3rd in 2015 and a 2nd in 2016. Hobbs is playing very well with the beefed-up Pats now, while those picks turned into Bryan Lockner and Cole Muir. Lockner's playing a spot role with the Pats right now while Muir is still in Midget AAA. Over to the Hurricanes side and the draft picks involved in the Ashton deal didn't turn out bad themselves, albeit with the Brandon Wheat Kings. The 2nd in 2010 was Macoy Erkamps, future captain of the Wheaties. He was sent to Brandon from the Canes in that massive deal involving Reid Duke and Tak Anholt for Kord Pankiewicz, Brett Kitt and Riley Lindgren. Only Lindgren is giving the Hurricanes some future return, as he was sent to Swift Current with a pick for Carson Dyck and a pick (that sounded weird, didn't it?) in 2018. That 1st in 2011 turned into Ryan Pilon, who we all know was also sent to Brandon with Colt Conrad for Nick Walters, Taylor Cooper and Tanner Browne. The only interesting player here was Cooper, who was eventually sent to Regina for Brady Reagan. Reagan, of course, was sent packing to Calgary earlier this year for a 4th round pick in the 2017 bantam draft. So yeah, it's been more than six years since Carter Ashton was sent packing to Regina, but the Hurricanes, in a roundabout way, still have some dominoes to fall when all is said and done, including draft picks in 2017 and 2018.

The Ghost of Kyle Beach

"I don't think we're sacrificing our future."

Those were the words from Hurricanes GM Roy Stasiuk when he announced a blockbuster involving the Everett Silvertips just after New Year's Day 2009.

The Hurricanes were looking to get some size and picked up an NHL first round pick in Kyle Beach. They also grabbed Mike Alexander in exchange for Alex Theriau, Dan Iwanski and a first round bantam draft pick in 2009.

And as you may have guessed, those words are coming back to bite Stasiuk. Because here we are, nearly eight years later, and the ripple effects are still being felt.

Beach would eventually be shipped out to Spokane for Mike Reddington and Landon Oslanski. Both had decent years in Lethbridge, while Beach is now in Austria.

Alexander never stepped foot in the WHL.

Different story for the return in Everett though.

Theriau was eventually sent to Medicine Hat with Kellan Tochkin for Ryan Harrison and a 2nd round pick in 2011. The Silvertips used that pick to grab Dawson Leedahl, who was then sent to Regina with the playing rights of Tyson Jost (same Tyson Jost who is playing for Canada at the World Juniors) for Sean Richards and some picks. Leedahl's in his 20-year-old year with the Pats, who look indestructible right now. Richards is still playing for the Silvertips, and at last check was among one of the point leaders.

Iwanski finished out his WHL playing career in Everett before heading back to Lethbridge, where he just finished his university playing career with the Pronghorns.

The interesting part of this deal was the first round pick in 2009. That one turned into Seth Jones. Yes. That Seth Jones. He ended up being traded to Portland for four prospects: Reece Willcox, Ben Betker, Tyler Sandhu and Mitch Skapski.

Willcox stayed in college.

Betker played three full seasons with Everett and is now in the AHL.

Sandhu was traded to Red Deer for a 4th round pick in 2015 (Gianni Fairbrother) and a 4th round pick in 2016 (Reece Vitelli). Fairbrother has already played a game for the Silvertips.

Skapski was sent to Victoria for Mark Nerland, who hasn't played a game in the WHL, opting for the AJHL and SJHL over the last few years.

So who won this trade? I dunno. You could probably say the Silvertips for the calibre and number of players they were able to get in return over the years. That being said, have any of them contributed to one of the craziest melees in WHL history?

I think not.