WHL players heading south raises concerns

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This article was published 15/01/2021 (1726 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Finding room for a potential first-round NHL draft pick at mid-season is a nice problem to have but for Marty Murray the move came with complications.

Murray, the general manager and head coach of the USHL’s Sioux Falls Stampede, bolstered his roster this week with the addition of top draft prospect Cole Sillinger, a 17-year-old centre, and veteran left-winger Luke Toporowski, 19.

Both players were released by their WHL teams to come to the USHL, which has defied the pandemic and continued to play this season. Sillinger, who played his rookie season with the Medicine Hat Tigers last season, could be chosen as early as the middle of the first round in the 2021 NHL Draft while Toporowski has spent the previous three seasons with the Spokane Chiefs.

They joined at least six other WHLers who changed leagues this month.

“It’s a bit of a sensitive subject with everybody,” said Murray by phone Thursday. “I think the USHL, Western League, Hockey Canada and USA Hockey were a little bit worried. This is my opinion only but they didn’t want to see a mass exodus of WHL (or) CHL players coming down to the States and I understand that.

“You don’t want to see a lot of kids getting pushed out of spots down here and I totally understand from the CHL side; the worry for them would be getting these kids back down the road.”

With the WHL and Western Canada’s junior A leagues all sitting idle, the impulse to find another place to play was strong.

Stud rookie forward Matt Savoie jumped from the Winnipeg Ice to the USHL’s Dubuque Fighting Saints while the Portland Winterhawks released Jack O’Brien, a 17-year-old centre, 19-year-old defenceman Clay Hanus, 17-year-old right-winger James Stefan and Cross Hanas, a 19-year-old left-winger, to join the Lincoln Stars.

Spokane, meanwhile, also lost 19-year-old centre Bear Hughes to the Fargo Force. All of these players besides Savoie are American born while Sillinger and Toporowski are dual citizens.

Murray, noting Sillinger and Toporowski will return to the WHL next season, said a major airlift would not have been appropriate for his team.

“We identified these two players and we also could have brought in eight guys if we wanted to,” he said. “Obviously, you have sweat equity with a lot of kids and so you’re sensitive to that and we tried to find that happy medium.”

With the Jan. 10 transfer deadline past, the WHL won’t have any new defections to concern itself with. The growing influence and appeal of the USHL and the North American Hockey League, its junior A equivalent, is a growing concern for operators of major-junior franchises in Canada.

Once billed as the top supplier of talent to the NCAA, the USHL appears to want a more prominent title. This time as the biggest supplier of players to the NHL when it starts to pursue players who have already burned their eligibility for U.S. college hockey by signing contracts with major-junior clubs.

Moose Jaw Warriors GM Alan Millar is confident the WHL will hold its own in the recruiting battle.

“The USHL and NAHL have become options for players this season because they’ve all been playing and we’re not,” he said. “Ultimately, I believe once we get back to some normalcy here and there’s always going to be exceptions… but I believe that the top-end players, particularly in Western Canada, are going to remain and want to play in the Western Hockey League.”

Millar said he discussed USHL options with some of his players but all of them chose to remain in Canada. The situation is more complicated for American players playing on Canadian-based WHL teams.

Visas may be difficult to obtain for players returning from the U.S. for a proposed 24-game season in the next few months. With the U.S. border closed to non-essential travel, the WHL’s five U.S. teams are only expected to play intra-divisional games.

“We were upfront with (the players) about USA Hockey deadlines and those opportunities,” said Millar. “We do have an American goaltender in Brock Gould and we’re not sure if he’s going to be eligible to play in any type of short season (with the Warriors), so we did deal with him on some potential USHL opportunities. And with that deadline passed, we’re more than prepared to work out something with a team in the U.S. Division.”

mike.sawatzky@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @sawa14