Everett plays its second and third games of the season this weekend, and both are in Portland. It’s unusual to play a U.S. Division rival back-to-back in the same location. It’s also unusual to play a team in four of the first six games of the season, but that’s what Everett has with Portland this year.
Normally that would be daunting. Portland is the four-time defending Western Conference champion, and the Winterhawks are favored to contend again this season. Seeing Portland’s high-powered offensive players bearing down has given opposing defenses nightmares since 2009.
Which is why Everett may just have a favorable schedule vis-a-vis Portland this season.
Portland, because it has been so successful, has a wealth of NHL draft picks, and those draft picks typically spend the early part of the WHL season away at NHL training camps. This year is particularly affected as the opening of NHL training camps was pushed back a week, meaning the schedule for NHL prospects being returned to the WHL also was adjusted a week later than in past years.
Last weekend when the season opened, Portland was missing seven players who were away at NHL training camps, and those were among the Winterhawks seven best. As a result, Seattle and Prince George got to face a severely short-handed Portland squad, and the Winterhawks opened the season with two losses.
The situation is different for Everett. Five of those seven NHL campers have returned to the Winterhawks. However, the two that remain gone are electrifying forwards Nicolas Petan and Oliver Bjorkstrand, the top two returning scorers in the league. When Everett and Portland met during the preseason, those two were the difference.
Petan and Bjorkstrand definitely won’t be with the Winterhawks this weekend. If their NHL teams want to give them any regular season games — and indications seem to be that both could be given at least a brief look — they won’t be available for games in Everett on Oct. 4 and 10, either (the NHL season opens on Oct. 8).
So while no team looks forward to playing Portland in heavy doses, doing so early in the season might just be the exception. If so, Everett is the beneficiary this year.
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