Currently there are six overage candidates for next season’s three Everett Silvertips overage slots. However, that could certainly change. Last year at this time there were seven potential overagers and by the time camp rolled around the list had been trimmed to four. The organization certainly has ample time to make some moves.
Those six are forwards Dawson Leedahl, Graham Millar and Brandon Ralph, and defensemen Brycen Martin, Lucas Skrumeda and Tristen Pfeifer.
You have to figure one of those spots goes to Leedahl. The Saskatoon native was the Tips’ captain as a 19-year-old and provides much of the team’s physicality.
Ralph and Millar were both lower-line role players. Ralph, obtained via trade with Edmonton early in the season, had an exceptional postseason in which he scored four times to lead the team in goals. This came after a regular season during which he scored just five goals and three assists. At 6-foot-2 and 190 pounds Ralph does possess some size and used that to his advantage.
Millar, a Penticton, B.C., native, had 15 goals and 16 assists during the regular season. He is particularly good at deflecting shots into the net via the power play. Millar actually spent a large part of the season on the second line alongside Matt Fonteyne and Patrick Bajkov, but was more often a member of the third line as the season wore on.
The defense is where it gets very interesting. Everett’s strength this season was in its blueline and part of that stemmed from its collective experience. The defense is poised to be even more experienced in 2016-17, depending on how many 20-year-old defensemen return.
Skrumeda spent much of the season teamed with Noah Juulsen on the top pairing, but doesn’t provide much in the way of offense, tallying one goal and 13 assists in 63 regular-season games and two assists in the playoffs. In fact, his career numbers in 148 regular and postseason games total two goals and 28 assists.
Martin is something of an enigma. A beast at 6-foot-2 and 200 pounds, he was averaging nearly a point per game in 25 contests for Saskatoon before the Tips acquired him at the beginning of December. Martin wasn’t able to replicate that production and tallied just three goals and 10 assists in 41 games with the Tips. I’m not sure how much of that was due to the systems Everett employs or other factors. Further clouding the issue is the fact Martin was a third-round pick of Buffalo in the 2014 NHL draft, but hasn’t signed with the Sabres. If he does sign he would be eligible to play professionally next season, but I don’t know if Buffalo still sees him as part of that organization’s future. Even if he did sign it’s possible he could be sent back to Everett.
Pfeifer is another interesting situation. He finished with two goals and 11 assists in 60 regular-season game before suffering what turned out to be a season-ending upper-body injury on March 12. He has excellent size at 6-foot-4 and 195 pounds, but battled concussions as an 18-year-old rookie.
Pfeifer also has a lot going for him when his hockey career concludes. He is a two-time winner of the Silvertips Scholastic Athlete of the Year award and is up for the league-wide award next week in Calgary. Pfeifer has completed two years online through Phoenix’s Grand CanyonUniversity with a 4.0 grade-point average, and he told me he wants to pursue his MBA at Duke or Columbia when he’s finished as an undergrad. At a certain point you wonder if his proneness to injury is worth jeopardizing his long-term goals.
A lot remains to be seen before camp commences in August.
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