Everett Silvertips: The Making of a Champion
Published 8:28 pm Thursday, May 28, 2026
KELOWNA, B.C. — Like most championship teams, the foundation for the Everett Silvertips’ first Western Hockey League title came from drafting and development: The core of Carter Bear, Landon DuPont, Julius Miettinen, Tarin Smith and Matias Vanhanen were each Silvertips’ selections in either the WHL Prospects Draft or Canadian Hockey League Import Draft.
But in order to turn a strong foundation into a champion, Everett general manager Mike Fraser and his front office staff had to get creative with the finishing touches.
Between adding experience in the net, unlikely depth for the defense and an unexpected returner to the forwards, Fraser addressed each position group to help construct the franchise’s first champion, which also culminated in its first-ever Memorial Cup appearance.
In a lengthy sit-down with The Herald at Prospera Place during the Memorial Cup, Fraser shed light on how several of those key moves came together.
Rylan Gould, forward
The legwork for acquiring Gould started all the way back at the 2025 WHL Trade Deadline. Like this season, the Silvertips sat atop the 2024-25 standings and were looking to add pieces. A deal with the Swift Current Broncos involving Gould did not pan out at the time, but the interest never faded.
“We were certainly interested in, I just think, his ability to make plays,” Fraser told The Herald. “He plays really well on the cycle and in tight on the power play, obviously. He’s obviously scored some key goals for us at key times, and just having that extra scoring top-six forward in those situations has been a huge help for us.”
So when the opportunity to acquire Gould resurfaced in the offseason, around the 2025 WHL Prospects Draft on May 8, Everett sent Swift Current a 2026 first-round pick and forward Kasey Gleim to do so.
However, with the knowledge that Gould had been in discussions to switch over to the NCAA in the fall, Fraser worked in a trade protection for the first-rounder.
Sure enough, Gould committed to Michigan Tech, and the Silvertips and Broncos restructured the deal on July 1, returning the first-round pick to Everett and instead swapping their second-round picks in the CHL Import Draft.
“I could tell it was tough for Rylan to even let us know,” Fraser said. “Because I know he really wanted to be a Silvertip, and you know, just circumstances: (Michigan Tech) had a coaching change, and I get it. It’s not an easy decision. … There’s been a lot of changes in junior hockey the last year-and-a-half, two years. So yeah, it’s tough, but I understood.”
Everett missed out on acquiring Gould for a second time, but in this new era of junior hockey, the door is always open on both sides.
Gould played just six games with the Huskies, scoring one goal while averaging 12:14 time on ice, an average which was bumped down by an injury he sustained in what would be his final game on Oct. 25. He officially departed the program on Oct. 28, but declined to get into specific reasons even seven months later, citing “certain variables.”
Gould did explain that he likes how the NCAA provides an extra developmental runway for players that age out of the CHL but may not be ready to sign a professional deal. It also sounded like Gould is leaving the door open for a return to college after he officially runs out of eligibility in the CHL this week.
“I think it’s a great opportunity to kind of extend development,” Gould said. “And when guys are kind of ready to move on and take that next step, it’s a great program to be a part of. Yeah, definitely looking forward to that, but obviously staying grounded and being here, there’s no place I’d rather be right now.”
Fraser received a call from then-Swift Current general manager Chad Leslie, who let him know a deal involving Gould may still be a possibility upon his exit from Michigan Tech. A finalized deal was put into place quickly — the Silvertips sent a conditional 2026 first-round pick and the rights to forward Damen Vanderberg — and Gould finally joined the team, making his Everett debut on Nov. 7.
Fraser expressed appreciation that Leslie gave him a phone call first rather than shopping Gould around to the rest of the league.
“It was easier doing the deal, it was fairly similar to the first time around,” Fraser said. “I thought it was early enough in the season that we certainly recouped the value, and knew he would have lots of time to fit in. So redoing it was great. He came in and fit right away. Very well-liked, very good personality.”
The aftermath: Gould registered an assist in his Silvertips debut, and scored his first goal with the team the following night. He finished eighth on the team in scoring with 50 points (21 goals, 29 assists) in 53 games, and his six power-play goals in the WHL Playoffs led the league. Beyond the numbers, Gould quickly became a respected veteran and vocal leader on the team as well.
Mattias Uyeda, defenseman
Fraser completed pre-deadline trades for Luke Vlooswyk and Kayd Ruedig to solidify the defensive corps, but Uyeda’s signing over the holiday break in December was the most unlikely addition to the back end.
At the beginning of 2025-26, Uyeda was simply an engineering student at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, playing for the Richmond Sockeyes in the Pacific Junior Hockey League (PJHL). The Vancouver native always dreamed of playing in the highest tier of junior hockey, but never thought it would become a reality.
After producing around a point-per-game over the previous two seasons with Richmond, Uyeda exploded with 10 goals and 48 points in just 25 games. Suddenly making the jump to major junior became slightly more realistic.
“I was playing with zero pressure. I was just almost playing for fun,” Uyeda told The Herald about the uptick in his production. “I guess I really (just took) control of the game. I was very confident with the puck, making plays, and it helped that we had a really strong team back home, too, so I had good supporting teammates and players.”
One of those teammates provided the connection that helped bring Uyeda to Everett. Brandon Petrie’s father, Graeme — who Uyeda described as being “pretty involved” in his local hockey community — received a message from a Silvertips scout to gauge Uyeda’s interest.
He was not the only one who took notice. Everett coach Steve Hamilton heard about Uyeda from an old friend — who Hamilton declined to name at the friend’s request — and passed the message to Fraser. The Silvertips GM knew about Uyeda from his younger playing days, but did not realize how much progress he had made with the Sockeyes.
Fraser decided to take the two-hour drive up to Richmond and catch a few games in person, and he quickly realized he liked the potential. Eager to add a left-shot defenseman, Everett immediately placed Uyeda on its protected players list, and brought him in for a tryout in early December.
“To be honest, at the start I was a little confused and surprised,” Uyeda said. “I was looking at the standings and was like, ‘Wow, Everett’s first in the league.’ I kind of asked myself, like, ‘Why else would they need to add another defenseman?’ … But as the process went on I was fully on board.”
Uyeda played four tryout games, beginning with the Silvertips’ 2-1 win against the Spokane Chiefs on Dec. 3, and he impressed enough to earn a WHL Scholarship and Development Agreement.
“He handles himself very well,” Fraser said. “Even though he’s not the biggest guy, he’s very strong and he’s an adult. He’s physical. He’s not afraid to stick his nose in, and just (has) been a steady influence, steady calm presence for us back there. And able to make plays and outlet passes, and those types of things.”
It was hectic for Uyeda at first. On top of adjusting to the faster pace of play and the bigger crowds of the WHL, he also had to complete his final exams at UBC, which meant driving back and forth between Vancouver and Everett to play while also staying on top of his finals.
Once he officially signed on Dec. 18, Uyeda put school on pause to focus on the rest of the season, where he quickly entrenched himself in the defensive corps.
“Moving to Everett was my first time ever moving away from home, so it is a pretty big change,” Uyeda said. “… The whole environment was brand-new, but I mean, Everett is an awesome place to play, and my billets, the team, everyone was just so welcoming when I was first starting off, so yeah, it was (a) pretty seamless change almost.”
In the weeks following Uyeda’s signing, Fraser made two more additions to the defense prior to the trade deadline on Jan. 8.
First, the Silvertips shipped out forward Cole Temple and defenseman Cameron Dillard to the Red Deer Rebels in exchange for Philadelphia Flyers prospect Luke Vlooswyk, who ended up slotting in as a big, physical presence on the second pair alongside Uyeda.
“When the Vlooswyk deal happened, it obviously was pretty big for us,” Fraser said. “… We didn’t have to give up an older D-man on our roster. We had to give up a good player in Temple, but I mean, kind of the old example of ‘You got to give up something to get something.’
“For us, that need was pretty high, and then from that point it was more a case of do we go after one more (defenseman) or do we go after (a) forward?”
In the coming days, that decision became much clearer. The Kamloops Blazers had acquired Ruedig from the Portland Winterhawks on Oct. 25, but expressed his availability at the deadline.
Ruedig’s overall experience, particularly with a familiar opponent in Portland, appealed to Fraser, and the addition would allow forward Nolan Chastko to return to his natural position after he played 25 games on defense when Everett was short on depth.
The Silvertips finalized a deal for Ruedig on Jan. 7, the day before the deadline, sending a 2028 first-round pick and 2028 fourth-rounder.
“That was a bit of a no-brainer for us, plus the fact that both Vlooswyk and Ruedig are guys that can come back a year from now,” Fraser said. “It just ended up working out that way. There’s always lots of calls and texts and everything else going on around deadline. When we were able to get those two guys, it alleviated a lot of pressure, I think, off our staff, but also off some of our players that were maybe bearing more of a load than we wanted them to.”
The aftermath: The revamped defense stepped up when captain Tarin Smith went down with an injury at the end of Everett’s first-round series win against Portland. Uyeda specifically scored a goal in the WHL Championship-clinching win against Prince Albert in Game 5 on May 15.
Anders Miller, goaltender
Fraser wasted little time solidifying the Silvertips’ goaltending, arguably the most important position for a deep playoff run.
After taking a few games to confirm Everett’s talent level and potential this season would be worth taking a swing for another experienced option on the trade market, Fraser traveled to evaluate the options on multiple Eastern Conference teams.
Miller stood out immediately. Joining the Calgary Hitmen out of the Alberta Junior Hockey League (AJHL) last season, Miller played in 10 playoff games in 2025. He posted a 7-3-0 record with a .902 save percentage and 2.55 goals-against average.
Miller had a shaky start to 2025-26, where in his third game, he allowed six goals on 26 shots in two periods before getting replaced by Aidan Hesse in a 7-1 loss to the Medicine Hat Tigers on Oct. 4.
“I had a hunch there was a possibility I might get traded in the season,” Miller said. “I didn’t know when or what, but I mean, I was always kind of ready for it. I was going to do whatever I could with whatever happened.”
Fraser is a former goaltender himself — with stints in the Manitoba Junior Hockey League (MJHL), British Columbia Hockey League (BCHL) as well as the NCAA with Iona College from 1999-2003 — and while he feels like he’s been out of the game too long for that experience to give him a leg up with evaluating the position, it has put him on the same page as Silvertips goalie coach James Jensen.
Once the two agreed Miller would be worth acquiring, Fraser worked quickly to get a deal done. Ultimately, Everett sent a 2027 third-round pick and Lethbridge’s 2029 fifth-round pick on Oct. 13 to create an experienced tandem with Miller and Raiden LeGall, who joined the team in November 2024 and appeared in 10 playoff games in 2025.
“It’s important with goaltending because there’s only so many,” Fraser said. “And we knew that we had in mind a couple other teams that were probably looking. (It was) a combination of ‘Let’s try and get this done,’ as I said before, just to get it done, but also so you’re not having to pay through the roof later on. I think the timing was right. I think (LeGall) was very good about it, and understood why we wanted to do it.”
Miller and LeGall had more or less an even split in the crease throughout the regular season, but Miller won the starting job heading into the playoffs after going 29-4-0 with a .920 save percentage and 2.12 GAA.
The 19-year-old netminder felt like he learned about himself and his adaptability by improving his play following the trade. The fact that it came so early in the season helped both him and the entire team in the long run.
“I feel like it helped me just get adjusted to the team a lot sooner, without having to go in at the deadline and only have half a season to get adjusted with them,” Miller said. “I felt like having that whole season — I felt like I’ve been here the whole season, so I felt like I’ve just (been able to) build a better bond with the team.”
The aftermath: With full control of the crease for the postseason, Miller posted a league-best .932 save percentage and 1.91 GAA among goalies with at least five playoff appearances. He played a crucial role backstopping the franchise to its first WHL Championship.
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Before all the trades and signings this season, Fraser had a good feeling about what the 2025-26 Silvertips would look like. After Everett fell in seven games to the Winterhawks in the second round of the 2025 WHL Playoffs, which it entered with the best record, the overwhelming sentiment in the exit meetings was a desire to finish the job.
“I think I knew coming back that we had a pretty special group, and also a group that had a chip on its shoulder after what happened last season,” Fraser said. “I gave a lot of our returning guys credit. … Guys that were eligible to come back, maybe you’re not sure what their plan is, but they were pretty set on coming back and making a point, and wanting to win and do something special for Everett.
“I give them a lot of credit for sticking to that. As much as I hate to say it, loyalty is becoming more and more distant in this game, so I give those guys a lot of credit for sticking together and wanting to come back and do something special. For me, I felt an obligation to try and help them achieve that goal.”
