When the 2009-10 season began, Everett had a large contingent of 16 returning players from the previous season.
As hard as it may be to believe, the Tips might just have more returners next season.
Everett could have as many as 18 players from this season make the roster next season. That doesn’t even count everyone who’s eligible to return as that 18 only includes three overagers and the Tips have six eligible to return. And unlike last season, all those overagers could be back. That means we could see as many as 21 players from this season’s team back in the WHL somewhere next season, and should any returners get beat out for spots I don’t see many of those guys dropping out of the league.
So there’s more than enough to talk about concerning Everett’s returners. For now I’m going to focus on three particular groups:
1) Overagers.
Everett’s six potential overagers are forwards Clayton Cumiskey and Dan Iwanski, defensemen Radko Gudas, Chris de la Lande and Curtis Kulchar, and goaltender Thomas Heemskerk. The situation is complicated a bit by the fact both Gudas and Heemskerk could end up playing professionally next season, but neither is a lock.
So Everett’s got some decisions to make. General manager Doug Soetaert already made one, saying that if Heemskerk is sent back to juniors he’d likely be traded. If Gudas is sent back — and the Tips aren’t expecting that — he’ll definitely take one spot. Cumiskey, given the way he played after being acquired in late December, seems a lock to be one of the three.
That leaves Iwanski, de la Lande and Kulchar for either one or, more likely, two places. Before the playoffs I would have written Kulchar off, but he played himself into consideration with his performance after Gudas got hurt.
So there are two factors that govern this decision. The first is whether Gudas returns. The second is whether the Tips want to go with two forwards and one defenseman or one forward and two defensemen. Everett’s got a lot of defense coming back, with Gudas the only one who might not return. That tends to suggest going the two forward route, and that seems to make sense to me. But I can envision a scenario where the Tips decide they want to build the league’s best defense, too.
2) The artists formerly known as the Kid Line.
After nearly two full seasons as a line I don’t think it’s possible to talk about Byron Froese, Kellan Tochkin or Tyler Maxwell without mentioning the other two. When do you figure was the last time a line remained intact for three years in the WHL?
They’ll be 19 next season and it’s time for them to step up. As 17-year-old rookies they were a revelation. While they continued that level play this season, I’m not sure they got much better. That was OK because the Tips still had Shane Harper to draw the attention of opposing coaches, and it was often Harper’s line that faced the top defensive pairings.
The artists will get the main defensive attention next season, and if the Tips are going to have a successful season those three are going to have to prove they can handle it and still produce.
3) Fourth liners.
By the end of the season Everett had a fourth line that performed its role pretty well. All four of the players who cycled through that line — D.Jay McGrath, Markus McCrea, Campbell Elynuik and Josh Winquist — made noticeable progress from the beginning of the season to the end. All of these player showed the potential to move into more important roles next season.
And they’ll have to. No one’s expecting any of these players to replace Harper, but it won’t be enough for these guys just to provide energy. Everett’s going to need some production from this group. Fortunately for the Tips all four are young, so they still have plenty of room to grow as players. But that growth needs to happen.
Next: 2010-11 preview: newcomers
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