Everett plays two of the Western Conference’s heavies again this weekend, with the Tips hosting Portland on Friday and heading to Tri-City on Saturday. These are two teams at the top of the conference standings — Portland is tied for first with Spokane on points, but Tri-City is ahead of Portland on winning percentage. What I wanted to do is compare the raw talent levels of these two comparable teams, at least as determined by NHL scouts/Hockey Canada.
Let’s begin with Portland:
Ryan Johansen, 4th overall in the 2010 NHL draft
Nino Niederreiter, 5th overall 2010
Brad Ross, 2nd round 2010
Brett Ponich, 2nd round 2009
William Wren, 2nd round 2009
Taylor Aronson, 3rd round 2010
Craig Cunningham, 4th round 2010
Troy Rutkowski, 5th round 2010
Mac Carruth, 7th round 2010
Riley Boychuk, 7th round 2010
Oliver Gabriel, signed free-agent contract 2010
Ty Rattie, Top Prospects game 2011
Sven Bartschi, Top Prospects game 2011
Joe Morrow, Top Prospects game 2011
Tyler Wotherspoon, Top Prospects game 2011
Derrick Pouliot, Team West, U-17s
Brendan Leipsic, Team West, U-17s
That’s amazing, probably the most talent collected on one roster by a U.S. Division team since Everett began playing in 2003.
Now Tri-City:
Carter Ashton, 1st round 2009
Matt MacKenzie, 3rd round 2010
That’s it. And even that is misleading because Ashton and MacKenzie were both trade acquisitions who just began playing for the Americans last weekend. There’s a couple caveats as Brooks Macek, who was part of the trade for MacKenzie, was a sixth rounder in 2010, and I’m mystified how Connor Rankin was left off Team Pacific’s team for the U-17s. But Tri-City got itself into position pretty much without anyone on the NHL radar.
This is fascinating, as it shows there is more than one way to achieve success in the WHL. Portland has achieved success by mining the best talent around. Tri-City has achieved success by putting together a team full of players who are very good at this level. Which tack is better in the long run? I guess we’ll have to wait to find out.
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