EVERETT — The Everett Silvertips have gradually trimmed their roster throughout the preseason to a manageable level. With eight days still remaining before the season starts, the Tips may just be done trimming, at least as far as forwards and defensemen are concerned.
Despite being a tad overstocked, Everett appears unlikely to make any more cuts among the forwards and defensemen between now and the start of the season.
Everett currently has 15 forwards and eight defensemen on the roster. While teams have been known to carry that many players during the season, it’s more common for teams to carry 13 or 14 forwards and seven or eight defensemen.
However, Everett general manager Doug Soetaert said Wednesday he was prepared to carry all 23 remaining skaters into the Sept. 24 season opener at home against the Seattle Thunderbirds.
“More than likely we’ll start the season with those numbers and see where it goes,” Soetaert said.
All 23 skaters should be available for the opener. Everett has seven players attending NHL training camps, but all of those are expected back by the middle of next week. Just 18 skaters can dress for games, and five healthy scratches are considered an overabundance.
But Soetaert wants another look at his team with the full roster available. That means the fringe candidates don’t have to worry about being sent home just yet.
“Once we get everybody back into place we’ll be able to make some adjustments,” Soetaert said. “We’ll get people in the right spots and then make some decisions. But more than likely we’ll be starting with those numbers.”
The one area where the Tips are likely to make a move before the season starts is in goal. Everett has four goalies — Thomas Heemskerk, Kent Simpson, Luke Siemens, Andy Desautels — vying for two roster spots.
Tips sign Henry
Everett has signed defenseman Darian Henry to a WHL education contract, the team announced Wednesday.
Henry, a 16-year-old from Strathmore, Alberta, was Everett’s seventh-round pick in the 2009 bantam draft. Last season he had four goals and 11 assists in 32 games for the Keystone Raiders of the Alberta AAA Minor Midget League. He will not play for the Tips this season as he was reassigned two weekends ago.
Henry became the sixth member of Everett’s 2009 draft class to commit to the Tips, joining forwards Jari Erricson (second round), Kohl Bauml (third round) and Jordyn Boyd (sixth round), defenseman Nick Walters (first round), and Desautels (fifth round). Erricson, Walters and Desautels remain candidates to make the team this season.
Nick Patterson’s Silvertips blog: http://www.heraldnet.com/silvertipsblog
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