EVERETT — Everett Silvertips general manager Doug Soetaert doesn’t like to use the term “rebuilding.” He dislikes the connotations that accompany the term, most significantly the implication that the team is going to lose a lot of games. Losing is not a part of his agenda.

So even though the Silvertips underwent major roster turnover from last season to this, he prefers to refer to this as a transition season rather than a rebuilding season.

So what does a team in “transition” do at the trade deadline?

The Western Hockey League trade deadline looms following the Christmas break, and Everett finds itself in a position where it has options. At 15-13-5-0 and in fifth place in the Western Conference, the Tips could seek to improve their team in an effort to compete with the leaders, or they could auction off their veterans in an effort to beef up for the future.

Given Soetaert’s competitive nature, don’t count on the latter when the Jan. 10 trade deadline arrives.

“(Other teams) got all the high draft picks by losing for two years and then turned it around,” Soetaert said. “I don’t like doing that.

“We’re here to win every year. That’s our goal, that’s our mandate, and we want to go as far as possible every year. If we have to make moves to do that, we will make moves. But we’re not going to do something that doesn’t make sense, both now and long-term.”

That attitude may affect the fate of Everett’s star winger Kyle Beach. Beach has been the topic of trade speculation since before the season began. The immensely talented 18-year-old power forward has yet to play up to his full capabilities this season. He’s also thought to have a good chance of sticking in the NHL next season as a 19-year-old. Combine those factors with the fact that Everett is not considered a title contender, and the traditional WHL action would be to ship Beach to a contender in exchange for assets that will help the Tips in the future.

But Soetaert indicated that won’t happen.

“Right now that’s not in our plans,” Soetaert said about trading Beach. “Kyle’s an 18-year-old, there’s a chance he could be back here next year and be a part of our hockey club again. As good as Kyle is when he wants to be, the National Hockey League is a big step.

“He’s a big part of our hockey club. He knows that, he wants to play for the Everett Silvertips, we’ve indicated to him we want him to be an Everett Silvertip. So life is good.”

But if the Tips don’t plan on trading Beach, does that mean they’re going to upgrade? Not necessarily. The area where Everett could theoretically use an upgrade is in goal, where veteran Shayne Barrie and rookie Kent Simpson have yet to establish consistency.

However, top-notch goaltenders are in short supply this season, and with the youthful Tips set up to be more competitive the next two seasons, it’s unlikely Soetaert would sacrifice any of the future for the present, particularly when those moves won’t necessarily elevate Everett to the same level as, say, Vancouver, Tri-City or Spokane.

“If the right deal comes around we’re not against looking at anything to upgrade our hockey club,” Soetaert said. “But I’m not going to give the future away for a short-term fix.”

As for the present, the Tips have a new goal heading into the second half of the season. When the season began Everett’s goal was to make the playoffs. Now the Tips have their eyes on home-ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs.

“We feel we have a team that’s capable of getting fourth in our conference, that’s our goal,” Soetaert said. “When we started the season, our goal was to make the playoffs. Now we’ve seen our team, we like our team, we like where we are as an organization with our younger players. I think we’ve got skill, we’ve got grit, we’ve got size, we just have to be a little more consistent. But with a younger team you get that inconsistency.”

Do the Tips believe that have the players capable of achieving that consistency? Tune in on Jan. 10 to find out for sure.

Nick Patterson’s Silvertips blog: http://www.heraldnet.com/silvertipsblog