EVERETT — The Everett Silvertips completed a trade Tuesday as they sent defenseman Jordan Wharrie (97) to Victoria for defense prospect Carter Stephenson.
Wharrie, a Port Moody, B.C., native scored two goals and had two assists for Everett last season. Everett head coach Kevin Constantine said it was primarily a move based on the Silvertips’ sheer depth at right defense.
“We moved him around a little bit last year to find some ice time for him, but I think his heart is into playing ‘D,’” Constantine said. “It just wasn’t going to work in terms of how many bodies we have. We wanted to give him an opportunity to play the position he wants.”
Noah Juulsen, Cam Dykstra, Tristen Pfeifer, Jantzen Leslie, Alexander Scherbakov and Kevin Davis are all right defensemen still on Everett’s preseason roster, so it simply became a numbers game for Wharrie.
“It’s never real fun to be traded because you have a group of friends here,” Constantine said. “I can’t say he was thrilled about it, but I think he understood. In speaking to him he was thankful for what he learned, and I think he’s also thankful that he can have an opportunity to play defense.”
Stephenson, 17, spent last season primarily with the Vancouver Northwest Giants (BCMML) and led the club’s defensemen in goals with six and scored 28 points in 40 games. The 6-foot, 180-pound defenseman was Victoria’s ninth-round selection in the 2013 WHL Bantam Draft.
Constantine said he did not anticipate Stephenson joining the club, but that Stephenson will be added to the Silvertips’ prospect list.
5 Tips headed to NHL camps
Five different Silvertips players are headed to NHL camps this week.
Those players are defensemen Davis (Edmonton) and Juulsen (Montreal), goaltender Austin Lotz (Chicago), forward Carson Stadnyk (St. Louis) and right winger Nikita Scherbak (Montreal). With the exception of Scherbak all are expected to return to the Silvertips this season.
So Everett will be shorthanded this weekend when it heads east to the Tri-City Americans’ preseason tournament, but so will every other team as each club will have players missing to NHL camps.
“(The approach) changes in that all four of those guys would play prominent roles, but what it does do is it allows you to evaluate people in different situations,” Constantine said. “People (receive) ice time and repetitions that wouldn’t get that if you were giving it to veteran players. It’s an opportunity for players and extra evaluation for the coaching staff.”
Defensive lapses
The Silvertips allowed 43 shots Friday in their 5-4 win over Victoria. Everett was also out-shot 36-35 in its 4-3 victory over Portland on Sunday.
Constantine noted Sunday’s lapse saying, “it happens when you get a bit of a lead in the third.”
He also chalked up Friday’s 43-shot performance to it being the first game.
“We didn’t mind the effort overall on the weekend and we certainly liked the effort Saturday and Sunday better than what we did opening night, but that’s a typical opening night,” Constantine said. “There are too many distractions when a guy plays his first game. We just want to grow in terms of how hard we’re playing and how consistent we’re playing and how quick we can think when we’re out on the ice.”
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