Just got word that the Tips have inked playmaking center Paul Van de Velde to an education contract.
The 1990-born Van de Velde was originally a third-round pick in the 2005 bantam draft by the Kamloops Blazers. Playing junior A last season for Waywayseecappo of the MJHL, the 5-foot-11, 170-pounder had 10 goals and 13 assists in 19 regular season games and two goals and six assists in seven playoff games. He also played for Manitoba at the 2007 Canada Winter Games, which took the place of the U-17 World Hockey Challenge that year.
According to the Tips Van de Velde had been headed to the NCAA prior to signing. However, he did attend Kamloops’ training camp last fall. The Kamloops Daily News reported that Van de Velde had a poor camp and that he asked for “guarantees that the team wasn’t prepared to grant him.” As a result the team and player ultimately parted ways, with Everett listing him.
Well, it’s hard to say how much Van de Velde will help the Tips. He’s a center, which the Tips need; he’s a left-handed shot, which is in short supply among the veteran forwards; and he’s supposed to be a pretty skilled guy, which the Tips can really use given who won’t be back next season. But as to how a point-a-game scorer in the MJHL at 17 translates into the WHL at 18, I really can’t answer that. I’ve seen junior A scorers come to the WHL and become stars (e.g. Mark Santorelli), and I’ve seen junior A scorers come to Everett and flounder (e.g. Brandon Campos). And the MJHL is not considered as strong a league as the BCHL (where both Santorelli and Campos came from).
But Van de Velde will add depth, he gives Everett another player who can help the Tips from getting too reliant on 16- and 17-year-olds in the upcoming season, and the fact that Everett signed him is an indication GM Doug Soetaert believes he’s ready to contribute now. And in the best-case scenario (for the Tips) he’ll be Everett’s scoring overager in two years.
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Quick update: I’ve fixed the spelling of Van de Velde’s name to correspond with the Tips’ press release. Also, the press release’s statistics for Van de Velde are different from what I found on the MJHL Web site, in case you were wondering about the discrepancy.
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