Clayton Bauer never realized he had a target on his back.
No, not because of some perceived transgression on the ice, drawing the indignation of some oversensitive opponent.
Instead the target was placed there by Everett Silvertips general manager Doug Soetaert. And although Soetaert missed with his first shot, he finally bagged his man at the second attempt.
Bauer may have a bit of the appearance of a journeyman, given his status of having played for three teams during the first third of the season. However, from Everett’s standpoint the 20-year-old left wing was definitely a wanted man.
“I didn’t know (the Tips tried to trade for him before),” Bauer said. “I actually found out when I came here that they tried to get me.
“I was excited,” Bauer added about his reaction to the trade. “I always knew Everett came out with good teams and was just excited to come to another good organization.”
Soetaert originally attempted to acquire Bauer from Kootenay at the overager deadline in October. However, the Tips lost out to Red Deer for Bauer’s services.
But Soetaert kept Bauer on his radar, and when the opportunity arose again to acquire the Kelowna, B.C., native, he jumped at it, getting Bauer and a sixth-round pick in the 2008 bantam draft from the Rebels in exchange for 20-year-old right wing Brennan Sonne and 17-year-old defenseman Matt Strong.
“We were very serious in terms of making a deal at the overager deadline,” Soetaert said. “(Kootenay) had a lot of forwards and wanted to keep two overage defensemen, so he became expendable. It came down to us and Red Deer and obviously Red Deer got him.
“But (the Rebels) called and we talked as an organization and decided to make the deal.”
There were two primary reasons why Soetaert targeted Bauer.
The first reason: offense.
Everett’s biggest issue this season has been finding secondary scoring beyond the top line of Zach Hamill, Dan Gendur and Kyle Beach. In Bauer, the Tips believe they found an answer, particularly in scoring the type of gritty, down-low goals that were the specialty of the since-graduated Moises Gutierrez.
“He’s a big guy (6-foot-1, 201 pounds) who can go into traffic areas,” Soetaert said of Bauer. “He’s got pretty good hands for a big guy. I don’t think all of his goals are going to be Saturday-night highlight goals, I think he’s going to get a lot of his goals by going to the tough areas and crashing the net.”
Bauer hasn’t always been a scorer. In his first two seasons with Kelowna, he was more of a role player, totalling just 36 points.
But after being dealt to Kootenay early last season Bauer blossomed offensively, compiling 24 goals and 28 assists in 68 games.
“I think it was just the opportunity I got in Cranbrook,” Bauer said. “They put me in positions I hadn’t played in before and I thought I did well.”
The second reason: pedigree.
Bauer played for top coaches in each of his first three seasons. In Kelowna he played for Marc Habscheid and Jeff Truitt, being a part of the Rockets’ 2004-05 team that reached the Memorial Cup. At Kootenay, he played under Cory Clouston with an organization that’s also experienced its share of success. All three of those coaches have since moved on to the professional ranks.
Those past experiences prepared him well for joining a Tips team renowned for its attention to detail.
“It’s very similar,” Bauer said about how Everett compares with his stops in Kelowna and Kootenay. “They’re hard-working teams with good structure.”
Said Everett coach John Becanic: “He’s a bright kid who’s had such good coaches, so he’s not coming here with a lack of details. It’s just a matter of refining the details into our gameplan.”
Bauer didn’t find the scoresheet in his Everett debut during Wednesday’s 2-1 shootout loss to Chilliwack. However, Becanic was satisfied with what he saw out of Bauer at first glance.
“It was about what we expected,” Becanic said. “He had one practice and had about 8,000 details thrown at him,” Becanic said. “He took the details we gave him and did well at those. For everything we asked him to learn for (Wednesday’s) game he was pretty sharp at it.”
And Bauer seemed comfortable with the way he fit into Everett’s equation.
“I thought it wasn’t too bad,” Bauer said of his debut. “I thought I adapted to the systems all right. I’m still learning, and I really like the players I’m playing with.
“Hopefully I’ll be able to put the puck in the net.”
If he does, Bauer will be just what Everett was looking for.
Even if the Tips had to wait a month to get it.
Nick Patterson’s Silvertips blog: http://www.heraldnet.com/silvertipsblog
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