In my experience covering the Western Hockey League, I think there’s one thing that separates the junior hockey experience from everything else. That thing would be the shelf life of a contention window.
With the WHL’s roster rules, it’s nigh-impossible for general managers to “run it back” like their counterparts in the NHL might. An example of this can be found up Interstate 5– the Seattle Thunderbirds went all-in in the 2022-23 season, acquiring high-end talent such as Dylan Guenther, Colton Dach, Brad Lambert, and Nolan Allan, and ended up striking it rich as they won their second WHL Championship that season.
The next season, all of the aforementioned Thunderbirds players went pro, and the T-Birds finished fifth place in the WHL U.S. Division and missed the playoffs. Even despite having made the playoffs in every non-COVID-19 affected season since the 2009-10 season, the Portland Winterhawks have proven to be no exception to this maxim.
2023-24 Portland Winterhawks
The 2023-24 edition of the Winterhawks proved to be one of the most talented rosters in recent Winterhawks memory. Gabe Klassen, James Stefan, and Jack O’Brien all had their swan songs in Winterhawks red and squall grey while dominating the scoresheets. Josh Davies became an instant fan-favorite with his high-energy play and his personal goal song (“Revival” by Zach Bryan).
Luca Cagnoni had the highest-scoring season by a WHL defenseman since Micki Dupont in the 1999-00 WHL season. Then there Jan Špunar who held it down between the pipes with serenades of “Spoon” from the Veterans Memorial Coliseum crowd with every big save. But after the clock struck midnight on the Winterhawks’ season following a 4-2 loss in Game 4 of the WHL Championship Series to the Moose Jaw Warriors, changes were on the horizon.
In the off-season, Klassen, Stefan, and O’Brien graduated, with all three signing professional contracts– Stefan signed an entry-level contract with the Edmonton Oilers, Klassen signed to the AHL’s Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, and O’Brien to the ECHL’s Iowa Barnstormers. Cagnoni is likely to go pro with the San Jose Sharks organization, starting out in the AHL with the San Jose Barracuda. Fan favorites Josh Mori and Marcus Nguyen were traded to the Edmonton Oil Kings and Brandon Wheat Kings, respectively. Perhaps the biggest change was longtime head coach Mike Johnston stepping away from his coaching duties to focus on his role as general manager, passing the torch to his associate head coach, Kyle Gustafson.
So here we are, at the beginning of a brand new WHL season, and a brand new Winterhawks team. While this iteration may be much younger and relatively unproven than the ones before them, amongst the sure growing pains that there will be this season, there’s a lot for Winterhawks fans to be excited about not just now, but for the future too.
The Newcomers
It’s quite the contrast from last season– after featuring seven NHL draft picks on their roster last season, the Winterhawks go into their Opening Night matchup in Kamloops with ten rookies on their roster (six forwards, two defensemen, and two goaltenders.) One of those names is Jordan Duguay; a name that I’ve had my eye on since last year’s Neely Cup training camp. The 16-year-old from Edmonton finished third on his Northern Alberta Xtreme U18 prep team in scoring with 57 points in 29 games, and Kurt Pohs of PNW Hockey Talk reported that Duguay “had the puck welded to his stick on every touch” at this year’s Neely Cup.
The aforementioned Marcus Nguyen trade saw the Winterhawks getting the sixth-overall selection in the 2023 WHL Priority Draft, forward Reed Brown, in return. Brown finished second in scoring on the Okanagan Hockey Academy U15 AAA team with 57 points in 48 games, just one point behind fellow Winterhawk prospect Luke Wilfley.
“Reed is a high-octane forward who blends pace, skill, and tenacity”, said Winterhawks assistant general manager and Director of U.S. Scouting Greg Sampson in a press release. “He will quickly become a fan favorite in Portland with his compete level and the energy he will bring this upcoming season.”
The Winterhawks were also busy in the WHL Import Draft, opting to use both of their picks to bring in two Czechs, defenseman Marek Chaloupka and goaltender Ondrej Štěbeták. Pohs described Chaloupka as a “prototypical Portland defenseman” in regards to his mobility and puck-handling, while Štěbeták was a part of the Czechia team that silver medalled at the 2024 Hlinka Gretzky Cup.
The 20s
What the Winterhawks have in youth, they lack in experience as a result of the WHL’s overage roster limits. The three age-20 players on the Winterhawks’ roster are Kyle Chyzowski, Tyson Jugnauth, and Ryder Thompson, and it would not surprise me to see those three wearing letters on their chests. Thompson, who has spent his entire WHL career with the Winterhawks, now gets to step into the limelight as an age-20 player after having been more of an unsung hero with names such as Jugnauth, Cagnoni, and Carter Sotheran on the blue-line.
When Jugnauth gets back to Portland after Kraken training camp, he’ll look to end his brief WHL career with almost-surely top pairing minutes, which will surely be intriguing to Kraken fans. And after being an assistant captain the past two seasons, it would be logical that this year’s captain ends up being Chyzowski, coming off the heels of a torrid playoff run in which he led the Winterhawks in goals with nine.
The Incumbents
Despite an off-season of exodus, the Winterhawks still have a good deal of players returning to the Rose City for the 2024-25 season. After going undrafted in the 2024 NHL Draft, forwards Diego Buttazzoni and Josh Zakreski will be coming into this season with chips on their shoulders– the latter earned an invite to Philadelphia Flyers rookie camp, and from there an invite to their main training camp.
What doesn’t get as much attention on the Winterhawks’ roster are their sophomore players, many of whom are poised to see their ice-time take a big leap from last year. Ryan Miller, Kyle McDonough, Hudson Darby and Tyson Yaremko will have elevated roles after playing mostly bottom-six minutes last season.
After appearing for a cup of coffee with the Winterhawks last season, 18-year old Carsyn Dyck will be looking to solidify a roster spot for himself this year, as will his counterparts on defense in Cole Slobodian, Kayd Ruedig, and Cohen Massey. Finally, after making 11 appearances with the Winterhawks after a barrage of injuries to their goaltenders, Luke Brunen will ostensibly battle for the right to be named the starting goaltender against Štěbeták.
Final Thoughts
I’m not in the business of making concrete predictions, but it would stand within reason to say that this year’s Winterhawks team won’t be as good as last year’s. With so much youth on this team, that might not be an objectively bad thing. The Winterhawks have proven time and time again that they can stay afloat in the U.S. Division, but as they enter a new cycle for their next championship window, the emphasis on this season will be less playoff potential and more focused on the development of their younger talent.
Winterhawks fans have been used to regular-season success in recent years, but this will be a season where growing pains are to be expected. As the previous generation of Winterhawks phases out, a new one takes its place, but as the old adage goes, Rome wasn’t built in a single day. And neither will the new generation of Winterhawks.
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