This last Wednesday evening, the Everett Silvertips swept the Portland Winterhawks out of Round 1 of the WHL playoffs with four straight wins in a matter of six days. There was no quit and no end to the hustle, but the entire Hawks roster did give a sense of “I’m done with this season” throughout these last games. I heard an anecdotal account of tenacious goalkeeper Adin Hill signaling for relief and not receiving the wave-in to the bench. Perhaps it is all for the better; this team has been struggling to stay afloat since the last eastern swing through Canada, and many of the NHL prospects are already looking ahead to better days.
But I’m sure the upper management of the Winterhawks organization has a whiteboard somewhere in the bowels of their offices that reads in big, bold letters: WHAT DID WE LEARN?
Fans have been uneasy about Head Coach and General Manager Jamie Kompon ever since he replaced Mike Johnston following the celebrated coach’s elevation to the NHL level (interestingly, Johnston might be a competitor next season as the Coach and GM of the Vancouver Giants after he was fired from the Pittsburgh Penguins in late 2015). Kompon has a fantastic record on paper as a two-time Stanley Cup winning staff coach, but his approach to the junior leagues has been a tough pill to swallow. What we may have learned definitively after two full seasons is that there is some disconnect between his game and that of the Bantam-level rookies he is fostering.
The pacing of an NHL game is different from a WHL bout. Younger players manage their stamina differently, and they are all trying to impress scouts for the major leagues rather than playing as one unit. On top of that, Kompon has instituted a team commandment about puck possession that none of his players is living up to. It remains to be seen if the coach has fully adapted to a completely different type of hockey than that which he earned his stripes.
There are also some extenuating circumstances that have tied his hands. Johnston left the team after a severe sanction from the WHL that included forfeiture of their Bantam draft picks for every season through 2017. The cupboard for new talent has been decidedly dry for a long time, and the resulting lineups have been heavy on speed and fundamentals while being light on size and aggressiveness. Meanwhile the team’s financial czars are rumored to have pulled back hard on any serious scouting endeavors from the foreign leagues. Lesson number two is a desperate need for muscle on the offensive lines, and unfortunately the lack of intimidation is what killed a lot of the momentum against a completely beatable team like Everett.
The team has snipers, playmakers, and some offensively minded defensemen. The key ingredient that is missing is the muscle, but none of these assets are worth much if they cannot work together efficiently. That brings us to lesson number three, which is not something as nebulous or romantic as teamwork or cooperation. It is passing. This team could have six Bobby Orr clones forming two offensive lines, but they would be worthless if they couldn’t pass through the neutral zone or shunt the puck back to the blue line while on the attack. The Hawks’ inability to move the puck amongst themselves is an offensive issue and a defensive weakness. What does it say that the highlight of the season was a cross-ice pass booted off the blade of a skate?
All armchair managing aside, the season is over. Some would say, mercifully. But the team is drifting further away from the pre-sanction powerhouse it was, and it is time to get serious. This is what we have learned. It would behoove the Winterhawks to act on it.
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