As they prepare to head out to Alberta for a four-game road trip, the Prince Albert Raiders have received a major piece to add to their offence.
Overage forward Noah Gregor, who the team acquired from the Victoria Royals in July for an undisclosed conditional compensation, was reassigned by the American Hockey League’s San Jose Barracuda Tuesday and will meet up with the Raiders in time for their game against the Medicine Hat Tigers Wednesday night.
Gregor, who is from Beaumont, Alta., has 205 points in 194 career WHL regular season games with the Moose Jaw Warriors and the Royals and also has 23 points in 28 career playoff games.
He was also a fourth round pick of the San Jose Sharks in 2016 and has signed an entry level contract with the National Hockey League club.
His debut in a Raiders uniform at the Art Hauser Centre is slated for Friday, Oct. 13 against the Red Deer Rebels.
Although it was not officially announced by the team or the league, long-time WHL beat writer Gregg Drinnan reported on his Taking Note blog Tuesday evening that the Royals acquired a conditional third round pick in the 2019 draft and a conditional fourth round pick in 2021, which would only be exchange if Gregor plays in a certain amount of games and reaches a certain point total.
Gregor’s arrival comes a day after forward Nikita Krivokrasov was reassigned by the team.
After signing as an undrafted player in September 2016, the 17-year-old had three goals in 36 games with the team over the last two years, but had not dressed for the first five games of this season.
Meanwhile, former Raiders goaltender Curtis Meger found a new home Tuesday as his Junior A rights were dealt by the SJHL’s Estevan Bruins to the AJHL’s Lloydminster Bobcats in exchange for ex-Raiders netminder Nick Sanders.
Scott Honoured
After winning a pair of games over the weekend and posting a 2.00 goals against average and .940 save percentage along the way, Ian Scott was named the WHL’s Goaltender of the Week Monday.
This marks the second time that the Toronto Maple Leafs prospect has earned the award, as he previously received the honour back in October 2015.
Scott was also a finalist for the CHL Goaltender of the Week, which was given to Luke Richardson of the OHL’s Kitchener Rangers.
Wednesday Pre-Game Notes
The meeting with the Tigers at the Canalta Centre will be the second of the year for the Raiders, as they picked up a 5-3 win Friday at the Art Hauser Centre in their previous encounter.
While the Raiders have a 5-0 mark to start the campaign and are tied with the Edmonton Oil Kings for the best record in the league, the Tigers have lost four straight games after winning their season opener, with their most recent setback coming Saturday in a 4-3 shootout defeat to the Saskatoon Blades.
The Tigers did receive some good news earlier this week as overage blueliners Dylan MacPherson and Linus Nassen both returned from the AHL’s Springfield Thunderbirds.
Fellow blueliner Dalton Gally and forward Ryan Jevne are the other 20-year-olds on the roster.
WHL Transactions
With an overage spot open after forward Bradly Goethals was released a day earlier, the Saskatoon Blades acquired blueliner Brandon Schuldhaus from the Moose Jaw Warriors Tuesday in exchange for a second round pick in 2020 and a fifth round pick in 2019.
The 20-year-old from Calgary was acquired by the Warriors last January from the Red Deer Rebels and is coming off a career season with eight goals and 19 assists in 64 games.
He joins blueliner Dawson Davidson and forward Max Gerlach as the overagers on the Blades, while the Warriors will go with goaltender Brodan Salmond, defenceman Dalton Hamaliuk and forward Tristan Langan as their 20-year-olds.
Meanwhile, the Vancouver Giants have added a pair of blueliners to their roster as they picked up overager Ryan Pouliot off waivers after he was released by the Swift Current Broncos and acquired 18-year-old Ty Ettinger from the Brandon Wheat Kings in exchange for a seventh round pick in 2020.
On the prospect front, the Regina Pats signed American defenceman Jake Johnson to a standard player agreement Tuesday.
A 10th round pick in this year’s bantam draft, Johnson has spent the last three season with the Phoenix Jr. Coyotes program.
Memorial Cup 2020
The biggest event in the WHL Wednesday will occur in Calgary around 3:40 p.m. as commissioner Ron Robison will announce who will host the 2020 Memorial Cup.
The Kamloops Blazers, Kelowna Rockets and Lethbridge Hurricanes will make their pitches to the league’s board of governors earlier in the day before a final vote takes place.
Of the three teams that are bidding, the Hurricanes are the only ones to have never hosted the CHL’s biggest event.
The Blazers and Rockets both won the title as the host team in 1995 and 2004 respectively.
Welcome to the Show
As the National Hockey League season gets underway Wednesday, three players who are eligible to return for their 19-year-old WHL campaign have made opening night rosters.
Forwards Jaret Anderson-Dolan (Spokane Chiefs) and Michael Rasmussen (Tri-City Americans) earned spots with the Los Angeles Kings and Detroit Red Wings respectively, while Henri Jokiharju (Portland Winterhawks) cracked the Chicago Blackhawks blueline.
Also making the jump to the NHL after suiting up in the WHL last year are:
- Dennis Cholowski (Portland Winterhawks – Detroit Red Wings)
- Dillon Dube (Kelowna Rockets – Calgary Flames)
- Brett Howden (Moose Jaw Warriors – New York Rangers)
- Sam Steel (Regina Pats – Anaheim Ducks)
- Juuso Valimaki (Tri-City Americans – Calgary Flames)
- Kailer Yamamoto (Spokane Chiefs – Edmonton Oilers – Made the Oilers out of camp last year but was later returned to the Chiefs)
Tuesday Scores
- Red Deer 5 Saskatoon 4 (Brandon Hagel – Three Assists)
Wednesday Schedule
- Saskatoon vs. Edmonton – 7 p.m.
- Portland vs. Kamloops – 8 p.m.
- Vancouver vs. Kelowna – 8:05 p.m.
