Hard work paying off for Rockets
By Doyle Potenteau
What a week it's been for the Kelowna Rockets, with two wins against two of the league's top teams.
On Wednesday night, the Rockets entertained a crowd of 5,086 at Prospera Place by defeating the Edmonton Oil Kings 3-2 in a game with an exciting ending. Last week, there was nothing thrilling in the Rockets' 3-0 win over Kamloops, but it was still a well-deserved win.
Add in a 4-1 win over the Calgary Hitmen near the end of October, and it's three for three.
Yes, these Kelowna Rockets are for real. They have good goaltending, good defence and a great sense of work ethic.
All in all, they are components that can add up to a championship-type season.
Lest fans get ahead of themselves quickly, there are holes on this team, most all of them on offence. And these holes have to be patched - if the team wants to go far in the playoffs.
First and foremost is the need for a scorer, a player who can put the puck in the net when it's needed most. Former Rockets who fit the bill include Jamie Benn from 2008-09 and Jesse Schultz from 2002-03.
Who's available today? For starters, there's Marek Tvrdon from the Vancouver Giants, who put themselves into a seller's market this season after recently trading top defenceman David Musil, 19, to the Oil Kings and centre Austin Vetterl, 18, to the Kootenay Ice. Last season, Tvrdon tallied 31 goals and 43 assists for 74 points in 60 games. This season, he has seven goals and 14 assists for 21 points in 17 games.
The cost for Tvrdon, though, or any scorer, will likely be outrageous, thanks to a crazy, one-sided trade between the Giants and Memorial Cup host Saskatoon Blades.
On Nov. 2, the Giants shipped left-winger and then-leading scorer Nathan Burns, 19, to Saskatoon for centre Travis McEvoy, 18, plus a third-round draft pick in 2013 and a first-round pick in 2014. Last season, Burns had 12 goals and 34 points in 55 games, while McEvoy had six goals and 11 points in 64 games.
In what can only be called a desperate trade to fix their listing ship, the Blades (7-9-0-1) willingly overpaid and, unintentionally or not, set the trade bar sky-high. Think of it this way: If player X who gets 50 points is worth one player and two draft picks, what is the value for player Y who gets 100 points? Two players and three draft picks? Maybe more?
As a sidebar, it's understandable why the Blades overpaid.
Eleven years ago, Regina hosted the 2001 Memorial Cup, and the Pats stumbled badly during the first half. So bad, in fact, that Regina had to sell the farm to field a competitive roster. The trades worked, as the Pats went 17-5-2-0 during the second half of the season, though they lost out in the first round of the playoffs to Calgary and went on to a third-place finish in the Memorial Cup.
But in making those trades, Regina sold a boatload of draft picks and prospects, such as defenceman Shawn Belle, who had a great junior career with the Tri-City Americans, and the Pats struggled for years afterwards.
Looking back, Regina was in a no-win scenario. The Pats had to make those trades, because they were about to violate an unwritten WHL rule: don't embarrass the league as a Memorial Cup host by icing a poor roster.
Fast forward to today, and Saskatoon's recent trade makes sense; try and get better now so you don't pay an even steeper price later.
The price the Blades paid, though, doesn't help franchises like Kelowna, which is in the market for a scorer.
Without doubt, Rockets general manager Bruce Hamilton is searching for a dance partner, but at what cost? Does he surrender a valuable first-round draft pick and maybe one of his young defencemen? Or does he wait and hope that import draft pick Zemgus Girgensons winds up in Kelowna? The 18-year-old centre, a first-round Buffalo Sabres draft pick at 14th overall, is currently in the AHL, playing for the Rochester Americans.
In 10 games this season with Rochester, Girgensons has one goal and four points. Yet, even if Girgensons winds up in Kelowna, scouts tab him as a power forward, along the same lines as Colton Sissons, not a scorer. While having two power forwards would be great, it doesn't address the need for a much-needed scoring ace.
Why much-needed? Take Wednesday's 3-2 win over Edmonton. The Rockets were 0-for-5 on the power play. Had they scored once, or twice, that close game wouldn't have been so close. That's saying a lot, considering the Oil Kings are the defending league champions and have returned most of last season's lineup. Further, keep in mind that Kelowna won without five regulars in their lineup, while the Oil Kings were generally healthy.
Now, when those five regulars return, the Rockets will undergo some change, including releasing or trading one of their four 20-year-olds - defenceman Mitchell Chapman, who is a lock, plus forwards J.T. Barnett, Cody Fowlie and Dylen McKinlay. Lines will certainly be shuffled, but the underlying reason for this season's success won't be changed, that being work ethic.
While the Rockets don't have the offensive firepower of the Oil Kings, or the league-leading Blazers and their crazy-good No. 1 line, they can go toe-to-toe with those two rosters in terms of working hard and never quitting. Frankly, this is, without doubt, the hardest-working team Kelowna has iced since 2008-09, and maybe even moreso than that overloaded squad of skill.
While the cliché will beats skill holds true, how good could this team be if they had a skilled scorer, or possibly two? Will plus skill would be an unbeatable combination.
The questions are: If trading costs are high, how much of a price is Kelowna willing to pay for a scorer? And is the gamble worth it?
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