Another season has come and gone for the Americans, and Tri-City has once again found itself yet with a high pick in the upcoming WHL draft. This is the fourth time in the past five seasons that Tri-City has had an opportunity to select high in the draft.
The Tri-City Americans had a shocking year, seemingly taking a step backward following a playoff appearance in 2022-2023 and finishing fifth in the conference. The Americans will go into the 2024 WHL Draft with the third overall pick after going 23-42-2-1 on the season following a disastrous second half.
Injury Bug
Tri-City was no stranger to losing key players this season, especially during the second half, which was a big reason why the Americans finished 8-26 in the second half. Max Curran, one of the team’s best centers and playmakers, missed the entire second half of the season practically due to an upper-body injury discovered at the CHL Top Prospect Game in mid-January.
Jake Gudelj, whom Bob Tory traded for in late August, returned for only the last two games of the season in late March after being struck down with an upper-body injury on November 1. Gudelj was looking to have a breakout season, and the limited games he played in proved that point. Gudelj provided seven points in 16 games for the Americans.
Plenty of other players and an overage player were lost during the back half of the season. Overager Ethan Peters, who won a Memorial Cup with Edmonton, was lost with a shoulder injury and missed the last 11 games of his WHL Career.
Carter Savage, arguably the American’s best defenseman, was knocked out in early February from an upper-body injury and missed twenty games. Savage had the best +/- out of any defenseman who played at least thirty games for the Americans this season.
Drew Freer, a player with a lengthy injury history who is finishing his third season in the WHL with Tri-City, was added to the list as he finished the season with an upper-body injury.
Brandon Whynott, the former Calgary Hitman forward, was injured with just a few games remaining in the season. Whynott was diagnosed with an upper-body injury, which is how he would finish off his best year in the WHL up to this point.
Lukas Matecha, the 99th overall pick in the CHL Import Draft and Tri-City’s starting goalie was injured with an upper-body injury with just a few weeks remaining in the season in a blowout loss to Wenatchee at home on March 8.
This left the net in the hands of backup goalie and former Red Deer Rebel Kyle Kelsey. Given the circumstances, Kelsey guided the team to the finish line for the last seven games and did an outstanding job.
By the end of the season, Tri-City had six affiliate players in the lineup, which was just enough to have a full lineup. Next season, the Americans will need to prioritize player health and ensure they do not fall short of the finish line in terms of health.
Forwards
Tri-City scored fifty fewer goals than their 2022-23 counterparts, and that is in part due to losing their top three goal scorers from that season: Ethan Ernst, who was an overage player; Tyson Greenway, who was entering his fifth year with the club and was traded; and Adam Mechura, who signed a pro contract. Tri-City also had only one overage forward on the roster this season, which showed.
Americans’ GM Bob Tory did his best to address the issue, bringing in several experienced 2004-born forwards prior to the season and at the trade deadline.
Some of these experienced forwards acquired include Mason Finley, who joined at the trade deadline from Edmonton for an eighth-round pick and was one of the hardest-working players for Tri-City during the second half of the season. A few others include Brandon Whynott, Thomas Tien, and Carter MacAdams. All three made profound impacts up and down the lineup, with MacAdams and Whynott having career-high seasons.
However, even with all these positives, the results just didn’t happen on the ice. That is partly due to most of the injuries occurring to crucial depth players on the American’s forward side.
With the lack of forward depth, Tri-City fell behind other teams and could not keep up. But when Tri-City did get opportunities to score, it would be a case of shoulda’ woulda’ coulda’ as prime scoring chances were often floundered upon.
Defensive Woes
The Americans had one of the worst statistical defensive groups in the WHL. Tri-City allowed 61 more goals than the prior season. Tri-City also allowed more goals than any other team in the league, with 306, which is 100 more goals than they scored.
Five defensemen on the roster from day one had a +/- of -27 or worse. Two of them were overage defensemen, Captain Alex Serraglio and Alternative Captain Ethan Peters, who massively underperformed this season. Seattle Kraken’s second-round draft pick, Lukas Dragicevic, had an astonishing -31. The closest person to a plus on defense was Carter Savage, who finished the season with a -1.
In Kyle Kelsey’s last eight games of the season, in five of those games, Kelsey faced a minimum of 46 shots. Tri-City had at least 20 fewer shots in every one of those games as well and was wholly dominated, which shows how poor the defense had stooped to by the end of the season.
Tri-City will return four defensemen following the departure of both overage defensemen: Lukas Dragicevic, Merrik Arpin, Carter Savage, and Jackson Smith. The mix of offensive talent in Dragicevic, elite puck movement with Smith, and a stay-at-home defenseman in Savage will mix well next season. But that is on paper, and Tri-City this season did not mesh well on the ice but did on paper as well.
Special Teams
This is where all the problems began for Tri-City: the power play and penalty kill; these two things were a burden for Tri-City and shifted momentum during several crucial moments in games, more often than not toward the other team.
The power play and penalty kill this season for Tri-City was hilariously bad. Down eight percent from last season, Tri-City could not put a beach ball in the back of the net on the power play. These issues are partly due to Tri-City not shooting the puck at all on the power play, taking very bad-quality shots, or, frankly, not being able to set up in the opposing team’s zone during the power play. Tri-City had also given up the second most short-handed goals with fourteen. Overall, Tri-City ranked second worst on the power-play this season despite finishing tenth the prior season.
Towards the end of the season, the American power play saw the light at the end of the tunnel as it started to ramp up. However, it was too little too late.
The Americans’ penalty kill was already in a bad state and managed to worsen, becoming the worst in the WHL this year. The penalty kill dropped three percent from last season and stood at 71% this season.
Outlook
With the bad, there is at least some good. Tri-City has some incredible prospects coming up, and many young, talented prospects are destined to have breakout seasons next year.
Cruz Pavao, the thirteenth overall pick in the 2023 WHL Bantam Draft, netted five goals in his eight affiliate games as a fifteen-year-old, the most goals by any draft pick from that draft class. Pavao has incredible anticipation, as he just seems to always be in the right place at the right time when scoring. Pavao will play a vital role as a 16-year-old for Tri-City in the 2024/25 season.
In his rookie season, Cash Koch was awarded the hardest-working player out of the entire American roster, and often, all you had to do was watch a single shift of his to understand why.
Koch put 100% of his effort, no matter the score, into every shift and was by far the most physical player on Tri-City following Tyson Greenway’s departure early into the season. Koch finished the season with twenty-three points in sixty-six games and will only build off that for the 2024-25 season.
Jackson Smith had a rough first half; however, after netting his first WHL goal on New Year’s Eve, Smith exploded and showed everyone why he was the second overall pick in the WHL Bantam draft in 2022.
The tall, puck-moving defenseman scored seven goals in the second half of the season and looked more confident as time passed, so he was awarded Rookie of the Year for Tri-City. Smith will be a crucial piece for Tri-City next season if the Americans want a chance at the Ed Chyrnoweth Cup. Jackson finished the season with twenty-nine total points in sixty-two games.
Max Curran, a 17-year-old reigning out of Praha, Czechia, was the first-round pick in the 2023 CHL Import Draft for Tri-City.
Curran put himself on draft radars during his first year in North America. Curran had twenty-seven assists in just forty games and finished fifth on the team in that category. Curran was awarded the Kal Tire Rookie of the Week at one point in the WHL. Max also netted five goals, but what the scouts love about Curran most is the elite vision, passing, and general playmaking ability. Curran is expected to be a late second or third-round pick this summer at the 2024 NHL Draft in Las Vegas and be a valuable player for Tri-City next season.
Jordan Gavin finished his second year in the WHL and had one of the most unique stats you will see in the WHL this season. Gavin put up a point per game and played every game for Tri-City this season. Gavin accumulated not a single penalty, not one.
The last time this happened was in the Ontario Hockey League (OHL) during the 2002-2003 season, which is the same thing and skill level as the WHL, but in different provinces. Kyle Wellwood had a 100-point season and did not accumulate a single penalty, but played 11 games less than Gavin.
If things play out smoothly, Lukas Matecha will return for his second season as the starting goalie for the Tri-City Americans. Matecha missed the last seven games of the season due to an injury. Matecha will want to work on his consistency as his numbers dwindled during the second half of the season after at one point having a .920 Save %. That number fell to a .901 Save % after the second half of the season.
Do not let the numbers fool you, though. Matecha was playing in front of statistically the worst defense in the league, and scouts recognized that. Lukas is ranked as the ninth-best North American goalie and is estimated to be drafted around the third or fourth round of the 2024 NHL Draft. Matecha is best known for his elite positioning. One con, however, is his vision when screened. Overall, Lukas is a very low-risk and high-reward goalie.
To top this off, Jake Sloan, the 6’4 and 215-pound product of Leduc, Alberta, will return for his twenty-year-old season after being named Team MVP of the Americans. Sloan had a career-high seventy points, which was the most by an American player this season, and thirty-one goals in sixty-eight games.
Sloan is a massive sleeper at the upcoming NHL Draft. Sloan finished the season red hot, carrying the Americans through the last few weeks of the season. Although his speed hinders him, Sloan has the elite passing ability and a big body that NHL teams want. Sloan can score as well and could be a late-round sleeper.
Departures
Tri-City will have to say goodbye to three overage players, who have all passed the league’s age limit, and a few nineteen-year-olds from this season.
The first being Ethan Peters, the humanitarian of the year for the 23/24 season for Tri-City, who joined the Americans on trade deadline day during the 22/23 season. Peters was a former Memorial Cup Winner with the 21/22 Edmonton Oil Kings. The trade at the time was a much-needed reset for Peters as he played phenomenally during the second half of the 22/23 season for Tri-City and in the playoffs. Peters went from a -23 with Edmonton to a +9 with Tri-City.
However, Ethan’s overage season would be one to forget, as Peters regressed statistically in every area of his game. His +/- went from a +9 with Tri-City last season to a -15 this season. In addition, Peters had four fewer points than the prior season.
Still, Ethan is a perfect example of an exceptional human being. He was an outstanding leader for Tri-City on and off the ice and will undoubtedly be missed next season. Alex Serraglio, the other overage defenseman and the 34th Captain in American history, will depart after spending his four-season WHL Career with the Tri-City Americans.
During that time, Alex laced up the skates 215 times for Tri-City. Serraglio accumulated over fifty-five points throughout those four seasons. Serraglio was a great individual who brought terrific leadership to the Americans’ locker room and a high work ethic that will be missed sincerely. Serraglio is a perfect example of what an American is supposed to look like.
Parker Bell is last but certainly not least. Bell spent all five seasons with the Americans and certainly needs to go down as one of the best players of the decade for Tri-City.
Bell played 245 career WHL Games and scored 190 career points. He was also drafted and signed by the Calgary Flames. Following the end of the American season, Bell was assigned to the Flames’ AHL Affiliate, the Calgary Wranglers, for the AHL Playoffs.
The 6’5″ Bell was a specimen on the ice. From being one of the fastest players on the ice at all times to the tallest, Bell had everything, including a great shot, excellent passing ability, and elite skating. Parker is destined for the NHL and will be greatly missed in Tri-City, as he was a big fan favorite.
In addition to these departures, General Manager Bob Tory will have to trade or release four 2004-born players from this season to meet the requirement of three over-age players. The most likely scenario will be Jake Sloan, Carter MacAdams, and Brandon Whynott returning to Kennewick for a final season.
Overview
Injuries, a lack of forward depth, and a poor defensive effort led to a disappointing season for Tri-City. If the team can stay healthy, nine out of the top ten scorers will return next season. Four defensemen and starting goalie Lukas Matecha will also return to Kennewick.
A third overall pick, even though a bit bitter, is the cherry on top of all of this, which most likely means Brock Cripps, who had the most points by a defenseman in the CSSHL U15 ever with 70. The closest to Cripps feat is Tanner Molendyk, a defenseman currently playing for the Saskatoon Blades of the WHL and was a 2023 first-round pick of the Nashville Predators. Molendyk only had 55 points.
Time will soon run out for the Americans to get a chance at the Ed Cheynoweth Cup. Next season, on paper, the Americans will certainly have a decent chance at being one of the teams in the running should this last season not repeat itself with nine out of the top ten scorers returning and four of the six defensemen from last season, along with the starting goaltender Lukas Matecha, American fans still have something to look forward to.
Northwest Sports Desk 