T-Birds news and notes: Playing 200 feet and secondary scoring

The Thunderbirds are just under two weeks away from opening the 2014-2015 season when they head to Portland on Sept. 19. Before that happens they will play two more preseason games this weekend as they will meet the Everett Silvertips for a home-and-home series. That series starts Friday night in Everett and Seattle will finish the preseason schedule Saturday at the ShoWare Center for the rematch.

Here is what is happening with the T-Birds:

Split in Kennewick

Seattle played two games last week in Kennewick as part of the Tri City preseason tournament. Thursday afternoon the T-Birds beat the Spokane Chiefs 3-2 as Scott Eansor potted the game winner with 15 seconds left in overtime. Friday Seattle dropped a 4-2 decision to the Silvertips as the T-Birds gave up three unanswered goals in the loss.

Alexander True picked up his first goal in the loss on Friday and Mathew Barzal – seeing his first preseason action – picked up a goal and two assists over the two contests.

Time to go camping

Both Everett and Seattle will be playing with shortened rosters this weekend as NHL camps open and several players from both squads will be trying to make an impression on the big leagues.

Seattle will be without Shea Theodore, who will head to camp with the Anaheim Ducks. The Ducks selected Theodore in the first round of the 2013 NHL Draft and he will most likely stick around through the duration of the Ducks’ camp. While the chances of Theodore sticking in Anaheim full time are slim, he did make a list on NHL.com of the league’s 60 top prospects.

Justin Hickman will also be absent this weekend as he will join the Winnipeg Jets’ prospects as they open their rookie camp. Evan Wardley will also get a look at an NHL camp as he is expected to take part in the Montreal Canadiens’ rookie camp.

There do not appear to be any other T-Birds headed to camps this week.

Playing the full 200 feet

T-Birds head coach Steve Konowalchuk is entering his fourth season with Seattle and each year he has seen an improvement. When he got to Seattle he inherited a roster that didn’t quite mesh with his style of play. Over the past few seasons he has built a team that can thrive in his system, part of which is playing a full 200-foot game – in other words, play defense.

Take a look at some quotes from Seattle’s rookies over the last week.

First was rookie Nolan Volcan: “To me, points are just extra. Trying to be plus, not minus, it would be nice to maybe get over 20 points but I’m trying to play defensive first, trying to keep the puck out of our net, that’s what really matters.”

Then, a day later Lane Pederson said this: “I just want to come in and make the team, contribute offensively as much as I can. Also, making sure I’m strong defensively and pucks don’t end up in our net.”

Notice a theme?

Both players were quick to mention playing defense and playing both ends of the ice. You can bet that every young player coming to Seattle hears this philosophy hammered home by Konowalchuk. When young players make the transition to the WHL from minor hockey, playing defensively can be a challenge. Most of these players were offensive stars on their minor teams and most were not expected to do much more than score.

Konowalchuk appears to have the attention of his rookies when it comes to defense.

Where will the goals come from?

With Branden Troock, Roberts Lipsbergs and Alex Delnov not returning to Seattle, the T-Birds will have to find some goals. Those three players combined for 86 goals and 173 points last year. That represents 36 percent of the team’s goal output. Those are some big numbers to make up this year.

Seattle will be much younger at the forward position this year but Mathew Barzal and Ryan Gropp should increase their scoring from last year as they mature. That will help, but Seattle will need to find secondary scoring as the year rolls on. Keegan Kolesar and Scott Eansor look like they might be able to increase their offensive output and rookies Alexander True, Florian Baltram, Lane Pederson, Kaden Elder and Nolan Volcan could also chip in.

A big source of secondary scoring may end up coming from the blue line.

Last year Shea Theodore provided a great deal of primary scoring as he lead the team with 79 points. Now a year older, there is no reason to think that Theodore won’t continue to play at that top level.

Ethan Bear is entering his draft season and could be in for a big jump in his offensive numbers. The young defenseman was impressive last year at only 16 and he has some pretty strong offensive skill. He potted six goals last year but look for that number to jump. He has a high-end slap shot and should see a lot of power play time this year.

If the T-Birds decide to keep Adam Henry as one of it’s three 20-year-olds, he too can provide offense from the back end. Last year Henry scored seven goals but help set up 32 others.

Needless to say, the T-Birds will need to get contributions from up and down their lineup this season if they wish to improve on their fourth-place conference finish from last year.

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