2023-24 Season Preview – Spokane Chiefs

The 2022-23 WHL season was a year of learning for a young Spokane Chiefs squad, but a year later, the Club is a year older and wiser ahead of a 2023-24 campaign that proves to be promising. 2024 NHL Draft prospect Berkly Catton leads a Spokane side that features veteran savvy and a bevy of young talent; this year’s Chiefs squad is certain to catch the eyes of fans and NHL scouts alike as it competes in a new-look U.S. Division this winter.

 

Key Returners
Catton is the cog for Spokane down the middle of the ice; he finished the 2022-23 campaign with 55 points, earning U.S. Division Rookie of the Year honours in the process. Fellow forwards Chase Bertholet and Ty Cheveldayoff will be counted upon offensively (Bertholet led the team with 69 points a season ago), while Spokane returns several veteran blueliners including Edmontonian Saige Weinstein, who was a part of Canada’s 2022 Hlinka Gretzky Cup gold medal-winning squad. In goal, returnees Dawson Cowan and Cooper Michaluk enter their 18-year-old years having already earned valuable playing experience at the WHL level.

 

Who’s In And Out
The Chiefs made a splash during the off-season, acquiring 20-year-old forward Conner Roulette in a deal with the Saskatoon Blades. Roulette brings a wealth of experience to the Spokane lineup; he’s won five playoff series in his last two WHL campaigns with Seattle and Saskatoon and helped Canada win gold at the 2021 IIHF U18 World Championship in Texas. Forward Chase Harrington was selected eighth-overall in the 2022 WHL Prospects Draft, while Czech forward Lukas Kral is settling in to life in North America after being picked sixth-overall in the 2023 CHL Import Draft.

 

NHL Draft Prospects
Catton is likely to be one of the most highly-touted prospects from the WHL ahead of next year’s NHL Draft and so far, his time in the League has lived up to the hype. The product of Saskatoon, Sask. finished second in team scoring a season ago while playing first-line minutes at the age of 16, and he enters the 2023-24 campaign having led Canada in scoring during their gold medal defence at the Hlinka Gretzky Cup in August. Defenceman Will McIsaac appeared in 66 games as a rookie a season ago, while netminder Dawson Cowan stepped into a more prominent role after arriving in Spokane via mid-season trade.

 

 

CHIEFS BY THE NUMBERS (2022-23):
Team Record: 15-43-4-6 (40 points)
Division Ranking: 5th, U.S.
2023 WHL Playoffs: did not qualify
Goals For: 195 (20th)
Goals Against: 314 (20th)
PP (Overall): 16.9% (20th)
PK (Overall): 70.6% (21st)
Leading Scorers: Bertholet (28-41-69), Catton (23-32-55), De Luca (16-33-49)
Leading Rookie: Catton (23-32-55)
NHL Draft: none