2023-24 Season Preview – Seattle Thunderbirds
The Seattle Thunderbirds open the 2023-24 WHL season as defending Champions and begin the new campaign with a new-look roster. But to a man, these Thunderbirds have already turned the page; while part of their flock is learning to fly for the first time at the WHL level, it’s Seattle’s common goal to become the WHL’s first back-to-back League champions since the formidable Kamloops teams of 1994 and 1995.
Key Returners
Seattle’s NHL-drafted players are away from the team to start the WHL Regular Season, but the trio of Kevin Korchinski, Nico Myatovic and Gracyn Sawchyn will all be back unless they land NHL jobs. Korchinski, the seventh-overall pick in the 2022 NHL Draft, is the most likely to get a look by the Chicago Blackhawks, though Nico Myatovic and Gracyn Sawchyn both enter the 2023-24 season having been selected by Anaheim and Florida, respectively, in the 2023 NHL Draft. Veterans Jordan Gustafson and Sam Popowich help form a core group up front, while Jeremy Hanzel and Sawyer Mynio possess leadership qualities on the blue line. In goal, Scott Ratzlaff is likely to assume the reins as number-one netminder after being selected by the Buffalo Sabres in June.
Who’s In And Out
In addition to Seattle’s trio of WHL graduates, first-round NHL Draft selections Nolan Allan (Chicago), Dylan Guenther (Arizona) and Brad Lambert (Winnipeg) are likely to turn pro along with Reid Schaefer, whose NHL rights were dealt from Edmonton to Nashville in February. Captain Lucas Ciona has produced promising early returns at Calgary Flames camp, too. The Thunderbirds will welcome in speedy forward Braeden Cootes on a full-time basis this winter; he was in and around the group as Seattle marched to the WHL Championship last spring. Off-season acquisitions Luca Hauf and Trey Patterson add WHL experience, while goaltender Spencer Michnik has won the back-up role out of camp.
NHL Draft Prospects
Seattle had a League-high six players drafted by NHL Clubs in 2023, and a new generation of Thunderbirds enter their first year of Draft eligiblity this winter. Defencemen Bryce Pickford and Hyde Davidson both spent the full 2022-23 season in Seattle; Pickford enters his 17-year-old season having already appeared in two WHL Championship Series and one Memorial Cup. Simon Lovsin is set to join a new-look forward group after getting into four contests a season ago.
THUNDERBIRDS BY THE NUMBERS (2022-23):
Team Record: 54-11-1-2 (111 points)
Division Ranking: 1st, U.S.
2023 WHL Playoffs: won WHL Championship
Goals For: 300 (3rd)
Goals Against: 155 (1st)
PP (Overall): 20.6% (15th)
PK (Overall): 83.5% (2nd)
Leading Scorers: Davidson (38-44-82), Ciona (28-47-75), Korchinski (11-62-73)
Leading Rookie: Sawchyn (18-40-58)
NHL Draft: Gustafson (VGK – 2022), Hanzel (COL – 2023), Korchinski (CHI – 2022), Milic (WPG – 2023), Myatovic (ANA – 2023), Mynio (VAN – 2023), Ratzlaff (BUF – 2023), Sawchyn (FLA – 2023)
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