D Jonathon Blum (Vancouver, 2005-09) signed a one-year contract with Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod (Russia, KHL). This season, with Admiral Vladivostok (Russia, KHL), he had one goal and 18 assists in 43 games. He was an alternate captain. . . . Blum was released for financial reasons and signed by Sochi (Russia, KHL) on Dec. 27. He had three assists in 10 games with Sochi.
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Has the CHL jumped the shark with the Memorial Cup? You are free to ask that question after a story by Josh Brown in the Kitchener-Waterloo Record.
“At the going rate,” Brown writes, “hosting the Memorial Cup is out of reach for the Kitchener Rangers.
“Chief operating officer Steve Bienkowski says the club, which is considered one of the Canadian Hockey League's most stable franchises, could not afford to put on the annual junior hockey showcase at its current bidding price of $3.65 million.”
Bienkowski told Brown: “There is no way we could bid if that was the number. If it's that dollar type of guarantee than we're priced out. I'm not sure there is an Ontario market that is priced in.”
With the 2018 Memorial Cup ongoing in Regina, it was reported during the week that the Pats paid the CHL a total of $3.65 million — $3 million plus $650,000 for expenses — for hosting rights to what is the trophy’s 100th anniversary tournament. This also is the Pats’ 100th anniversary season.
The Pats owners expect to lose $2 million by the time all the bills are paid.
According to Brown:
“Kitchener guaranteed a profit of $1.8 million when it bid for — and won — the right to host the Memorial Cup in 2008.
“More than 53,000 fans attended games at the Aud and the club produced a tidy $1.95 million profit, which was the highest in CHL history at the time.”
Brown’s story, which is full of all kinds of nuggets, is right here.
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The #Oilers have hired Glen Gulutzan, Trent Yawney and Manny Viveiros as assistant coaches. Details: https://t.co/5uzuSVGJBQ pic.twitter.com/2YPclag7pr
— Edmonton Oilers (@EdmontonOilers) May 25, 2018
As expected, the NHL’s Edmonton Oilers announced Friday that they have added Manny Viveiros as an assistant coach. Viveiros spent the past two seasons as the director of hockey operations and head coach of the WHL’s Swift Current Broncos.
The announcement came two days after the WHL-champion Broncos were eliminated from the Memorial Cup tournament in Regina after going 0-3. En route to the WHL title, the Broncos played a league-record 26 playoff games; they won two six-game series and two seven-game affairs. (The 1984 Regina Pats, 1986 Medicine Hat Tigers and 1979 Portland Winterhawks both played 25 games.)
Viveiros, 52, is a native of St. Albert, Alta. He coached for nine seasons in Europe before signing with the Broncos. A former defenceman with the Prince Albert Raiders, Viveiros also played in Europe for 16 seasons. Most of his European time was spent in Austria.
In Edmonton, he joins Oilers head coach Todd McLellan, who is a former GM/head coach of the Broncos, along with assistant coaches Glen Gulutzan and Trent Yawney, whose signings also were announced Friday.
McLellan (Saskatoon, 1982-87), Gulutzan (Brandon, Saskatoon, 1989-92), Yawney (Saskatoon, 1982-85) and Viveiros (Prince Albert, 1982-86) all played in the WHL. Considering that McLelland and Yawney were teammates who played against Viveiros, who played for the Blades’ arch-rivals in Prince Albert, there just might be some interesting conversations in the Oilers’ coaches’ room next season.
The Broncos announced Viveiros’s departure at a Friday morning news conference. At the same time, they announced that Dianne Sletten, their director of business operations, also is leaving the club.
If could be that the Broncos’ front office will have a completely new look come a new season.
They had been operating without a general manager, with Jamie Porter the director of hockey operations, and Viveiros holding the title of director of player personnel and head coach.
Porter has been rumoured as a possible candidate for openings with the Kamloops Blazers and Prince George Cougars, both of whom need a general manager. Also rumoured to be in the mix in Kamloops is Matt Bardsley, presently an assistant general manager with the Portland Winterhawks. Bardsley has been with the Winterhawks since 1999.
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With Emanuel Viveiros leaving the Swift Current Broncos, it means that the past six WHL champions have lost their head coaches to the professional ranks. . . . Steve Konowalchuk won the title with the Seattle Thunderbirds in 2017, then signed on as an assistant coach with the NHL’s Anaheim Ducks. . . . In 2016, the Brandon Wheat Kings, under GM/head coach Kelly McCrimmon, won the Ed Chynoweth Cup. McCrimmon then joined the Vegas Golden Knights as assistant general manager. . . . In 2015, head coach Dan Lambert helped the Kelowna Rockets win the WHL, then signed with the Buffalo Sabres as an assistant coach. . . . Derek Laxdal was the Edmonton Oil Kings’ head coach when they won the WHL in 2014. He then signed on with the NHL’s Dallas Stars as head coach of their AHL affiliate, the Texas Stars. . . . In 2013, Travis Green was the head coach as the Portland Winterhawks won the WHL title. He later joined the NHL’s Vancouver Canucks as the head coach of their AHL affiliate, the Utica Comets.
So, you’re wondering, who was the last WHL head coach win a championship and stay put? Well, Laxdal was the head coach of the Oil Kings when they won the 2012 title, and he hung around for two more seasons. Before that it was Kris Knoblauch, who helped the Kootenay Ice to the 2011 championship and coached in Cranbrook for one more season.
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There's a few seats left for tonight's semi final between Hamilton and Regina.— Steve McLean (@SteveMcLean888) May 25, 2018
Problem is after ticketmaster fees it's $137 per seat. pic.twitter.com/99GPtRRTYa
The Memorial Cup schedule (all times local):
Game 1, Friday, May 18 – Regina 3, Hamilton 2 (5,678)
Game 2, Saturday, May 19 – Acadie-Bathurst 4, Swift Current 3 (OT) (6,237)
Game 3, Sunday – Acadie-Bathurst 8, Regina 6 (5,832)
Game 4, Monday – Hamilton 2, Swift Current 1 (5,820)
Game 5, Tuesday – Hamilton 3, Acadie-Bathurst 2 (6,072)
Game 6, Wednesday – Regina 6, Swift Current 5 (6,484)
Thursday — Day off.
Oilers prospect Cam Hebig 1G.— Bob Stauffer (@Bob_Stauffer) May 26, 2018
Sherwood Park product Sam Steel 1-1-2.
Host Regina ends 3-year OHL Memorial Cup run, beat Hamilton 4-2
Friday's Semifinal — Regina 4, Hamilton 2 (6,484)
Saturday — No Game Scheduled.
Sunday’s Final — Acadie-Bathurst vs. Regina, 5 p.m.
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Mike Pelino, a former assistant coach with the Spokane Chiefs, has signed on as an assistant coach with Avangard Omsk of the KHL. Pelino, 58, spent the past four seasons as an assistant coach with Metallurg Magnitogorsk of the KHL. He was with the Chiefs for two seasons (1997-99).
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