They have earned just three of a possible 14 points available in the past seven games, but the Victoria Royals aren鈥檛 pushing any panic buttons.
Head coach Dan Price said he couldn鈥檛 find fault in his team鈥檚 efforts in recent 3-2 shootout and 4-1 losses in Kelowna and Kamloops, respectively, stating the results were perhaps disappointing, but not the work ethic.
General manager Cam Hope isn鈥檛 about to post fire sale signs outside the Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre before tonight鈥檚 7 p.m. clash against the Everett Silvertips, but he did make two trades on Thursday, just six days before the Western Hockey League trade deadline.
鈥淭he path now is we have our three 20-year-olds and, unless something changes which I鈥檓 not aniticpating, I like this group,鈥� Hope said of his club that sits with a 21-15-3-1 record overall, but just 3-6-0-1 in their last 10.
鈥淚 think we all know what Chaz Reddekopp and Tyler Soy are and we鈥檝e just begun to learn how good a player Kade Jensen is when you see him up close,鈥� Hope said of his remaining 20-year-olds after trading Regan Nagy away on Tuesday. 鈥淚鈥檓 pleased with where we are.鈥�
Hope acquired Russian-born import forward Andrei Grishakov on Thursday from the Calgary Hitmen in exchange for a third round draft pick in the 2019 WHL bantam draft. This season, the six-foot-one, 200-pound native of Chelyabinsk, had 11 goals and 15 assists in 37 games in Calgary. He then added forward D-Jay Jerome (one assist and 40 PIMS in 31 games) from Prince Albert in exchange for Jeremy Masella.
Injuries have affected the Royals鈥� play of late as Nagy was out with a broken finger before he was dealt, then talented forward Noah Gregor fractured his wrist. Dante Hannoun just returned from mononucleosis and Igor Martynov remains at the world junior tournament with Belarus.
Asked if he was concerned with the results in the recent seven outings, Hope said: 鈥淣o, not at all.鈥�
鈥淲e knew we would struggle if we had some key guys out of the lineup. Nagy was a key guy, at the time he went out, and since then Noah Gregor has gone down. Igor Martynov is off at the world juniors so we鈥檝e been missing some key pieces,鈥� he explained.
鈥淲e really haven鈥檛 had any time, in the last eight weeks, where we鈥檝e had our team all together. Once we get everybody back and healthy we鈥檒l be a different team.鈥�
He stated he would not be selling the farm for the future, for example, moving NHL-signed players to teams making their playoff runs, while also keeping an eye to building a team toward a possible position of playing host to a Memorial Cup with their 2020 bid.
鈥淚t鈥檚 funny, I get calls about almost everybody, but I think all the other general managers know not to bother calling about Matt Phillips,鈥� Hope added. 鈥淚鈥檓 not in sell mode, no. One thing I鈥檝e learned about this league is you can worry about tomorrow, tomorrow, particularly when it鈥檚 two years down the road.
鈥淭hese teams tend to change over. I know our teams change over about half its players each year with its graduations and situations with 20-year-olds and new guys coming in. This team will be unrecognizable two years from now, most likely, and if we鈥檙e lucky enough to get the Memorial Cup, we鈥檒l be building the team with an eye toward that, but that鈥檚 for tomorrow,鈥� said Hope.
GAME NOTES: The Silvertips come in at 23-14-1-1 and 8-2-0-0 in their last 10, although they are without star netminder Carter Hart, who is with Team sa国际传媒 at the world juniors. Everett is 11-8-0-0 on the road, while the Royals are 12-5-1-0 at home.
