Rockets get Twarynski back, becomes 4th over-ager on roster
Kelowna must get down to 3 over-agers and 2 imports by next week
Decisions, decisions — Bruce Hamilton has a couple big ones to make over the next week.
With Carsen Twarynski returning to the fold — reassigned by the AHL’s Lehigh Valley Phantoms, affiliate of the NHL’s Philadelphia Flyers — the Kelowna Rockets now have four over-age players and three imports on their roster.
The WHL limits are three over-agers and two imports.
Complicating matters, Tomas Soustal is a two-spotter as an over-age import.
The WHL deadline for over-age decisions is Oct. 10 — next Tuesday — and Hamilton will need to settle on his two imports by then as well.
The WHL allows a two-week window — 14 days — from when a third import is reassigned to junior from the professional ranks. Soustal’s tryout with the NHL’s Dallas Stars, which did not result in a contract, ended on Sept. 19. So, based on that, the Rockets would have until Oct. 3 — this Tuesday — but the two-week rule may apply to when Soustal arrived back in Kelowna, which would give the Rockets a few extra days if need be.
The other imports are 17-year-old defenceman Libor Zabransky, who is partnering with captain Cal Foote on Kelowna’s top defence pairing and recorded his first two WHL points (a goal and an assist) in Friday’s 4-3 shootout loss to visiting Everett, and 18-year-old forward Marek Skvrne, who is healthy but has yet to make his Rockets debut. Skvrne has been scratched for the team’s first three games in favour of the 20-year-old Soustal, who would be entering his fourth season with the Rockets.
All three imports hail from the Czech Republic, with Zabransky and Skvrne from the same hometown (Brno) and having been teammates last season.
The other over-agers — in addition to Soustal and Twarynski, both forwards — are defencemen James Hilsendager and Gordie Ballhorn, both named assistant captains prior to Kelowna’s season opener on Sept. 22.
There is also still a chance — albeit slim, according to Hamilton — that Devante Stephens, another over-age defenceman, could be reassigned at some point by the Buffalo Sabres’ AHL affiliate, the Rochester Americans.
Regardless, these are no easy decisions for Hamilton.
As for Twarynski, who was acquired from the Calgary Hitmen in a 1-for-1 swap for Jake Kryski just before last season’s Jan. 10 trade deadline, the power winger could make his season debut for Kelowna on Wednesday when the Rockets (2-0-0-1) host the unbeaten Victoria Royals (4-0-0-0) in a 7 p.m. puck-drop at Prospera Place.
Kelowna then heads to Prince George for a weekend twinbill — with games Friday and Saturday — against the defending B.C. Division champion Cougars (1-3-0-0), who struggled out of the gate this season in losing their first three games before blanking the previously undefeated Winterhawks 3-0 in Portland on Sunday.
“If I come back, I’m happy it’s to Kelowna and to help these guys out with another big run,” Twarynski said prior to departing for Philadelphia’s camp. “It’s a great organization here and all the staff, they treat you very well. They are the guys that are going to get me ready to move on eventually.”
Through four seasons split between Calgary and Kelowna, Twarynski has amassed 43 goals and 110 points in 189 career regular-season games, plus four goals and 11 points in 37 post-season games.
Twarynski tallied seven goals and 22 points in 28 games after joining the Rockets, then added three goals and five points in 16 playoff appearances for Kelowna.
He wanted to turn pro this fall — that was the goal for the 6-foot-2, 200-pound Calgary product — but Twarynski was hoping to sign a three-year NHL entry-level contract with the Flyers rather than a one-year minor-league deal.
“That’s something I’d have to consider, but I think if that was the case, I’d rather come back here,” Twarynski said of possibly being offered a two-way AHL-ECHL contract from Lehigh Valley. “If I’m staying up there, I want to make a salary for myself. I’m 20 years old and if I’m going to be playing up there, I want to get all the money I can. That’s just part of the business . . . .
“But I have until next summer (to sign a contract) if I don’t this year. I still have one more year, with a late birthday,” added Twarynski, who turns 20 on Nov. 24.
Back in Kelowna, Twarynski would add offence, grit and a veteran presence to the Rockets’ roster if he were retained as one of the three over-agers going forward.
“I definitely have goals in my head that I’d want to reach,” Twarynski said. “Being a 20-yearold and being an older guy in the league, I should be able to dominate, especially with my size and my experience. But the big goal is just to help carry this team to another run and hopefully a championship.
“I’ve been close twice, my first year in Calgary we lost out to Brandon (in the Eastern Conference final) before these guys beat (Brandon for the 2015 Ed Chynoweth Cup), and last season losing to Seattle (in the Western Conference final with Kelowna). So that’s definitely something I want to accomplish.”
Asked if Kelowna should be considered a contending team again this season — with or without him — Twarynski didn’t hesitate.
“Definitely, it is every year,” he said in the early stages of training camp, with the Rockets having reached the third round of the playoffs in four straight seasons. “Every year people say at the start ‘oh, they lose four really good guys and they’re going to be bad’, but it’s the same story every year here.
“We still have a lot of good guys coming back,” Twarynski continued. “It all depends on a lot of things this year — and who all comes back — but we’re definitely going to have a good squad again, and we should be able to go on another big run.”