WHL rivals won’t get to Ty one on
CHIEF CONCERN: Top prospect Smith out of Spokane’s lineup against Ronning’s Giants
The Langley Events Centre isn’t getting a Ty Ronning versus Ty Smith showdown. Smith, the Chiefs defenceman projected by some to be a top-10 pick in June’s NHL draft, won’t be part of Spokane’s contingent that takes on the Giants and 42-goal man Ronning Wednesday at the LEC.
Smith, 17, is taking part in the CHL Top Prospects Game Thursday in Guelph, Ont., and has already left the Chiefs to start preparations for that. The Lloydminster, Sask., native, who played his bantam draft season with the Delta Hockey Academy, has been named captain of Team Orr for the game.
Wednesday marks the Chiefs’ lone trip to the LEC this season.
Vancouver is in Spokane March 10, the second-to-last weekend of the WHL regular season.
Spokane did receive a boost when the Edmonton Oilers re-assigned 2017 first-rounder Kailer Yamamoto to the Chiefs in November.
The Chiefs carried a 24-19-1-2 record into a Tuesday visit from the Swift Current Broncos.
They hold down the eighth and final playoff post in the Western Conference, via the second of two wild-card spots. The top three teams in the U.S. and B.C. divisions automatically advance to the post-season and Vancouver (25-15-4-3) sits third in B.C., one point back of the Victoria Royals (27-17-3-1) with a game in hand.
The LEC faithful have already had to miss out this season on a pair of visits by Vancouver Canucks forward prospect Kole Lind, whose seven-game absence from the Kelowna Rockets lineup in November due to illness included two road games against the Giants. Lind did play at the LEC on Jan. 13. A Canucks surge during the NHL stretch drive could have them considering the likes of Smith for their first-round selection this time around.
Smith, a 5-foot-10, 176-pound left-handed shot, was slotted in at No. 7 by Future Considerations in its most recent rankings for the 2018 draft and No. 8 by McKeen’s Hockey.
ISS Hockey has him at No. 10. Craig Button at TSN had Smith at No. 20 in his most recent poll.
“He’s one of our hardest workers in practice every time out,” said Spokane coach Dan Lambert.
“Probably the thing I like about him the most is his love and passion for the game and the respect he has for the game.”
Lambert was a skilled defenceman in the WHL with the Swift Current Broncos and had a short stint in the NHL with the Quebec Nordiques. He’s in his first year at the helm of the Chiefs.
Previous coaching stops included a stay with the Kelowna Rockets, where he tutored future NHL defencemen like Tyson Barrie, Madison Bowey, Damon Severson and Josh Morrissey, as well as 2016 NHL first-round pick Lucas Johansen.
“I’ve been asked who I would compare him to and he’s certainly different than a Barrie or a Bowey,” Lambert said of Smith. “He’s just different. You look at the entire NHL and it’s really hard to find a player who plays like him.”
As of Tuesday morning, Smith was tied for eighth in scoring among WHL defencemen with 44 points, including six goals, in 46 games.
Smith, the first overall selection in the 2015 WHL bantam draft, had 32 points, including five goals, in 66 games last season for the Chiefs.
Size is one of the question marks about Smith. Lambert admits there’s “more room for smaller players in the game,” but he also contends that if Smith was “6-foot-3 he’d probably be considered a top-five pick by everyone.”
Ronning is someone who knows about being judged for his size. The 5-foot-9, 172-pound right-winger is closing in on Evander Kane’s team record for goals in a season. Kane bagged 48 for Vancouver in 2008-09.
The son of longtime Canucks fan favourite Cliff Ronning has eight goals in his last seven games.
Ronning, a New York Rangers draft pick, has played much of the year on a line with Milos Roman, but the rookie centre has missed the past four games with a sprained ankle. He was wearing a walking boot while watching Vancouver’s 2-0 loss to the Portland Winterhawks at the LEC on Saturday, so it’s hard to guess a timetable for his return.
Roman, 18, had been invited to the Top Prospects games, but withdrew last week.