Portland Gets Isbister; Chiefs Get Incentive
The Portland Winter Hawks got a whole lot better Monday.
The Western Hockey League club finally regained the considerable services of 19-year-old right wing Brad Isbister, who was sent back to junior hockey this week by the NHL Phoenix Coyotes.
Isbister - whose impending return was rumored for weeks - puts Portland on par in talent and experience with the West Division-leading Spokane Chiefs.
“It doesn’t do us any good,” Chiefs GM Tim Speltz said Tuesday. “He was excellent against us in the playoffs last year. They’re better because he’s back, and probably better for having played a month without him.”
As for comparing the two clubs, Speltz said, “We’re 1-2 against them. We beat them on the night we outworked them. Until I see what they’re like with him back that’s the only comparison I can make.”
Chiefs coach Mike Babcock said Isbister is playing in Portland for a fourth year is “huge.
“He’s a dominant player who didn’t spend that much time with a National League club for nothing,” Babcock said. “He’ll help them big-time but it makes us better, too. We’ll have to play harder against the better teams, so bring him on.”
An 89-point scorer last season (45 goals, 44 assists), Isbister practiced Tuesday and will play tonight in the Rose Garden when the revamped Winter Hawks find out just how good they are against defending WHL champ Brandon.
“I guarantee you he’ll have the most minutes of any of our forwards,” Portland coach Brent Peterson said. “He can play both ends in key situations, so I’ll use him a lot.”
Isbister told Jim Beseda, The Oregonian’s Winter Hawks beat writer, that “It was a little disappointing at first but I wasn’t going to get much time up there anyway. Phoenix has a lot of veteran forwards who are making more money (his signing bonus was undisclosed). There wasn’t a spot for me on the first four lines.”
Next up, short-handed ‘Toon
The Saskatoon Blades are here tonight for a 7:05 faceoff without center Greg Phillips, an L.A. Kings draft choice.
One of the Blades’ few veteran scorers, Phillips is out at least through December after separating a shoulder in a fight with ex-Chief Randy Favaro.
The Edmonton Ice picked Favaro out of the expansion draft. Favaro and Phillips got into it three weeks ago in Edmonton.
“Phillips was trying to pull Randy in and take a shot when his shoulder popped,” said Saskatoon radio announcer Les Lazaruk. “They (the Blades) miss his toughness and offense.”
Lucky for Saskatoon that 16-year-old Garrett Prosofsky stepped up with 26 points in his first 15 games.
Prosofsky, brother of Kelowna Rockets veteran Tyler Prosofsky, is touted as an early candidate for WHL rookie of the year.
The Blades, who headed into Tri-City on Tuesday night looking for their first win on the road since last Jan. 30, also bring in defenseman Cory Sarich, Buffalo’s second pick in the June draft, the 27th player taken.
Around the WHL
Former Chiefs coach Bryan Maxwell, director of hockey operations of the surging Lethbridge Hurricanes, was fined $200 this week after pleading guilty to assaulting referee Brent Reiber following a March 23 playoff game. According to the Regina Leader-Post, Maxwell was found innocent of assaulting linesman Jeff Klick. Earlier, the WHL fined Maxwell $1,000 and suspended him from coaching for a year… . The good news in Lethbridge came in Tuesday’s major junior hockey poll. Lethbridge is ranked fourth… . The Hurricanes lead the WHL in penalties, averaging 37.8 minutes in the box. Seattle is next at 34, with the Chiefs third at 27.6 …The league’s player of the week is Prince Albert’s Shane Willis, whose seven goals and two assists in two games included a 4-goal burst in a 7-3 win over Medicine Hat… . New coach of the Calgary Hitmen is 32-year-old Dean Clark, up from the AAA midget team in St. Albert (Sask.). Clark played in the WHL for the Kamloops Blazers from 1982-85… . The Prince George Cougars, who got in touch with reality last week with an 0-6 road swing across the Canadian prairies, lost center Tyler Bouck to a shoulder injury that may keep him out for the season… . The Cougars are awaiting four custommade 63-inch sticks - the maximum-allowable length - for 6-9 defenseman Zdeno Chara.
, DataTimes