The list of invitees to this year's NHL draft combine was released today. Silvertips defenseman Mirco Mueller was among the 101 players invited to be poked, prodded, quizzed and forced to ride a stationary bike really fast. Mueller, who was ninth among North American skaters in the NHL Central Scouting Service's final rankings, is projected as a possible first-round selection, and at the combine he'll receive another...

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Everett freed up a European roster slot by releasing Czech winger Stathis Soumelidis.

Soumelidis, who just completed his 18-year-old season, had four goals, seven assists and a team-leading 119 penalty minutes in his lone season with the Silvertips. The second-round selection in last year's import draft was also a popular player in the locker room because of his good-spirited nature.

Soumelidis' release leaves...

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A couple quick things today:

- The Oregonian has a story about Portland assistant coach Travis Green. Green, who guided the Winterhawks to the Memorial Cup with head coach Mike Johnston suspended, is often talked about as a potential candidate for Everett's vacant head coaching position. While this story suggests the Tips are still very interested in...

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A little link roundup today:

- This is a day late, but in case you missed it, we had a feature on Tips draft pick and Stanwood resident Connor Nobach in Tuesday's paper. Everett still hasn't had a Snohomish County resident play for the team, and the defenseman is looking to change that. We're starting to see locals picked in the bantam draft on...

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The WHL season came to an end Sunday when the Portland Winterhawks defeated the Edmonton Oil Kings in Game 6 of the WHL championship series, claiming the series in six games.

I want to thank our resident Portland fan, Fax, for reminding me that by winning two games against the Winterhawks in the first round of the playoffs, Everett won as many playoff games against Portland as any other team in the league. The Tips, who were eliminated in the first round by the...

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Everett made nine selections in today's bantam draft: five forwards, three defensemen and one goaltender. These players will be eligible to play full-time for the Tips beginning in the 2014-15 season. Here they are, along with their position, height, weight, hometown, bantam stats (where available), and a quote from Tips head scout Bil La Forge:

First round (seventh overall): Tyson Jost, right wing, 5-9, 169, Leduc, Alberta.
Stats:...

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It's bantam draft day. Everett picks seventh overall. The first round can be watched at the WHL website. Other good resources are Alan Caldwell's blog and the Silvertips website.

Everett's pick will be coming soon ...

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Here's some more bantam draft notes

- This is the third straight year Everett heads into the bantam draft with the seventh-overall pick. That's a somewhat dubious distinction, as it indicates the Tips had the worst record among the teams that made the playoffs for the third straight year.

- The Tips picked center Ty Mappin with that pick two years ago, but last year the Tips traded down to 11th overall, selecting defenseman Kevin Davis. It's possible Everett...

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The Silvertips are back in action this week as the bantam draft takes place Thursday in Calgary. This year's draft disperses 1998-born players from western Canada and the western U.S. to the league's 22 teams.

Based on my records, Everett has a pretty complete list of picks this year. The Tips have their own first- and second-round picks, Moose Jaw's third, Tri-City's fourth, two fifths (their own and Brandon's), and no sixth. This is as complete...

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The NHL's website decided to release a trio of mock drafts today, and the positioning of Everett defenseman Mirco Mueller made for some interesting reading.

Three different experts made their predictions, and all three had Mueller being selected in the first round by the Columbus Blue Jackets. Columbus has three first-round picks, so the mock drafts didn't all have Mueller picked in the same...

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Tips defenseman Landon Oslanski, who just completed his WHL eligibility, is getting his shot at the pros. Oslanski has been picked up by the ECHL's Stockton Thunder for their playoff run.

Oslanski played one season with the Tips after being picked up off the waiver wire last offseason. He had 17 goals and 31 assists, being named the team's co-MVP.

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The NHL's Central Scouting Service released its final rankings for the 2013 draft this morning, and the Silvertips continued their strong showing with five players making the cut.

Four Everett players were among the 210 North American skaters ranked. Leading the way is Swiss defenseman Mirco Mueller, who came in at ninth. That was three spots higher...

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The U-18 World Championship began today in Sochi, Russia. Everett has two players taking part. Defenseman Mirco Mueller is playing for Switzerland, while goaltender Austin Lotz is suiting up for Canada.

Canada won its opener today, beating Slovakia 4-1. Lotz did not play in this one. Switzerland's opener is tomorrow against the same Slovakia team.

There's a couple good sites for following the tournament. The

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Silvertips goaltender Austin Lotz was a late addition to Canada's camp for the U-18 World Championships. Canada released its final roster today, and the team kept all three goaltenders, meaning Lotz made the cut. He'll be with the team for the tournament, which begins Thursday in Sochi, Russia.

Lotz played in today's exhibition game against the Czech Republic, which Canada won 5-4 in a shootout. Lotz surrendered three goals in approximately 30...

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The Tips have signed a five-year lease extension with Comcast Arena, ensuring they remain in Everett through the 2017-18 season.

Everett's initial 10-year lease with the building was up after the end of the season. I don't think there was much danger that this wasn't going to get done.



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With the potential of 21 players returning, it wouldn't appear there are many roster spots available for newcomers next season. I'm also not sure there are any instant-impact types in the system, players who will come in and immediately be among the top six forwards or top for defensemen. Nevertheless, there are several candidates who will be stating their case for a roster spot once training camp rolls around in August.

Let's begin with the players who have signed...

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Let's take a look at Everett's roster from the playoffs. Here's the age breakdowns of the full-time players:

20 - 3
19 - 3
18 - 6
17 - 7
16 - 5

Those 20-year-olds consist of two waiver-wire acquisitions in utilityman Landon Oslanski and defenseman Connor Cox, as well as winger Ryan Harrison, who didn't appear during the playoffs because of injury.

A team's 19-year-olds are always in question because just three can return as...

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Now that the season is over, the real fun begins for the Everett Silvertips.

Everett played the final three months of the season without a head coach. That needs to be rectified. Let the speculation begin.

The Tips were winging it after head coach Mark Ferner and assistant coach Chris Hartsburg were fired in January. General manager Garry Davidson took over behind the bench on an interim basis, and he began the process of transforming the way the team plays.

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The hockey gods granted the Tips a gift this season. Then they snatched it away before Everett had a chance to make the most of it.

This was supposed to be year one in the post-Ryan Murray era in Everett. The star defenseman was selected second overall in last year's NHL draft by the Columbus Blue Jackets, he signed an entry-level contract, and he was set to play in the NHL as a 19-year-old. But fate conspired to bring Murray back to Everett. The NHL lockout sent all the...

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The Silvertips went young this season. That's great and all, and it's something Everett had to do. But it's not enough to just go young, those young players have to have ability, too.

Last season was a good example of how going young isn't the answer in itself. Take winger Michael Bell. Bell made the team as a 16-year-old out of training camp in 2011. He appeared in 10 games before being reassigned in November, and by the end of the season had dropped off Everett's...

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I was wondering whether Tips goaltender Austin Lotz had caught any eyes with his play during the second half of the season and the playoffs, and the answer to that question is, "Yes."

Lotz was summoned by Hockey Canada as he's been added to Canada's training camp roster for the upcoming U-18 World Championships. The 17-year-old from St. Adolphe, Manitoba,...

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This Everett Silvertips season took me back to my youth.

When I was a child one of my favorite toys was my Intellivision video game system. There was a game called Space Battle, where you were kind of like Luke Skywalker or Han Solo in Star Wars when the Millennium Falcon was escaping the Death Star. You controlled a turret and tried to shoot down incoming enemy fighters before they zapped you. The opening screen showed where the squadrons of enemy fighters were located,...

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I've gathered my thoughts and am ready to get the season-end blog series started. This series tends to involve my own thoughts and analyses, whereas the straight-up season reviews are published in the paper. Here's the schedule:

Tuesday: 2012-13 review: Reset
Wednesday: 2012-13 review: Youth movement
Thursday: 2012-13 review: What could have been
Friday: 2013-14 preview: Who's behind the bench?
Saturday: 2013-14 preview: Who's...

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First off, in case you missed it, here's the stories that ran in the paper reviewing this season, the careers of the departing overagers, and previewing next season. A story about...

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First off, a big thank you to team photographer Chris Mast for passing along the photo of Joshua Winquist and Austin Lotz. When I saw him snapping those shots on the ice from the press area, I knew I wanted one for the blog.

Here's a few things that came out of today's player exit meetings:

- Winger Reid Petryk's season isn't over just yet. Petryk headed out first thing this morning to sign a tryout contract...

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TALKING POINTS

Everett gave Portland a far better series than anyone could have predicted. But it was just a matter of time before Portland's superiority won out, and the Winterhawks finished the Tips off tonight, winning the best-of-seven series 4-2.

Portland was all over Everett, outshooting the Tips 52-13. Everett's players looked exhausted as chasing the Winterhawks all over the ice finally caught up with them. But the Tips turned in a valiant effort to...

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Note: Line combinations and defensive pairings are not provided during the playoffs.

EVERETT

Forwards: Mappin, Sandhu, Low, Leedahl, Petryk, Bauml, Stadnyk, Soumelidis, Winquist, Aasman, Oslanski, MacDonald.

Defensemen: Nikkel, Cox, Betker, Zipp, Mueller, Adam.

Goaltenders: Lotz (starting), Cotton.

Scratches: Juulsen, Skapski, Hayer, Grayson, Harrison, Davis.

Notes: One change for Everett from Saturday's 3-2 victory...

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The Tips defied all expectations, keeping their season alive with an unlikely 3-2 victory at Portland in Game 5 tonight.

It seemed like tonight's game was academic after Portland's 11-4 Game 4 thrashing Friday in Everett. But the Tips responded in the best possible manner, building a 3-0 lead and then hanging on late.

Josh Winquist scored another goal for Everett. Winquist has scored in every game in the series...

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Can the Silvertips extend their season?





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TALKING POINTS

So here's the deal. Everett needs to play its absolute best game to have any kind of chance against Portland. An average game won't get it done. A bad game? Well, then you get something like this. And this was a bad, bad game for the Tips.

Everett did pretty much everything poorly tonight. The Tips made bad decisions, had bad defensive coverage -- Portland players were left free to roam the offensive zone all night long -- and goaltender Austin...

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