The Warriors announced Wednesday morning that they had traded goaltender Brock Gould to the Portland Winterhawks in exchange for a conditional 2023 Western Hockey League Bantam Draft pick.
The move was purely for altruistic reasons, as Gould is currently at home in Colorado Springs, Col. and would have gone through a 14-day quarantine on top of other precautions if he were to cross the border to play in Canada — and that’s if clearance was granted at all.
As the Winterhawks play in the U.S. Division and there are few restrictions for travel between states, Gould will easily be able to report to Winterhawks training camp in preparation for their Mar. 19 start date.
“This is all about the challenges we’ve had with the season, the restrictions at the border,” Millar said. “We would have been carrying three goaltenders with Gould, (Boston) Bilous and (Brett) Mirwald, so this made a lot of sense for us to get him to the U.S. Division and give him the opportunity to play this season. That’s what the priority was, in the best interest of the player. Now we’ll see how the year goes and how things look when we head into next year.”
Gould, 19, joined the Warriors in the blockbuster deadline deal last January that sent Brayden Tracey and Adam Evanoff to the Victoria Royals.
In 16 games with the rebuilding Warriors, Gould had a 5.75 goals against average and .876 save percentage.
The deal leaves the Warriors with 19-year-old Boston Bilous and 17-year-old Brett Mirwald currently on their roster. Bilous is expected to emerge as the de facto starter for the squad when things get going on the 24-game season with Mirwald serving as his back-up. And that’s something Millar expects will lead to good news for the young prospect.
“It’s certainly going to have an impact on the development of Brett Mirwald,” Millar said. “So he can come in, he’s a real good young 17-year-old goaltender and he can come in and play with a quality goalie and a quality person in Bilous and his development will be helped by getting as many games as he can.
“(The trade) worked for Brock Gould with the U.S. matter and it worked for the development of a young goaltender with our club.”
Now, the elephant in the room.
East Division return-to-play plan could be approved soon
With news that Saskatchewan health authorities had been in discussions with the WHL for the formation of a hub city format in Regina, things are moving closer and closer to the possible announcement of a start date for the upcoming ‘season.’
“To be honest, we’re just waiting for the phone to ring,” Millar said. “The league office continues to work with the Sask Health authorities, communication has been positive, we’re just dotting the Is and crossing the Ts and hopefully we get some good news by the end of the week here.”
Without letting the cart get ahead of the horse, Millar said the East Division teams were looking forward to whatever decision lets them return to the rink.
“Obviously we’d like to be in our home centres, but if health authorities come back and say it needs to be a hub or protected environment, we just want to provide a season for our players,” he said.
“Whoever can do the best job accommodating the seven teams, proper accommodations, dressing rooms, being able to put the teams in their own cohorts, that’s what’s going to be most important. Right now, Regina has a plan that looks really good, so we’ll see how it goes.”
