New Giant Matt Bellerive drive to the net on now old Giant Jared Rathjen last season. (Getty Images.)
The Vancouver Giants picked a bad day if they wanted to get any media attention for a trade.
Lost in all the Ryan Kesler hoopla Friday, overage goalie Jared Rathjen was traded by the Giants to the Medicine Hat Tigers for a conditional fifth-round pick in the 2015 WHL bantam draft.
Conditional is shorthand for “if he makes the team.”
It’s not a surprise. With the solid playoff performance of Payton Lee, 18, the team is prepared to give him the lion’s share of the netminding duties. The back-up gig could go to rookie Ryan Kubic, 16, although the team may want him to be playing No. 1 time in Junior B or elsewhere.
The team also signed Cody Porter, who spent part of last season with the BCHL’s West Kelowna Warriors, in the off-season. Porter turns 17 in September.
WHL tTeams can only carry three 20 year olds. It looks like Vancouver is going to get with forwards Joel Hamilton, Dalton Sward and trade pick-up Matt Bellerive in those posts.
Other 19 year olds on the Giants last season included forwards Dominik Volek, Travis McEvoy, Trent Lofthouse and Rob Trzonkowski, and defenceman Brett Kulak. Kulak has a contract from the Calgary Flames, so he’s expected to play pro next season. Volek, a Czech, had said that he wanted to play pro in Europe. Word is that Trzonkowski is going back to school.
Rathjen came into last season tagged as Lee’s back-up, but his steady efforts, coupled with Lee’s uneven start to campaign, had Rathjen carrying the load at points. He got the start in four straight and six of eight before Christmas, and then there was a stretch in February where he started five of six.
He suffered an undisclosed injury in a March 1 game. Lee’s play picked up, and he was outstanding down the stretch and in the playoffs.
Rathjen was 13-8-4-1, with a 2.98 goals against and a .898 save percentage for Vancouver in league play last season.
Marek Langhamer, a 19-year-old Czech, handled the brunt of net work for Medicine Hat last season, going 23-14-2-1, with a 2.58 goals against and .913 save percentage. Nick Schneier, a 16-year-old, ended up the season as his back-up.
Langhamer has a contract with the Phoenix Coyotes so it’s unlikely he’ll be back with Medicine Hat.
