The Vig

It was a brief comment a few years ago by Winter Hawks announcer Andy Kemper that first made me sit up and pay attention to Tristan King.

I’m going to go on record here in the blog and say that before he graduates, Tristan King will be a star in the WHL.

For most of his rookie campaign, I confused King with Tayler Jordan. That was until I figured out Jordan was the one who liked to fight and King was the one who liked to score. Sometimes. Andy put King on my radar.

Could the kid play? Honestly I couldn’t tell. The entire team reeks. There would be nights I would fall in love with a Brett Ponich only to find myself wondering a week later what I ever saw in him. Colton Sceviour was a similar guy. Bo Montgomery too. Players would distinguish themselves for a game or two then disappear for the rest of the season.

The Tristan King era, if you can call it that, came to an end today with the announcement he’d been traded to Medicine Hat for Killian Hutt. And that’s fine and dandy, I suppose, but I have to wonder if Bardsley is that in love with Hutt or if King perhaps forced the team’s hand by demanding a trade. Toward the end of the season, you’ll recall, the air was filled with stories of families who were upset with the direction of the organization. Were the Kings one of those families? I’d be curious to find out.

The Hawks press release was definitely a sight to behold. Did anyone proof read it before they put it up? Back in the day, Scooter could at least properly punctuate a sentence. This one, with the random Capitalization and the abuse of commas is just…. I mean wow.

The best part of the whole release, though, was Hodge’s quote.

He is an Offensive player who loves to score.

As opposed to Offensive offensive players who don’t particularly enjoy scoring.  Did Bardsley have to get Hodge to sign off on the deal before proceeding?  Interesting.  I thought Hodge had been pretty much cut out of the organizational chart.  Now he’s back in the loop.  Huh.

So the Hawks have yet again gotten themselves a few years younger.  And once again we get to watch a player with a nose for the net figure his way around the WHL.  Eventually the flag is going to drop on Donovan’s five-year run.  It just won’t be this season.  *Sigh*.