2012-13 record: 44-22-2-4 (lost to Medicine Hat in Conference quarterfinals; lost to London in Memorial Cup tie-breaker round)
The Saskatoon Blades were the host team of the Memorial Cup tournament last year, and thanks to an 18-game winning streak, had the momentum going into the WHL playoffs as they won the East Division. Unfortunately, the Medicine Hat Tigers had other plans and the Blades were swept, meaning that they had to wait 51 days until the Memorial Cup tournament. Their showing in the Memorial Cup tournament wasn't particularly great, but they were the only team to beat eventual Memorial Cup champion Halifax in tournament play. This season, the Blades will be experiencing a lot of roster turnover, as well as a new head coach. Josh Nicholls, Brenden Walker, and Michael Ferland all are gone due to graduation, and Jessey Astles, Lukas Sutter, Dalton Thrower, and Shane McColgan were all traded in the offseason. David Nemecek and Nikita Sherbak are the new Import players, as both Matej Stransky and Andrey Makarov are likely not returning, with the latter providing a hole that needs to be filled in goal. Patrick Johnson played well, but that was only four games, and Alex Moodie posted a 4.72 GAA. That has the potential to spell disaster. Nick Zajac is the surest option to return, as everyone else ahead of him in the scoring department is either gone, or has the possibility to be gone, as the Blades only have nine players that will be certain to return for next season.
Prediction: 9th in the East
A large part of the team from the Memorial Cup tournament is not coming back, with more than half either moving on or traded away. It would not be surprising if the Blades didn't make the playoffs this year.
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