From the Prairies to the Neon Lights

There were some major changes in the past few days in Brandon, MB, as the Wheat Kings will be opening their championship defense with a new radio voice and a new head coach and a new General Manager. First, the radio voice, and longtime voice of Wheat Kings games on CKLQ Bruce Luebke will not be back to announce games with the radio station. No further word on this matter has been given at this time.

Now, the matter of the head coach and the General Manager, as they were the same person at varying times this decade. The as-yet-to-be-named Las Vegas NHL team did what the Toronto Maple Leafs were unable to do last off-season: lure Kelly McCrimmon away from the Wheat Kings. His role with Las Vegas will be as Assistant General Manager, meaning he will be serving under General Manager George McPhee. McCrimmon will still be with the team as one of the owners, along with the rest of his family, so finding a new General Manager and head coach will happen with his stamp on it.

What does Las Vegas get? With McPhee, they get a guy who oversaw the Washington Capitals' climb from the doldrums in 2005 to annual playoff contenders, though his inability to get the missing pieces, plus a few ill-advised trades did him in after the 2013-14 season. Hiring McCrimmon will be beneficial, as he oversaw the Wheat Kings' rise to the top of the WHL this season with timely trades and using picks in the Bantam and Import Drafts to pick up key players such as Ivan Provorov, Nolan Patrick, and Stelio Matheos.