EVERETT — The Everett Silvertips continue to play the waiting game with regards to Auston Matthews. However, the Tips believe they won’t have to wait much longer before finding out whether they’ll have the services of the superstar prospect next season.
Everett general manager Garry Davidson said Monday he believes Matthews will decide this week where he will spend the 2015-16 season.
Matthews, a center from Scottsdale, Arizona, who’s projected to be the first-overall pick in the 2016 NHL draft, is deciding between three options for next season: Everett, an NCAA school, or a professional team in Switzerland. Everett selected Matthews, who spent the previous two seasons with the U.S. National Team Development Program, in the third round of the 2012 bantam draft.
“Kevin (Constantine, Everett’s coach) and I have talked and we think that maybe he’ll make a decision sometime this week,” Davidson said. “We haven’t heard anything since last week when Kevin and I contacted his family. We’re sitting back and waiting patiently, but I have a gut feeling we’ll learn something this week.”
Matthews would be a game-changing addition for Everett. Matthews, who turns 18 in September, has both size (6-foot-2, 194 pounds) and skill, having broke Patrick Kane’s single-season scoring record with the NTDP by notching 117 points (55 goals, 62 assists) in 60 games.
Matthews was originally choosing between Everett and an NCAA school, but it emerged 10 days ago that Matthews was considering the unprecedented move of playing his NHL-draft season in the Swiss professional league. No North American player has ever spent his NHL-draft season playing in Europe.
Original reports suggested Matthews had signed with ZSC Lions of Switzerland’s top league, though those claims were quickly disputed. Teams in Switzerland are allowed to dress four non-Swiss players for games. The arguments for playing in Switzerland include a higher level of competition where Matthews would play against men, plus a salary that reportedly could approach $500,000. However, because it’s never been done before, no one knows how it may affect Matthews’ development.
“The main issue is whether he’ll stay in North America for his 18-year-old season or sign a pro contract and go over there for a year,” Davidson said.
“It’s something that’s never happened before at all,” Davidson added. “It’s totally something new for a young fellow who played essentially in the USHL to go over there and be asked to be an impact import player in the Swiss league. Those teams usually sign seasoned professionals who have played six -to-eight years of pro hockey before going over there. It’s uncharted waters.”
Though Davidson expects a decision this week, he said he doesn’t have a sense of which direction Matthews is leaning.
“They’ve done what they said they’re going to do, but they haven’t said a lot (about their leanings),” Davidson said. “They continue to gather information and study the decision they have to make.”
One theory that’s been floated is that the Matthews camp could be using the possibility of playing in Switzerland as leverage to force the Tips to trade his rights to another WHL team. The Tips found themselves in that situation in the spring of 2012 when superstar defenseman Seth Jones, in the exact same position as Matthews after finishing up his stint with the U.S. NTDP, said he wouldn’t play for Everett and forced a trade to Portland.
However, Davidson said firmly that has not happened with Matthews.
“There’s been no talk of a trade,” Davidson said. “Since the initial discussions with his advisers it’s not something they’ve been concerned with at all. They’re very comfortable with their WHL option in Everett.”
While the Tips continue to wait on Matthews, they now can begin the recruitment process with one of their other big-time prospects who remains uncommitted for next season. Center Tyson Jost, Everett’s first-round pick in the 2013 bantam draft, just completed his season with the British Columbia Hockey League’s Penticton Vees, who lost in the semifinals of the Canadian junior A national championships Saturday. Jost, a resident of Kelowna, B.C., who is entering his 17-year-old season, is considered a possible top-10 selection in the 2016 NHL draft. Davidson said he would reach out to Jost this week.
Check out Nick Patterson’s Silvertips blog at http://www.heraldnet.com/silvertipsblog, and follow him on Twitter at @NickHPatterson.
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