CrashingTheGoalie

by Ron Spence

Trevor Letowski was a Canuck for only two seasons, but his story is interesting for a couple of reasons.

He has fallen victim to the NHL’s youth movement, which has driven him to the KHL.

The first article – below – describes what he went through while waiting for an NHL club to sign him.

The second article describes his life in the KHL and Kazakhstan.

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Trevor Letowski was a Canuck from December 28, 2001 until July 3, 2003.

“Letowksi fit in immediately in Vancouver,” wrote the Legends of Hockey. “Blessed with good speed, tenacity and willingness to throw around his 5′10 frame made, Letowski and his line were an important part of the Canucks solid second half and the team’s rise throughout the 2002-03 season.”

He came over with Todd Warriner, Tyler Bouck and Phoenix’s 3rd round choice in 2003  - later traded back to the Coyotes – for Drake Berehowsky and Denis Pederson.

Letowski had been drafted in the 7th round – 174th overall – by the Coyotes in 1996.

He played two full seasons for Phoenix – before Vancouver – and two seasons in Columbus and Carolina – after the Canucks. During the lockout season he played with Fribourg-Gotteron in Switzerland.

Letowski established career highs in goals (19), assists (20) and points (39) during the 1999-2000 season with the Coyotes, setting franchise records for shorthanded goals (4) and shorthanded points (7) by a rookie.

The Thunder Bay, Ont., native led the Blue Jackets in games played (81) – his second season in Columbus – and shorthanded points (4).

“Trevor is a real character guy who will fit into our team well,” said Rutherford when Carolina signed him. “He is a reliable two-way player and also a good penalty killer.”

Carolina didn’t re-sign Letowski, who decided to try his luck in the KHL.

Brody Mark a Thunder Bay journalist wrote on August 7, 2008:

“A disheartened Trevor Letowski has decided to try his hand overseas.
After waiting a month for a solid NHL offer, the Thunder Bay native signed a one-year deal with HC Astana of the newly formed Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) based out of Russia.

“It had become a little frustrating here,” said Letowski. “Anyone who has been a free agent at the NHL level knows that after July 1, you‘re talking to your agent pretty much every day. There‘s different things here and there and you get your hopes up and then another day it‘s bad news, another day it‘s good news.”
The Astana club is based out of Kazakhstan and up until this season had been a member of the Russian Vysshaya Liga.

Terms of the deal were not released but according to his agent Paul Krepelka, Letowski is slated to make more than the equivalent of a million dollars.
When asked for specific numbers, Letowski laughed and offered: “It‘s a pay raise, let‘s just say that [He was making $800,000 in Carolina.].
“I still believe he‘s an NHL player and I think he will still play in the NHL,” added Krepelka, “but there weren‘t a lot of offers that we deemed worthy of him.”
Letowski said it was about a week and a half ago that he and Krepelka started to give the KHL a hard look. The two decided to gauge interest in the 5-foot-10 centre and it was Astana who immediately took the bait.
It took five days for him to agree to the deal, saying a contract in-hand looked pretty good compared to what he had.
“They made a real good offer and there wasn‘t anything concrete over here,” he said. “I was just starting to get nervous and didn‘t want to wait a whole lot longer so I decided this would be quite the experience.”
The KHL replaces the Russian Super League, which was founded in 1996, and will be comprised of 24 teams. Expansion has already been discussed with the league looking to add teams from Ukraine, Sweden, Finland, Belarus and Czech Republic next season.
Credibility was given to the league when they announced the signings of former NHL stars Jaromir Jagr (Avangard Omsk), Ray Emery (Atlant Mytishchi) and Jozef Stumpel (Astana) for this season.
If the league succeeds in its first season, Krepelka sees a lot more NHL players making the trip.

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“I think this year is going to go a long way in determining how much of a threat, or how much of an exodus there will be to the Kontinental Hockey League,” said Krepelka.
Because of the lucrative contract, Letowski expects to see a lot more playing time than he had become used to in the NHL. Playing in all situations is something he got used to during the lockout when he played in Switzerland, so he‘s not sweating it.
“You always put pressure on yourself and get thrown in different roles,” he said. “I have no regrets in whatever teams have asked me to do. I just try and fill that role and it‘s kept me around long enough. As a hockey player, you want to play important minutes.”
Letowski has played 616 career NHL games while recording 201 points … A one-year deal was signed in the hopes of getting back in the NHL after this season.
“I would never sign for more than one year, because I definitely want to see how it goes,” he said.
Astana wanted Letowski to arrive sooner as their season begins on Sept. 2 and training camp is underway. However, visa issues still need to be worked out and he wanted to make the trip early next week with his wife, Amy.
“This isn‘t a bad alternative, but it‘s not the No. 1 choice,” said Krepelka. “These are the cards that we were dealt and we‘re going to try and take advantage of this.”

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JOERI LOONEN talked to Trevor three months later, and wrote:

“Back in 1997, Letowski was a member of the gold-winning Canadian U20 team that consisted the likes of Martin Biron, Joe Thornton and Daniel Briere. Back then in Switzerland, he stated his dream was to make it to the NHL. How would he have reacted when he was then told he would be would make the NHL but would be playing in Kazakhstan by 2008?

“It’s funny how things go. I would have never believed that,” he admits. “As a matter of fact I never would have believed it at the beginning of this summer either.”

The Thunder Bay, Ontario, native fell victim to the youth movement that is going on in the NHL at the moment. Along with several other established veterans, Letowski found himself fighting for a contract this summer and saw NHL teams sign up young prospects day after day. After some frustration at first, the realizing part kicked in.

“I thought I could help out an NHL team after I finished the season pretty strong. My agent and I were trying to get a deal done back home and we were talking to a few teams. But no real contract offer came, nothing really exciting. Things changed,” Letowski knows.

“Some teams that didn’t look deep on paper gave roles to younger players hoping they develop so they become a more important part of the line-up. It’s frustrating in a way to me but in the end there was nothing there for me. I talked to my agent to check overseas to see what comes back. I’m not sure how it happened but he came with this pretty quickly. It was an opportunity hard to pass up, it was a great offer and in the end a pretty easy decision to make”