Are the Portland Wnterhawks the next to be punished?

This past summer the OHL’s Windsor Spit Fires were fined $250,000.00 for breaking the OHL’s recruitment/benefit rules and policies. Now according to Dean Milard of the Pipeline Show, the Portland Winterhawks of the Western Hockey League could be the next CHL team to face some stiff punishment for a violations of the recruitment rules. It will be interesting to see how this plays out.

Dean Milard; Coming Down the Pipe --- The In the case of Portland, here is their latest big recruit and a few situations that some might be suspicious of, and reasons why there might not be anything wrong with it at all. Seth Jones joined the Hawks this year after a trade with Everett during the 2012 post season.

- Did the team speak to Jones before the trade?
- Did he simply realize that the Winterhawks have developed some pretty good blueliners lately?
- Did they offer him more money to play in Portland after the trade?

Depending on who you talk to, Jones is a stud no matter where he plays. Some wonder why Everett wasn't his choice as it didn't seem to hurt Ryan Murray who went second overall. But a case can be made for the likes of Joe Morrow and Derrick Pouliot in Portland. As for his NCAA options, he had narrowed his choices down to the University of North Dakota. Formerly the Fighting Sioux. UND is an unreal program and playing there is never a wrong choice, but Portland isn't exactly second banana. They've been to the final, two straight years and some (like me) have them getting back there again this year. Maybe Jones just saw the writing on the wall that they were going to be good, especially with him and jumped on board.

After this revelation; one does have to wonder how many more CHL teams could be in violation of the recruitment/benefits rules? I am sure that Dean Millard and Guy Flaming will keep us updated on this developing situation.