The 2016 WHL bantam draft: The day after

Yesterday was the annual WHL bantam draft and the Everett Silvertips added a dozen players to the organization. Of course all 12 probably won’t play in Everett, but at least some of them figure to be in the mix sooner rather than later.

Head scout Bil La Forge was very excited when asked about top pick Ethan Browne, the Sherwood Park, Alberta, forward the Tips took No. 14 overall in the first round. La Forge called Browne “the offensive player we’ve needed for a while” and thinks Browne could make a big impact already as a 16-year-old in the 2017-18 season.

Such and honour being drafted by the @WHLsilvertips #13#overjoyed

— Ethan Browne (@ethanbrowne01) May 5, 2016

In addition to his skill with the puck Browne likes to play with physicality, both he and La Forge said. Browne said he didn’t know a whole lot about the city or the organization, but that’s to be expected when you are 14 and growing up in central Alberta. He said he does know fellow Sherwood Park native and current Silvertips goaltending wunderkind Carter Hart, so I would think that might make it easier for Browne when he does join the team.

Everett also took forwards Mark Liwiski and Reece Vitelli in the third and fourth rounds, respectively, and both are expected to develop into quality offensive performers. Liwiski is another physical player, and Vitelli is considered a top-end skater, according to La Forge.

So proud to apart of the @WHLsilvertips organization, thanks to my family, teammates and coaches who helped me get here! #tips

— Mark Liwiski (@markliwiski13) May 5, 2016

With Everett’s recent struggles at convincing its high-end offensive talent to sign – think Auston Matthews, Tyson Jost and Patrick Khodorenko – I asked La Forge if he’s been able to gauge how committed this draft class is to going the WHL route.

“All indications we have right now is that they’re all pretty committed,” La Forge said. “We did take a couple guys later on – a couple American kids that we took that might be tough to recruit. But we’ve got a pretty good indication that these guys are very interested in being part of the Silvertips organization.”

Americans are generally harder to recruit because signing with a WHL team means the forfeiture of their NCAA eligibility. The Tips took 13 Americans in the last two bantam drafts combined, yet took only two in this year’s draft. I don’t know if that’s a conscious shift on Everett’s part or if the organization simply felt these other players were better fits.

Let’s face facts here: Despite the iterations that the Tips draft the best available player regardless of need, it’s clear the organization is in need of top-end offensive skill players.

Everett locked up lots of defensive talent in the last two drafts in the form of players like Jake Christiansen, Wyatte Wylie, Montana Onyebuchi and Gino Fairbrother. If the Tips could even be in the middle of the pack of WHL teams in scoring I think there’s a decent chance we’d be in Brandon right now, and I think Thursday’s draft shows that Everett is trying to address that need.

The Tips went on to add forwards Dylan Holloway, Conrad Mitchell, Ryan Robinson, Alex Young and Michael Horon, defensemen Aaron Hladiuk and Alex Moar, and goalies Dustin Wolf and Danton Belluk.