Bantam draft preview: What will the Tips do?

Published 6:31 pm Monday, April 26, 2010

So what are the Tips going to do with their top pick or picks in this year’s bantam draft?

Well, one could theoretically look at the organizational depth chart to try and determine an area of need. For example, Everett took a defenseman in the first round in 2008, then took two more defensemen in the first round in 2009. Therefore, one could conclude that Everett is probably not looking defense with its first-round pick (18th overall) Thursday.

However, I think drafting for need is misguided, and I doubt many WHL teams approach the bantam draft in that manner. First off, teams have no idea what they’re going to look like 16 months from now, when these draft picks will first be eligible to join their teams. Looking at the protected list and predicting whether a team will be strong offensively, defensively or in goal two seasons from now is probably only slightly more effective than firing up the Magic 8 Ball. Secondly, this year’s draftees would most need to sync up with last year’s draftees, and no one really knows what they’ve got in their 94s yet, either, as they been too young to play in the league. I personally can’t say whether Everett’s 94 class is strong on forwards, defensemen or goalies. I doubt anyone knows for sure.

There’s just too many variables involved with players in this age group. Are they going to keep growing? Will the coordination ever catch up? Will something suddenly click mentally? Players take leaps forward at different ages, and there’s no guarantee the young players a team currently thinks will be good will actually fulfill expectation.

And Everett’s fooled me in the past. Last year Everett had two first rounders. The Tips’ first rounder from 2008, defenseman Ryan Murray, already showed great promise during the playoffs. Everett traded for 2007 first-rounder Alex Theriau, also a defenseman, midway through the season. With those two already in place I was certain the Tips would target forwards in the first round, if not with both picks then at least one of them. I was wrong as the Tips selected defensemen Nicholas Walters and Seth Jones with the two picks.

So the cliche, “best player available,” technique seems both the best and the most-likely strategy when it comes to the bantam draft. At least it seems that way to me.