Tips will look to add best players available in bantam draft

The Western Hockey League’s annual day of guesswork and chance-taking occurs Thursday as the league holds its 2017 bantam draft beginning at 7:30 a.m. in Calgary.

This year’s draft disperses the rights of all 2002-born players in Western Canada and the Western United States to the WHL’s 22 teams. The Everett Silvertips will have to wait a bit to make their first pick. By finishing third overall in the final regular-season standings, they’ll pick 20th in the first round.

However, unlike last year, the Tips have a second-round pick and will in fact select five times in the first 86 picks by virtue of adding a third-round pick as part of the Dawson Leedahl trade.

The consensus seems to be that this draft isn’t necessarily as deep as some previous iterations, but there is some talent to be had.

“If I was to make sort of a blanket statement I would say it’s a little thinner compared to last year’s group,” Everett general manager Garry Davidson said. “But there are players and there are some real solid first-round picks and then there are those guys that I think we’ve done a good job of picking from three, four, five and sixth rounds that seem to blossom into good players. I’m excited to go through the process, but it is a little bit thinner of a year.”

According to Tyler Neisz, the owner and scouting director of the Western Elite Hockey Prospects newsletter and website, there is more talent depth at the forward position than on defense.

“It is a good junior draft, but not really any NHL sure-fire guys,” Neisz said via email. “This year’s draft class has quite a bit of depth at the top of the draft for forwards and all the way through the third round I think you can find some good players. The high end defensemen will be at a premium this year, especially with many of the top B.C. defensemen (being) non-committal.”

The reason some players are non-committal is due to them either being heavily recruited by or already verbally committing to NCAA schools. Players that sign with WHL teams lose their NCAA eligibility.

That’s something the Silvertips want to avoid, lest they experience a repeat of the 2013 draft in which both first-rounder Tyson Jost and second-rounder Patrick Khodorenko chose the NCAA route.

For the Tips it’s about grabbing the best player left on the board rather than addressing any specific immediate need. Players picked Thursday are only eligible to play six regular-season games next season as 15-year-olds and only a handful make the roster as 16-year-olds.

“Obviously you can’t pick all forwards and you can’t pick a majority of defensemen,” Davidson said. “You have to spread your picks out between the positions and we can’t forget about goalies, too. We gotta pick a little of each but it’s definitely pick the best player available. We’re not saying we need one position over another in our first couple of picks. We’ll see what’s available and grab it.”

The consensus seems to be that Alberta defenseman Kaiden Guhle will go No. 1 to the Prince Albert Raiders. The 6-foot-1, 174-pound blueliner put up 40 points in 30 games for OHA Edmonton Prep this past season. Moreover he’s the younger brother of Brendan Guhle, a current Buffalo Sabres prospect whom the Raiders took third overall in the 2012 bantam draft.

Pursuit of Excellence forward Connor McClennon is the top-ranked forward and ranked No. 2 overall by WEHP. From there it figures to be a combination of teams selecting the best possible player while weighing that player’s commitment to signing.

“There will be several players and primarily from B.C. that may drop lower than they should due to NCAA and more specifically not committing to the league,” Neisz said. “Teams up high in the draft will opt for more of the ‘sure thing’ in terms of commitment.”

The Tips wasted no time in signing last year’s first-round pick in Ethan Browne, a skilled Alberta forward. Everett also signed its second pick in third-rounder Mark Liwiski in late March. The organization also has inked last year’s fifth-rounder in goaltender of the future Dustin Wolf, and seventh-rounder Conrad Mitchell.

Last year the only Snohomish County native taken was Hunter Campbell who went to the Calgary Hitmen in the third round.

This year some 2002-born hopefuls with local ties include Bellingham native Keiton Klein, who played for Everett Youth Hockey in the past and will play for the 16-U Junior Silvertips AAA team this upcoming season, Auburn native Alex Bolshakov who played last year with the 14-U Sno-King Junior Thunderbirds but will joining the 16-U team in Everett this fall, and Seattle native Brendan Lee who played last season with Okangan Hockey Academy.

Other 2002-born players who played at EYH last season include C.J. Stucky, Noah Christiana and Nikolai Gusinsky.

Thursday’s bantam draft order:

1. Prince Albert Raiders

2. Kootenay Ice

3. Vancouver Giants

4. Edmonton Oil Kings

5. Saskatoon Blades

6. Spokane Chiefs

7. Calgary Hitmen

8. Brandon Wheat Kings

9. Swift Current Broncos (from Red Deer Rebels)

10. Saskatoon Blades (from Victoria Royals)