The Prince Albert Raiders might have been the big winners when it came to the 2023 WHL Prospects Draft lottery earlier this week, but that’s not to say the Moose Jaw Warriors won’t be able to find a gem or two of their own.
The Warriors received the 16th overall pick in the lottery on Wednesday, Mar. 29 and as a result will find themselves in the same range as they’ve been the past two seasons, when they selected Connor Schmidt 14th overall in 2022 and Marek Howell 16th overall in 2021.
While the jury is still out on how Schmidt and Howell will perform in the long run, the Warriors have seen success from that draft spot in the past.
Case in point in 2017, when they selected defenceman Daemon Hunt with the 15th overall pick. Hunt went on to captain the Warriors for two seasons and emerged as one of the Western Hockey League’s top defencemen in the process. Drafted in the third round of the 2020 NHL Entry Draft by the Minnesota Wild, Hunt capped his WHL career with 33 goals and 94 points in 163 games over parts of five seasons.
Then there’s none other than Brayden Point, who went 14th overall in the 2011 Draft. Now a legend of Warriors hockey, Point lit up the WHL from the moment he joined the Warriors as 15-year-old in the 2012 playoffs and put up 134 goals and 324 points in 252 WHL games. He’s since become an NHL All-Star with the Tampa Bay Lightning and is a two-time Stanley Cup champion.
Other teams have had success at the 16th position, too -- Portland landed future 100-point man Nic Petan in 2010, while Nathan Lieuwen was selected 16th by Edmonton in 2006 and went on to backstop the team to the 2012 WHL championship.
Of course, once you get outside of the top 10 picks, things become a bit more of a crapshoot when it comes to finding elite players, and for every Hunt and Point, there are others who had serviceable careers or didn’t quite pan out as top WHL players.
Prince Albert had the biggest boost of luck in the draft lottery since Regina had Swift Current’s ball pop up prior to the 2020 Bantam Draft and subsequently selected Connor Bedard.
The Raiders initially landed the first overall selection thanks to a trade with the Edmonton Oil Kings, and then moved from fourth to second overall with the subsequent pick, meaning Prince Albert will have the top two picks in the draft
The Warriors will have the 16th pick in each round.
The U.S. Priority Draft lottery was also held earlier this week and will see the Warriors pick 16th in the first round and 38th in the second. The U.S. Draft takes place on Wednesday, May 10 and will feature selections from the western United States.
