Instead, they’ll undoubtedly watch Connor Bedard – the first-ever player to be granted exceptional status in the WHL – go to the Regina Pats with the first overall pick of the 2020 Bantam Draft. And despite finishing with the second worst record in the league this season, they’ll pick third overall after the Prince George Cougars vaulted past them into second place during the draft lottery last week.
But this is a very interesting year when to comes to future young talent, something that has Warriors general manager Alan Millar as excited for the player they’ll bring into the organization as opposed to lamenting the one that got away.
“I think this lottery is a lottery in every sense of the word, we had a chance to jump to one or fall to three and that’s just how the ball landed,” Millar said. “At the end of the day it’s a strong draft at the top end and we feel real comfortable with where we’re at and we know we’re going to get a very good player.”
Bedard comes by the hype honestly. The 14-year-old played up an age group for West Vancouver Academy in the Canadian Sport School Hockey League Midget Prep division and tore the league apart, scoring 43 goals and 84 points in 36 games. That led the WHL to grant him exceptional player status earlier this month, meaning he’ll be able to play a full season in the league as a 15-year-old as opposed to only nine games.
He would have undoubtedly looked good in a Warriors uniform.
Thing is, as good as Bedard is, the kids behind him aren’t too shabby either – and two from the Saskatoon Contacts might have landed as the top pick themselves if not for his presence. Brayden Yager led the Contacts in scoring with 18 goals and 42 points in 44 games as a 14-year-old, while Riley Heidt scored 17 goals and 37 points to finish second in team scoring. While having players from the same province on the team would be good public relations, that doesn’t win championships, and that has Millar simply looking at the next name on the list no matter who it is.
“We’ll finalize our draft list with the due diligence we have on and off the ice,” Millar said. “In fact, Jason Ripplinger and James Gallo and myself are doing six calls tonight to talk to families about the draft and our organization. That’s the reality that we’re in, there are no home visits right now, so we’ll get them up on the big screen in my office and we’ll get to know the players and our families a little bit better.
“We’re a team that works real hard on our draft list and we’re going to take the next player up on our list. We’ll have then ranked accordingly and depending on what P.G. does, we’ll take the next guy on our list no matter where they’re from.”
After the first couple rounds, it’ll be business as usual as the team once again looks for the diamonds in the rough in the later rounds.
“One thing that we talked about after the lottery was the ball falling and not going our way was the end of what was a tough year,” Millar said. “No one is going to help us turn this thing around, especially a lottery ball, and the challenge this off-season is to build our team over the next couple of years and that’s what we’ll do… We have to be ready for different scenarios and we feel real comfortable and confident in terms of the young players we’re going to add.”
