Hitmen try to predict future at Bantam draft
Guesswork part of the process as Calgary owns seventh overall pick on Thursday
These are not finished products.
The Calgary Hitmen scouting staff has invested countless hours on the road, countless hours at the rink, countless hours of research in prep for Thursday’s WHL Bantam Draft at Deerfoot Inn, but there is still some guesswork involved.
These are, after all, 14- and 15-year-old kids. The skates and shoulder pads they wear now won’t likely fit forever.
“You can’t necessarily predict that a player like Ryan Getzlaf is going to grow from five-foot-eight or five-foot-nine to six-foot-three,” acknowledged Hitmen general manager Mike Moore, using one the franchise greats as his example. “It’s hard to predict. You try to figure out parents’ sizes, whether a kid is shaving right now, a number of things that go into will he grow or won’t he grow?
“But to be honest, the way the game is being played right now, size isn’t as critical as you see at the NHL level, let alone our level.”
The Hitmen selected Getzlaf in the third round of the 2000 bantam draft. And he did grow.
Boy, did he ever.
Getzlaf would blossom into a standout for the Hitmen, then a Stanley Cup champion, Olympic gold medallist and one of the NHL’s marquee men.
“He wasn’t a real big guy and had a ways to go,” recalled Moore, who was GM of the Kamloops Blazers when the current Anaheim Ducks captain was available to the Hitmen at No. 54 overall. “And lo and behold, he becomes an NHL superstar.”
Thursday’s priority, of course, is to find youngsters that will make an impact at the major junior level.
The current crop consists of those born in 2002, kids who won’t be eligible to skate full time in the Dub until the 2018-19 campaign.
The Prince Albert Raiders start the proceedings at 8:30 a.m. with the first selection.
Moore will make his first announcement at seventh overall and the usual game plan applies: “Pick the best player available.” The Hitmen own a pick in each of 15 possible rounds with the exception of the fourth.
“You might hear that it’s not as good a draft as last year, but these are 14- and 15-year-old kids, so it’s our job to project forward what a player might become when he’s 16, 17, 18, 19 and how that best suits our organization,” Moore said. “I think there are some very, very good players in this draft. I think it’s a deep draft. I think it’s a projection draft where there are going to be a lot of players that, if you get it right, are going to be terrific players down the road.
“It’s what they’re going to be, not just what they are right now.”
To their credit, the Hitmen have done a heck of a job of reading the crystal ball.
Recent first-rounders Beck Malenstyn (2013) and Tristen Nielsen (2015) were both regulars at the Saddledome this past season. In 2014, they traded away their first-round holler, but plucked Mark Kastelic in the second. He, too, is a contributor in Calgary.
The Hitmen welcomed Jackson van de Leest at No. 16 overall last spring. The up-and-coming defenceman impressed in 10 contests as an underage call-up — including three playoff dates — and seems to have a bright future ahead.
“If you count the miles on the road and the flights and the hotel rooms and the long nights and the number of games, it’s significant what our scouting staff goes through. As the general manager of the team, I can’t thank them enough,” Moore said. “It’s feeding the future of the Calgary Hitmen and the Western Hockey League with this draft. It is exciting for all the time and effort put in. Everybody is extremely happy after the draft tomorrow that they got their guy and then you kind of project and watch over the next one, two, three, four years to see how things work out.” ICE CHIPS: Regina Pats sharpshooter Sam Steel was the toast of Wednesday’s WHL awards gala. The 19-year-old centre from Sherwood Park, Alta., was the winner of the Four Broncos Memorial Trophy as player of the year and also accepted the Bob Clarke Trophy as the regular-season scoring leader. Other honourees included Seattle Thunderbirds blue-liner Ethan Bird (defenceman of the year), Everett Silvertips stalwart Carter Hart (goaltender of the year), Swift Current Broncos teammates Aleksi Heponiemi (rookie of the year) and Tyler Steenbergen (most sportsmanlike), Lethbridge Hurricanes captain Tyler Wong (humanitarian of the year) and Silvertips centre Brian King (scholastic player of the year). Pats honcho John Paddock doubled up as coach and executive of the year.
You try to figure out parents’ sizes, whether a kid is shaving right now, a number of things.