Hitmen hold fourth overall pick in WHL Draft
The Calgary Hitmen are looking forward to Thursday.
That’s because the Hitmen own the No. 4 pick in the 2018 Western Hockey League Draft, which goes Thursday in Red Deer.
Whether the Eastern Conference club will use that selection to choose a forward remains to be seen.
The Hitmen finished third last in the overall standings after the 2018 regular season but dropped one spot in the draft order to fourth after the draft lottery in March.
“Having five of the first 47 picks and eight in the first 71 selections sets us up really well in this draft,” said Hitmen director of player personnel Dallas Thompson. “It’s a very deep draft in the early rounds, and we’re excited at the opportunity to add these WHL prospects to our team and watch their development.”
The WHL Bantam Draft Lottery involved the seven non-playoff teams — the Edmonton Oil Kings, the Prince George Cougars (traded to the Prince Albert Raiders), the Hitmen, the Kootenay Ice, the Kamloops Blazers and the Saskatoon Blades — from the 2017-18 season. The winning team, the Ice, was only allowed to move up a maximum of two positions in the first round of the WHL Bantam Draft.
That meant the Hitmen dropped back one position to No. 4 in the order.
The Oil Kings own the top overall pick, while the Raiders, via the Cougars, hold the third overall selection.
For Thursday’s draft, the Hitmen retain the third selection through the remaining rounds beyond Round 1.
Meanwhile, the WHL Awards were handed out Wednesday in Red Deer.
Swift Current Broncos head coach Manny Viveiros picked up the Dunc McCallum Memorial Trophy as WHL coach of the year.
Everett GM Garry Davidson won the Lloyd Saunders Memorial Trophy as WHL executive of the year, beating out Alan Millar of the league-leading Moose Jaw Warriors.
The big winner on the players’ side was Everett’s Carter Hart, who received the Four Broncos Memorial Trophy as WHL player of the year, as well as the Del Wilson Memorial Trophy as goaltender of the year.
Broncos forward Aleksi Heponiemi won the Brad Horning Trophy as most sportsmanlike player, beating out Cody Glass of the Portland Winterhawks.
Meanwhile, Ty Ronning of the Vancouver Giants received the Doug Wickenheiser Memorial Trophy as humanitarian of the year over Matt Bradley of the Regina Pats.
The other winners were: Dylan Cozens of the Hurricanes (Jim Piggott Memorial Trophy as rookie of the year), Kale Clague of the Warriors (Bill Hunter Memorial Trophy as defenceman of the year) and Ty Smith of the Spokane Chiefs (Doc Seaman Memorial Trophy as top scholastic player).
The Oil Kings received the business award, while the Blades were named the scholastic team on the year. Referee Brett Iverson received the Allen Paradice Memorial Trophy as the top official.