Paddock optimistic about Pats’ draft haul

Regina head coach and GM orchestrates a deal to move up, another to gain picks

The Regina Pats took the good with the bad in Thursday’s WHL bantam draft.

Although head coach/GM John Paddock and his scouts had a lot fewer selections than they would have preferred, each member of the Pats’ staff also understands that there’s a bigger picture to consider.

As the host team for the 2018 Memorial Cup, the Pats were obligated to make some longer-term sacrifices in order to put together a championship-calibre team.

Those sacrifices were felt Thursday.

“(The scouts) know the situation,” said Paddock. “For me, it’s not the best feeling sitting there without picks but the payoff (for the entire organization) is what is going to happen in two weeks’ time. The payoff for me is going on the ice for practice tomorrow. That’s the reason (all this has happened). It’s going to be fun because we have a really good team that has a chance to win.”

Heading into the draft, Regina wasn’t scheduled to make a pick until the sixth round. Paddock did some manoeuvring to improve that slot when he acquired a fourth-round pick from the Victoria Royals for an eighth-rounder this year and a fourth-rounder next year.

Regina used that selection on forward Jake Snashall of Calgary.

Paddock also swung a deal with the Calgary Hitmen, sending them a seventh-round pick in 2020 for selections this year in the eighth, ninth and 10th rounds.

“We were able to move up and get a player that we had in our top 30 or top 35,” said Paddock. “That was good. The deal with Calgary to get extra picks, our scouts have proven they’ve gotten players out of those late-round picks. It was (important) to give them some enthusiasm. We have a certain level of trust and confidence (in them). It gives me some hope that we’re going to find a player or two there.”

Paddock swung one more draftday deal, acquiring 17-year-old forward Justyn Gurney from the Hitmen for a sixth-round pick in 2020. The six-foot-two, 195-pounder had one goal and three assists in 54 WHL games last season.

Gurney was a sixth-round pick in the 2015 draft. He won a B.C. midget championship in 2016 with the Valley West Hawks, notching 22 goals and 39 points in 40 games.

“He’s a big guy that Rob Gallamore, our scout in Vancouver, had good reports on when he was a bantam draft (pick) and liked him,” said Paddock. “I talked to him today for a couple minutes. He’s a big guy, so that’s good. There’s enough good in him to think he can help us. Maybe a change of scenery brings up his level of play.”

The Pats selected two Americanborn players in the 10th round: Defenceman Jake Johnson of Phoenix and forward Easton Armstrong of the Los Angeles. Armstrong’s father Derek played in the NHL while seventh-round pick Colby Wotton is the son of Mark Wotton, another former pro player.

“(Mark) was a high-character guy, captain in the American League,” said Paddock, a former AHL coach. “He’s from Manitoba. I know him from years ago. Easton Armstrong ’s dad played for me in Hartford when we won the Calder Cup and he went on to play seven or eight years in the NHL. There’s a little bit of projection and hope (with those bloodlines), but those kind of things are good. They’ve grown up in sports, they’ve grown up in hockey. They understand the discipline involved.”

Overall, Paddock feels like there’s some potential in the team’s nine selections: Five forwards and four defencemen.

“We got some guys that there’s projection that they’re going to grow based on their parents,” he added. “There’s a little bit of size (in the group). Everybody ’s skating is at least average to better. We’ll know a lot more in about three years from now, but we feel like we got two or three (quality) players.”

NOTE: The first player taken from Saskatchewan was D Nolan Allan of Davidson, who went third overall to the Prince Albert Raiders. He was followed by Regina F Cole Sillinger — the son of Pats’ great Mike Sillinger — who went 11th overall to the Medicine Hat Tigers.

The payoff for me is going on the ice for practice tomorrow. That’s the reason (all this has happened).