Local product Fischer O’Brien on WHL radar screens

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One of the most likely to go first overall is Winnipeg defenceman Carson Lambos, who had 15 goals and 40 points in 30 regularseason games for Rink Hockey Academy and also had 11 points in five playoff games.

Other blue-chippers in the mix for the early choices include forward Logan Stankoven of Kamloops, who had 57 goals and 90 points in 30 games for Yale Hockey Academy bantam prep and Zach Stringer of Lethbridge, who played up an age group on the Lethbridge midget team which advanced to the Telus Cup national midget championship. Stringer had 17 goals and 30 points in 23 games and ripped it up in the playoffs with 11 goals and 16 points in 10 games and was picked as the top forward at the Telus Cup.

Simmonds said forward Fischer O’Brien of Prince George, the brother of graduated Cougar centre Brogan O’Brien, stands a good chance of getting drafted on Thursday. He was one of the standouts at the BC Cup bantam spring tournament in Salmon Arm and is coming off a successful season for the Farr Fabricating Cougars, finalists in the Tier 1 bantam provincial championship.

The Cougars have two first-round picks, including the ninth overall selection, acquired in the January deal which sent winger Kody McDonald to the Prince Albert Raiders. They also own the 21st pick, part of what they got when they sent Josh Anderson to the Swift Current Broncos at the deadline.

The Cougars’ own first-rounder in 2018 (third overall) was traded to Prince Albert in a November 2016 deal to get defenceman Brendan Guhle.

The Cougars (24-38-5-5, 58 points) actually finished with the second-worst record in the WHL but were knocked out of the second-overall position for the draft when the Kootenay Ice won the draft lottery, which moved the Ice up two positions from fourth to second. The Edmonton Oil Kings will draft first overall, followed by Kootenay, Prince Albert, Calgary, Kamloops and the other non-playoff team, Saskatoon. After the first round, teams pick in the reverse order of finish in the overall standings.

“For us at No. 9 there’s some very ap- pealing options and I’m not worried,” said Simmonds. “In some years at nine you’re already starting to look at the second tier of players but we’re going to get a very good player, there’s no doubt about it.

“We’re very excited about the draft coming up. Through Todd’s management of our assets and players, the cupboard is well-stocked. If we do our jobs properly and make the right picks the future is bright indeed.”

Prince George traded its second-round pick (24th overall) to Moose Jaw in the Nikita Popugaev deal last year but has two second-round choices acquired through trades. The Dennis Cholowski deal brought Portland’s 38th overall pick to the Cougars and when they sent forward Brad Morrison to the Vancouver Giants that brought the Giants’ second-rounder (34th overall).

The Cougars traded their third-round pick (46th overall) to Vancouver in January 2017 when they acquired winger Radovan Bondra. But they have Lethbridge’s third-rounder (51st overall) as a result of trading defenceman Tate Olson to the Hurricanes and also picked up Regina’s (60th overall) in the Jesse Gabrielle/Jonas Harkins deal.

The Cougars sent their fourth-round pick in 2018 to Prince Albert in the McDonald trade but have two fifth-round picks – their own (68th overall) and Regina’s (82nd overall), from the Gabrielle trade. The Cats traded their seventh-rounder to Medicine Hat for defenceman Cameron MacPhee and sent their eighth-round pick to Spokane last season to get Tanner Wishnowski.

“Going into the draft we have eight positions in our 50-player depth chart and if we only go eight picks we’ll be finished at the end of the fifth round,” said Simmonds, who oversees a scouting staff of 10. “If we continue we’ll have to look at creating another list spot which would require us to drop a player.”

The draft starts at 7:30 a.m. PT and will be updated live on the WHL website at whl. ca. Cougars president/owner John Pateman and minority owner Eric Brewer will join the scouting staff in Red Deer to attend the draft.