Giants’ Byram ranks atop WHL for Class of 2019
There will be little Western Hockey League content at the top of this weekend’s NHL Entry Draft in Dallas, but things will be dramatically different a year from now.
The 2019 draft at Rogers Arena could be loaded with players from the 22-team major junior circuit. Early rankings for next year from the scouting website Future Considerations, for instance, has six of the top 12 picks coming from the WHL, led by Vancouver Giants defenceman Bowen Byram.
They have the 17-year-old Cranbrook native ranked fourth overall, after American centre Jack Hughes, American centre Alex Turcotte and Finnish right winger Kaapo Kakko.
Other players rated highly by Future Considerations include Edmonton Oil Kings defenceman Matthew Robertson at No. 5, Saskatoon Blades centre Kirby Dach at No. 7, Lethbridge Hurricanes centre Dylan Cozens (No. 8), Kootenay Ice winger Peyton Krebs (No. 10) and Kelowna Rockets winger Nolan Foote (No. 12).
By contrast, this year’s draft is expected to see just one WHLer selected in Friday ’s first round. Spokane Chiefs defenceman Ty Smith was slotted No. 10 in a mock draft released Thursday by Sportsnet’s Sam Cosentino.
“It’s cycles,” said Kelowna Rockets general manager Bruce Hamilton. “This year, our league doesn’t have that many guys who will go. Next year, there are quite a few, and, by all looks of it, there are going to be some high-end guys.”
Byram is a six-foot, 180-pound left-handed shot. He was among the ice-time leaders for the Giants this past season, which is rare for a 16-year-old defenceman. He was among the team’s four or five best players all season and was key to Vancouver making the playoffs for the first time in four springs.
He finished the regular season with 27 points, including six goals in 60 games, and then put up seven points — highlighted by three goals — in Vancouver’s seven-game firstround playoff loss to the Victoria Royals.
He was also part of the Team Canada entry that finished fifth at the under-18 world championship in Russia in April.
“I think he’s an exciting player,” Hamilton said of Byram, who was the third overall pick by the Giants in the 2016 WHL bantam draft. “The Giants fans are the lucky ones.”
Hamilton says that Byram has a “a riverboat gambler” style with the way he jumps into the rush, and admitted that Tyson Barrie’s game is probably a “fair comparison.”
Barrie, 26, is now a star player for the Colorado Avalanche. He played junior hockey for Hamilton with the Rockets. He had 43 points in his 16-year-old season and jumped to 72 points in his 18-year-old campaign.
“The biggest thing Tyson had to learn was how to defend. That takes time for guys of that skill set,” said Hamilton.
The Giants haven’t produced a first-round pick in the NHL Entry Draft since Evander Kane went fourth overall to the Atlanta Thrashers in 2009. That set a team record, surpassing Gilbert Brule’s being selected No. 6 by the Columbus Blue Jackets in 2005.
Vancouver centre Milos Roman, 18, is expected to be picked in either the second or third round of this weekend’s draft. He had 10 goals and 32 points in 39 regularseason games, and then added three goals and six points in seven playoff encounters.
Goaltender David Tendeck, 18, has also been getting buzz as a possible draft selection this year. He finished sixth in the WHL in goals against average (3.02) and fourth in save percentage (.912) during the regular season. He fashioned a 25-16-3-2 record.
Defencemen Dylan Plouffe, 19, and Alex Kannok Leipert, 17, are also candidates to go in the later rounds.
Vancouver hasn’t had more than two players taken in a single draft since Lance Bouma (third round, Calgary Flames), James Wright (fourth round, Tampa Bay Lightning) and Brent Regner (fifth round, Columbus Blue Jackets) all were chosen in 2008.