Friday, May 02, 2008

WHL Draft

The WHL held their Bantam Draft yesterday. Burnaby's Ryan Nugent-Hopkins was the first overall pick by Red Deer. Nugent-Hopkins had briefly considered the NCAA-route, but as it got closer to draft time, his stock really increased.

Los Angeles' Shane McColgan was the first American selected at 13th overall by Kelowna. It sounds like Kelowna was one of the teams McColgan was interested in playing for and he will sign with them.

The next American wasn't selected until 63rd overall, when Portland took Dallas' Cason Hohmann. Fellow Texan Colin Jacobs was taken in the 4th round, 67th overall by Seattle. Both players were projected as first round picks, so that represents a fairly significant drop, though both were selected by American teams, which would probably have a slightly better chance of signing them.

Idahoan Tanner Mort was selected 87th overall by Spokane. He was probably one of the few players in the draft already with junior experience. He played 14 games in the Northern Pacific Junior League with his older brother Tyler for the Couer D'Alene Lakers.

New Prague's Seth Ambroz was the only Minnesotan selected at 146 by Seattle. And defenseman Dillon Simpson, son of former NHLer Craig Simpson, fell to 164th because of his family's history with the NCAA.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Looks like Brandon Saad is going the OHL route.

From the Saginaw Spirit Website:
Saginaw’s first round pick this year was winger Brandon Saad (’92), selected 10th overall. The 1992-born Gibsonia, Pennsylvania native spent last season with the US Major Midget Pittsburgh Hornets. Saad tallied 43 goals and 51 assists in 76 games for the 2008 State Champion Hornets.

“It is a great honor to be selected in the first round and I am excited to be playing for Saginaw sometime in the near future,” stated Saginaw first round pick Brandon Saad, “Hopefully all goes well in the coming year and we’ll have a strong team.”

rct2009 said...

hey i wasnt sure if anyone knew but what are the boundries for which leagues can pick from which american states (like i assume California kids can only play in the WHL and not the OHL)
but like is New york OHL territory or QMJHL?

Anonymous said...

New York kids would be drafted into the OHL. However, if they were never scouted/drafted, then they would be free agents and pick whatever league they want to play in (WHL, OHL, QMJHL) if they choose the CHL route. This is what happened to to TJ Brennan, who now plays in the QMJHL.

Anonymous said...

Of the main hockey states and territory

Massachusetts-QMJHL
New York-QMJHL
Michigan-OHL
Illinois-OHL
Wisconsin-OHL
Minnesota-WHL
Alaska-WHL

Anonymous said...

I got that wrong

New York would be OHL.

Anonymous said...

can new york be whl?