WHL Lethbridge Hurricanes

2009 WHL Bantam Draft Preview

Published on April 28, 2009 under Western Hockey League (WHL)
Lethbridge Hurricanes News Release


Lethbridge, AB - The 2009 WHL Bantam Draft kicks off this Thursday morning (April 30th, 2009) at 8:30 AM MT from the Sutton Place Hotel in Edmonton. The annual WHL Bantam Draft is the first step in the identification of the top rated 1994-born prospects as WHL Clubs select players from this age group to add to their WHL Player Protected List. The Portland Winter Hawks, by virtue of their winning the 2009 Draft Lottery hold the first overall selection in the 2009 Draft.

The WHL Bantam Draft lottery was held at the WHL Office in Calgary to determine the order of the first six selections in the first round of the 2009 WHL Bantam Draft and involved the six non-playoff teams (Chilliwack, Moose Jaw, Portland, Prince Albert, Red Deer and Regina) from the 2008-09 season. The Moose Jaw Warriors, based on their position in the overall 2008-09 WHL Regular Season standings, will receive the second pick in the first round. The Chilliwack Bruins will select third while the Red Deer Rebels will have the fourth pick overall leaving the Regina Pats and the Prince Albert Raiders to draft in the fifth and sixth positions respectively.

The order of the second round and all other rounds will be the inverse order of final 2008-09 regular season standings. The Lethbridge Hurricanes currently hold the 33rd pick of the 2009 WHL Bantam Draft. Despite dealing their first round draft pick to the Everett Silver Tips as a part of a trade for forward Kyle Beach, the Hurricanes currently hold several of their early round picks in the 11th position of the second, third and fourth rounds.

"I have always done a long term plan and a short term plan and the reality again is that a lot of these players we draft this year won't be ready for two or three years, so in those two or three years someone could get injured, a late bloomer could develop who you might want to add to your list, so you want to draft good people with good strengths" says Stasiuk who began his 20 year career in hockey as a scout and holds one of the highest success ratios for drafted players in the WHL "My mantra has always been good people will overachieve, I think I have a pretty good track record and success rate over the years with that and this year without that first round pick it's very unclear as to who might be available. But I do know that when we look at the numbers there are at least 150 good players and we are probably going to end up taking seven to nine of those."

In the 2008 WHL Bantam Draft, the Canes selected forward Phil Tot (Taw-T) with their first selection - 18th overall. The Canes ended 08-09 with 12 players in their lineup who were originally selected by Lethbridge in the WHL Bantam draft. This included Hurricanes Captain Ben Wright (2003 - 2nd Round), Los Angeles Kings draft pick Dwight King (2004 - 1st Round), two time WHL all star selection Zach Boychuk (2004 - 5th Round) and highly ranked NHL prospect Carter Ashton (2006 - 1st round). Lethbridge Hurricanes Assistant General Manager Brad Robson heads up the Hurricanes scouting staff alongside Stasiuk.

"We have a staff that attends about a 1000 to 1200 games a year. We make consistent and regular evaluations on players starting when they are fourteen years old and we wrap it all up with provincial camps that help us summarize in terms of where we see players fitting and really determining how they fit with our organization" says Stasiuk who continues his scouting and player evaluation as part of his role as GM "When I am out scouting what I guess I really enjoy is being out in a hockey environment and whenever I am in an arena I always think this might be the greatest office in the world. It's something I have been successful at my whole career and as far as the draft itself I have turned that over to Brad Robson, our assistant GM, in terms of making the selections. I am there to oversee and manage but it is exciting for me to see someone else with the same passion and with a very good ability in terms of scouting; to have that excitement and having that responsibility of really building an organization and a franchise."

The 20th Annual WHL Bantam Draft will be posted live on www.whl.ca. Click on the WHL Bantam Draft icon on the www.whl.ca homepage or on the top banner at lethbridgehurricanes.com for real time results.

Players eligible for the 2009 WHL Bantam Draft will be 1994-born players who reside in Alberta, B.C., Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Northwest Territories, Yukon, Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Kansas, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Washington and Wyoming.

Hurricanes 2008 WHL Bantam Draft Summary:

1st round (18th overall) - Phil Tot - C/LW - 6'1" 175 lbs.

Birth date: Sept.16/93 - Bantam Club: Calgary Bisons (AMBHL)

2nd round (28th overall - from Kamloops) - Reid Jackson - D - 6'1" 160 lbs.

Birth date: Jan.18/93 - Bantam Club: Weyburn Wings (SSBHL)

2nd round (40th overall) - Traded to Prince Albert

3rd round (62nd overall) - Drew Graham - D - 6'1" 175 lbs.

Birth date: Jan.8/93 - Bantam Club: Chilliwack Coyotes Bantam AAA (PCAHA)

4th round (84th overall) - Brandyn Hulit - D - 6'2" 175 lbs.

Birth date: June 4/93 - Bantam Club: Lethbridge Val Matteotti Golden Hawks (AMBHL)

5th round (106th overall) - Traded to Portland

6th round (111th overall - from Portland) - Jordan Baillie - RW - 5'9" 155 lbs.

Birth date: May 12/93 - Bantam Club: Ft. Saskatchewan Rangers (AMBHL)

6th round (128th overall) - Traded to Kootenay

7th round (150th overall) - Sam Lawson - C - 5'11" 135 lbs.

Birth date: Aug.31/93 - Bantam Club: Calgary Bisons (AMBHL)

8th round (172nd overall) - Traded to Tri City

9th round (183rd overall - from Chilliwack) - Shane Brolly - LW - 5'8" 150 lbs.

Birth date: Feb.24/93 - Bantam Club: Spruce Grove PAC Timberwolves (AMBHL)

9th round (192nd overall - from Medicine Hat) - Alex Wakaluk - G - 5'8" 136 lbs.

Birth date: Aug.20/93 - Bantam Club: Lethbridge Val Matteotti Golden Hawks (AMBHL)

9th round (194th overall) - Traded to Tri City

10th round (204th overall - from Kamloops) - Matthew Scarth - LW - 5'7" 130 lbs.

Birth date: Aug.28/93 - Bantam Club: Calgary Bisons (AMBHL)

10th round (216th overall) - Austin Yadlowski - D - 5'9" 140 lbs.

Birth date: Jul. 29/93 - Bantam Club: South Side Athletic Club (AMBHL)

11th round (218th overall - from Kamloops) - Adam Reid - C - 6'2" 160 lbs. Birth date: Jan.29/93 - Bantam Club: L.A. Selects Hockey Club

11th round (221st overall - from Portland) - Brock McDonald - C - 6'0" 180 lbs.

Birth date: Apr. 23/93 - Bantam Club: Royal Lepage Vernon Renegades

Draft by the numbers:

Number of WHL Bantam Draft picks in the Hurricanes 08-09 lineup: 15

Number of Hurricanes WHL Bantam Draft picks in the 08-09 lineup: 14

(Including two picks in the 2007 CHL Import Draft - Luca Sbisa & Juha Metsola)

Number of 1st round WHL Bantam Draft picks in the Hurricanes current lineup: 6 (Colton Sceviour - Portland, 2004 - 10th overall; Dwight King - Lethbridge, 2004 - 4th overall; Eric Mestery - Tri-City, 2005 - 7th overall; Kyle Beach - Everett, 2005 - 10th overall; Carter Ashton - Lethbridge, 2006 - 7th overall; Mark Reners - Lethbridge, 2007 - 18th overall)

Number of 08-09 Hurricanes players listed by the Lethbridge Hurricanes: 5 (Michael Tadjdeh, Max Ross, Garrett Taylor, Carter Bancks, Mitch Versteeg,)

Hurricanes WHL Bantam Draft picks in the 08-09 lineup:

Mark Reners Bantam Draft Pick 2007 (1st Round - 18th overall)

Brandon Anderson Bantam Draft Pick 2007 (3rd round - 50th overall)

Derek Ryckman Bantam Draft Pick 2007 (6th round - 119th overall)

Cody Castro Bantam Draft Pick 2007 (11th round - 229th overall)

Carter Ashton Bantam Draft 2006 (1st Round, 7th overall)

Austin Fyten Bantam Draft 2006 (2nd Round, 27th overall)

Cam Braes Bantam Draft 2006 (3rd Round, 48th overall)

Brennan Yadlowski Bantam Draft 2006 (5th Round, 97th overall)

Craig Orfino Bantam Draft 2005 (10th Round, 185th overall)

Dwight King Bantam Draft 2004 (1st Round, 4th overall)

Zach Boychuk Bantam Draft 2004 (5th Round, 88th overall)

Ben Wright Bantam Draft 2003 (2nd Round, 25th overall)

Juha Metsola 2007 CHL Import Draft (1st Round, 25th overall)

Luca Sbisa 2007 CHL Import Draft (2nd Round, 79th overall)

Previous number one selections during the WHL Bantam Draft include Quinton Howden, Moose Jaw Warriors (2007); Jared Cowen, Spokane Chiefs (2006); Colten Teubert, Regina Pats (2005); Gilbert Brule, Vancouver Giants (2002); Kyle Chipchura, Prince Albert Raiders (2001); Braydon Coburn, Portland Winter Hawks (2000); and Jay Bouwmeester, Medicine Hat Tigers (1998). Last year the Red Deer Rebels selected Ryan Nugent-Hopkins first overall in the 2008 WHL Bantam Draft.

Check out the Lethbridge Hurricanes Statistics

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