T-Birds Select Andrej Kukuca and Simon Kubicek in CHL Import Draft
June 28, 2018 - Western Hockey League (WHL)
Seattle Thunderbirds News Release
KENT - The Seattle Thunderbirds selected two players in the annual CHL Import Draft Thursday.
The T-Birds selected forward Andrej Kukuca from Slovakia in the first round with the 29th overall selection.
Kukuca had 43 goals and 27 assists in 44 games for Trencin in the Slovakian U20 Junior League last season. In 18 playoff games last season he had 18 goals and 10 assists for 18 points.
Kukuca is 6'2, 165 pounds, a right hand shot and was born in November of 1999. Kukuca was ranked number 84 by NHL Central Scouting for International Skaters for the 2018 NHL Draft.
"Through his history he has always scored. He's had real good numbers and produced offense and that's what we were looking for," said Vice President of Hockey Operations, Russ Farwell. "We're hoping he can come in and get established early and fit with our group. We think an older guy that can give us some offense is an ideal fit with our team right now."
In the second round, with the 89th overall pick, the T-Birds selected defenseman Simon Kubicek from the Czech Republic.
Kubicek played 29 games last season with Ceske Budejovice in the Czech Republic U18 League and had nine goals and 10 assists for 19 points. He also represented his country playing six games at the U17 World Hockey Challenge and had three assists.
"Kubicek is a real talent. He played at the World Under 18 tournament and did well at that level. We were surprised he got to us in the second round so we were real happy with that," said Farwell.
Every CHL team is allowed a maximum of two non-North American players on their roster each season. These players must be drafted in the CHL Import Draft held each summer to be eligible to play.
Teams are permitted to select in the Import Draft if they have less than two import players on their current roster. Entering the draft, the T-Birds had no Import Players on the roster.
The two-round draft took place online with the order of selection rotating through each of the CHL's three leagues using an inverse order of final regular season standings within each league from the 2017-18 season.
The Seattle Thunderbirds start the 2018-19 Western Hockey League regular season against the Portland Winterhawks on Saturday, September 22, at 6:05pm at the accesso ShoWare Center.
Season Tickets for 2018-19 season are currently on sale. Season tickets can be purchased by calling the T-Birds office at 253-239-7825.
T-Birds single game tickets for the 2018-19 regular season will go on sale Wednesday, August 22, at 10am online on the T-Birds website and at the accesso ShoWare Center box office.
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