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Portland Winterhawks

The WHL Bantam Draft: a Crash Course

April 30, 2018 - Western Hockey League (WHL)
Portland Winterhawks News Release


On Thursday, May 3rd, the 2018 WHL Bantam Draft will be held in Red Deer, Alberta. The draft is where each team in the Western Hockey League selects the players that they hope will one day make up their rosters, and eventually, lead their franchise to a WHL Title. With that in mind, let's do a quick FAQ on what to expect at this year's draft.

Who's eligible?

The Bantam Draft takes place every May and includes players who've just completed their second season of "bantam" hockey. These players are just finishing the season where their "hockey age" is 14, meaning they'd be eligible to join the Winterhawks in two seasons. This means that at this year's draft, all players in their first year of eligibility will have been born in 2003.

The players eligible make up the territorial footprint of Western Canada and the Western United States. In Canada, all players from Manitoba westward are eligible, while in the United States the players from Minnesota to the Pacific Ocean are eligible. If you want to learn more about which territories players can hail from, you can find full territory details here.

What happens to the drafted players?

Each team in the Western Hockey League has what is called a "protected list", a list of 50 players that they have the rights to. Teams are required to have all their roster players on their protected list, so typically around 23-30 of the players on a team's protected list are roster players or players who've signed with the team. The final 20 or so spots are taken up by prospects.

The players selected at this year's Bantam Draft will fill the prospects portion of their team's WHL protected list. Teams will immediately begin speaking with the families of the players, and work with them on bringing the newly selected prospects to development camps, as well as the full training camp for the team. The Winterhawks' training camp comes at the tail end of August each season, and allows the Hawks to look at usually somewhere in the neighborhood of 80-90 players.

Wait, I thought each team had 50 players on their list, how do teams have more than that at their training camps?

Well, as you know, there are a ton of examples of very good hockey players who were not selected in their Bantam Draft year, but went on to have fantastic careers both in the WHL and the NHL. For example, recent Winterhawks graduate Keegan Iverson was not selected in his Bantam Draft year, along with current Columbus Blue Jackets prospect Paul Bittner, and countless other examples in the WHL like current NHL stars Jamie Benn, Shea Weber, and many more.

A team is allowed to protect 50 players on their list, but teams are always looking to see whether players have slipped through the cracks on Bantam Draft day for one reason or another. A good example of that would be current Winterhawk Ryan Hughes. Hughes came to Winterhawks training camp in the summer of 2015 having gone through his Bantam Draft. With his impressive performances, Hughes earned himself not only a spot on the protected list, but a spot on the full Hawks roster. So if a player doesn't get selected this Thursday, it doesn't mean that they can't still become a star in the WHL.

So if undrafted players become stars all the time, what's different about drafted players?

While it's true that there are countless examples of players who fly under the radar in their Bantam Draft and develop into superstars, there are many examples as well of elite players at age 14 still being elite when they're 19 or 20. So, the Bantam Draft ensures that the wealth of talent is spread as fairly as possible throughout the WHL. The WHL has a draft lottery, and the order is set in reverse order of the final standings.

The Hawks, with a strong 44-win season, will select 19th overall in the first round this season (barring trade, since teams are allowed to, and often do, trade their selections). This player likely won't have an immediate impact on the Winterhawks full roster as he won't be eligible for full-time play until the 2019-20 season, but typically a player selected in the higher reaches of the first round has a big impact on their organization.

Some examples of first round picks for the Hawks recently include the likes of Cody Glass (19th overall), Nic Petan (16th overall), Ty Rattie (2nd overall) and Derrick Pouliot (1st overall). Many times, the elite prospects for the WHL are identified at this young age, so it's always a nice thing to be able to select in round one to have an elite player at an age group to build around.

There are gems to be found throughout the Bantam Draft as well, with players from nearly every round having had major impact on the Winterhawks. The second round has produced talent like Keoni Texeira, while the third yielded former captain Dominic Turgeon. Later round picks like sixth rounder Brendan Leipsic, seventh rounder Ryan Johansen, or ninth rounder Chase De Leo have had huge impacts on the Winterhawks organization over the years.

How do I follow the draft on Thursday, May 3rd?

We'll have a full recap of our selections on draft day here at Winterhawks.com, as well as live tweeting out the Bantam Draft picks on our twitter page. The first chance to see many of these players in action in person will be at the annual Neely Cup at Winterhawks training camp this fall. We'll announce full details on that camp as we get into summer.

Below is a list of the Winterhawks draft picks for the 2018 Bantam Draft:

1st Round (19th overall)

3rd Round (57th overall - Victoria via Brandon)

3rd Round (63rd overall)

4th Round (70th overall - via Kootenay)

4th Round (74th overall - via Saskatoon)

4th Round (85th overall)

5th Round (107th overall)

5th Round (109th overall - via Swift Current)

6th Round (129th overall)

8th Round (173rd overall)

11th Round (239th overall)

12th Round (261st overall)

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The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

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