Wheat Kings Find Gems Throughout Europe in Import Draft History
July 4, 2024 - Western Hockey League (WHL)
Brandon Wheat Kings News Release
Since 1993 when they selected Ladislav Kohn, the very first time they made a pick in the CHL Import Draft, the Brandon Wheat Kings have selected 42 players from 11 different countries throughout Europe. Many of those players have helped the Wheat Kings to championships, gone on to long NHL careers, or both.
Yesterday, the Wheat Kings hope they continued a long run of success at the import draft with the selection of Adam Belusko, a defenseman from Slovakia who has represented the country internationally on multiple occasions. Belusko was the third player from Slovakia the Wheat Kings have selected via the import draft.
Slovakia is one of several countries the Wheat Kings have returned to multiple times over the 31 years of the draft, but it's not the most frequent point of origin for players. So where have the Wheat Kings looked most often for European talent? And which players have they found there?
CZECHIA: 11
Whether it has been referred to as Czechia or the Czech Republic, this has been the nation the Wheat Kings have returned to the most often in the import draft, and for good reason. Goaltender Jiri Patera, drafted in 2018, made his NHL debut just last season with the Vegas Golden Knights. Patera is the most recent example of a success story, but far from the only one.
Other notable Czechs to play for the Wheat Kings include Richard Nejezchleb, who posted 83 points over 103 games in Brandon, towering winger Jiri Jakes who played 120 games over two seasons, and Jan Fadrny, whose 51 points in 55 games in 1999-2000 represented his best total with the club.
Next season's iteration of the Wheat Kings will see another Czech-born player as Dominik Petr will return as a 19-year-old. After navigating his first season in North America, Petr finished with 17 goals and 45 points, and earned an invite to development camp with the Toronto Maple Leafs.
RUSSIA: 9
The second most frequent stop on the Wheat Kings' European tour yielded one of the best players in franchise history, import or otherwise. Ivan Provorov was the team's choice, 30th overall, in 2014, and rarely has a 30th overall pick in any draft worked out so well. Provorov led the Wheat Kings to a championship in 2016, was named the top defenseman in the WHL that same year, and graduated the very next year to the NHL, where he has since played over 600 games.
Russian defensemen were good to the Wheat Kings before Provorov as well. Though his stop in Brandon was brief (seven games played in 1994-95) Oleg Tverdovsky is counted as one of the team's most successful alumni, having played over 700 NHL games and won a Stanley Cup.
The last time the Wheat Kings selected a Russian was when they chose Andrei Maliavin in 2022. He would end up playing two full seasons on the blueline in Brandon after coming over from the Sarnia Sting of the OHL.
SWEDEN: 5
It's been some time since a player selected from Sweden joined the Wheat Kings (though the team most recently took a flyer on Vegas Golden Knights' first rounder Erik Brannstrom in 2018). Whoever the next player from there is will have big skates to fill, literally and figuratively, as the last Wheat King from Sweden was defenseman Alexander Urbom.
Urbom played only one season in Brandon, but he made the most of it as a towering two-way force on the Wheat Kings blueline all season long and into the Memorial Cup. The very next season, Urbom made his NHL debut with the New Jersey Devils.
Prior to Urbom, the Wheat Kings got a season's worth of service from forward John Wikner, selected in 2005. He posted 22 points in 60 games in the 2005-06 season.
FINLAND: 3
Before the Memorial Cup year in 2009-10, the Wheat Kings selected another player who had just one memorable season in Brandon: forward Toni Rajala. An electric player during his Wheat Kings tenure, Rajala posted a combined 70 points in 75 playoff and regular season games, but it's his Memorial Cup contributions Wheat Kings fans will remember best. His two-goal outing against the Moncton Wildcats secured the Wheat Kings' spot in the elimination round.
The first ever Finnish selection for the Wheat Kings was forward Sami Sandell, who played two full seasons in Brandon and helped the Wheat Kings reach the WHL final in 2005. He skated in 110 regular season games in Brandon colours.
Selected in 2019, Marcus Kallionkieli had a two-year career with the Wheat Kings cut short by injuries and COVID-19, but ended it strong with six points in four playoff games in 2022.
AUSTRIA: 3
In 2015, with the final pick of the import draft, the Wheat Kings brought in forward Dario Winkler from Austria. Winkler's time in Brandon was short, however, as he was traded to the Everett Silvertips in just two games.
The team swung for the fences in 2001, trying to bring in forward Thomas Vanek who, at that point, was still two years away from being a first-round pick by the Buffalo Sabres. Vanek would stick to the USHL and never played in Brandon.
That's not to say an Austrian has never worked out for the Wheat Kings, however. 1995's selection, defenseman Gerhard Unterluggauer, suited up for the Black and Gold in 1995-96 and 1996-97. In the latter season, he was a point-producing force on the back end with 57 points in 59 games.
SWITZERLAND: 3
The few trips to Switzerland for the Wheat Kings have been productive. During a season and a half in Brandon, forward Alessio Bertagia was a regular offensive contributor with 84 points in 94 games, over the span of which he represented Switzerland twice at the World Juniors.
Before him, the Wheat Kings had some good luck with Swiss/Slovakian forward Juraj Simek. In his lone season in Brandon (though not his lone in Manitoba; he would go on to play for the AHL's Moose) Simek posted 57 points in 58 games and represented Switzerland at the 2007 World Juniors.
SLOVAKIA: 3
Belusko, the team's most recent choice, has a chance to carve out a place in history as far as Slovakian imports are concerned. Not only does he have the physical tools and hockey sense to make an impact, he's arriving to Brandon at a time when the Wheat Kings expect to take a huge leap forward. Their hope is he'll be a part of that leap.
Prior to selecting Belusko, the most recent Wheat King to be chosen from Slovakia was Bruno Mraz, who played 63 games in Brandon during the 2011-12 season. Richard Jasovsky was the team's first ever choice from Slovakia in 2002, and would play in 93 games in Wheat King colours before ending his WHL career with the Kamloops Blazers.
BELARUS: 2
The first Belarussian selection for the Wheat Kings came in 2008 when the team selected Kirill Gotovets. In the end, Gotovets decided to go the college route and did not suit up in any games for Brandon (though he would play hockey in Manitoba much later as a member of the AHL's Manitoba Moose).
Most recently, the Wheat Kings picked up forward Zakhar Polshakov, who donned the Black and Gold for two full seasons and posted 50 points in 118 games.
LATVIA: 1
The first and so far only Latvian selected by the Wheat Kings in their history turned out to be a shrewd choice. Rihards Bukarts played two full seasons and part of a third with Brandon, and was prolific throughout his Wheat Kings career with 137 points in 137 games played. His best work came in 2014-15, when he posted 74 points in 62 games and followed that up with 18 points in 16 playoff games.
DENMARK: 1
The only Danish selection in Wheat Kings' history came in the 2010 import draft when they took forward Mark Mieritz. Mieritz's time in Brandon was short lived as he played just 31 games for the Wheat Kings in 2010-11 before returning to Europe. He finished out his playing career in his native Denmark in 2016.
NORWAY: 1
It's fair to call the Wheat Kings' lone Norwegian selection a home-run. Not only did Ole-Kristian Tollefsen play two full seasons in Brandon and skate in 28 playoff games on top of that, he would go on to play 163 games in the NHL and represent Norway multiple times at the Olympic Games. Arriving in Brandon in the 2002-03 season, OKT was effective with the puck, posting 20 points in his first 43 games, but that told so little of the story of the menacing defenseman that brought a punishing physical game to both the Wheat Kings and the pros.
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