Winterhawks Select McKinnon and Godbout in 2025 WHL U.S. Priority Draft
Published on May 8, 2025 under Western Hockey League (WHL)
Portland Winterhawks News Release
Portland, Ore. - The Portland Winterhawks are proud to announce the selections of Maverick McKinnon and Gavin Godbout during Thursday morning's 2025 WHL U.S. Priority Draft.
Players eligible for the 2025 WHL U.S. Priority Draft were 2010-born players who reside in Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Kansas, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming.
The Winterhawks selected McKinnon with the 18th overall pick in the draft.
A 5-foot-9, 161-pound forward, McKinnon played his 2024-25 season with Forest Lake High School in Minnesota. As an eighth grader, he led his varsity team in scoring with 50 points (22G, 28A) in 26 games.
During last week's World Selects Invitational in Philadelphia, he finished the tournament with 19 points in nine games.
Greg Sampson, Assistant to the General Manager and Director of U.S. Scouting, said, "Maverick is a pretty special talent who we certainly didn't anticipate being available to select at 18th overall. He's going to be an absolute star in Portland. I think the things that get us the most excited are his patience and poise with the puck. He's a great puck handler, has an elite shot, can set the table for teammates, and is just an all-around offensive weapon."
He also led the Minnesota High Performance 14U league with 26 goals and 22 assists in 20 games.
Then, at 30th overall, Portland went back to the Land of 10,000 Lakes to select Woodbury, Minnesota native Godbout.
Standing 5-foot-10, 141-pounds, Godbout played junior varsity for Hill Murray High School.
"Godbout has an incredibly high ceiling," Sampson said. "He's very much our mold of defenseman in the fact that he's evasive. He's got a lot of skill on the puck, sees the ice really well, and can carry the puck with ease. I think he's just scratching the surface with the type of defenseman he can become."
In 21 games in the Minnesota High Performance 14U, Godbout registered 13 goals and eight assists.
The Winterhawks will continue to add to their prospect group during the 2025 WHL Prospects Draft, which takes place Thursday afternoon.
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