Helmets sit on the Medicine Hat Tigers' bench prior to their 2019-20 home opener against the Lethbridge Hurricanes at what is now Co-op Place. The Tigers had the first pick in Thursday's Western Hockey League Prospects Draft and used it on consensus No. 1 Gavin McKenna. - NEWS FILE PHOTO RYAN MCCRACKEN
rmccracken@medicinehatnews.com@MHNMcCracken
The worst-kept secret in the Western Hockey League was let out of the bag on Thursday morning.
After struggling through the worst season in franchise history, the Medicine Hat Tigers were rewarded with the first overall pick in the WHL’s Prospects Draft, and used it on consensus No.1 Gavin McKenna.
“It was a real big day for us,” said Tigers head coach and general manager Willie Desjardins, who signed McKenna to a standard player agreement just minutes after the opening pick was announced.
“It’s always an exciting day when you start to look to the future and what’s ahead. Gavin McKenna, for sure, is an elite prospect and you can’t help but be excited when you get somebody like that to sign with your team.”
McKenna – Medicine Hat’s first top draft selection since taking Ryan Hollweg in 1999 – joins the Tigers after racking up 23 goals and 42 assists over 35 games with Rink Hockey Academy’s U18 program in Kelowna. The 5-foot-10, 160-pound left winger was the only player eligible in the draft who competed at the U18 level this season, and he led the Canadian Sport School Hockey League in scoring.
“It’s awesome. It’s not every day you get to be selected first overall to such a great program,” McKenna said in an interview on the WHL’s draft livestream. “I’m a dynamic playmaker who likes to play with lots of speed, sees the ice very well and is very competitive and loves to win.”
Desjardins says the addition of a player like McKenna brings volumes to the team – not just from what he’ll personally bring to the ice, but the players his presence will attract.
“Good players attract more good players,” Desjardins told the News. “When you can get somebody like this to commit to your program – and you’ve got to have a good program or he wouldn’t commit – it’s exciting when he’s saying, ‘This is a place he wants to play. Medicine Hat is a great city, I want to be there in a great organization.’ That’s great, because you’ll have other guys saying that’s what they want to do as well.”
When the dust settled on the draft, the Tigers were left with a haul of four forwards, five defencemen and one goaltender – a class including two first-rounders and the top pick of the second round.
Medicine Hat’s second pick of the first round – a 16th overall selection obtained from the Seattle Thunderbirds in the trade for overage forward Lukas Svejkovsky – was spent on Northern Alberta Xtreme U15 prep forward Hayden Harsanyi.
The 5-foot-7, 140-pound Calgary product put up 31 goals and 36 assists in 25 games with NAX this season.
Round 2
The Tigers went back to Rink Hockey Academy to open the second round, using the 23rd overall pick on 6-foot-2, 178-pound centre Kadon McCann – a Cochrane product who recorded 22 goals and 23 assists over 30 games with RHA’s U15 prep squad this season.
“It’s a good group. You never get this lucky,” said Desjardins. “Lots of hard work goes into it and that’s why you get the players you get, and I think this year (the scouting staff) did a great job. I think our group is going to be as good as any in the draft. We always feel that, but two years down the road you’ll get the proof. We’re looking forward to seeing where we’re at with this group in two years.”
Round 3
Medicine Hat moved to the blue line in the third round, taking OHA Edmonton U15 prep defenceman Matt Paranych at 45th overall. The 5-foot-7, 141-pound Edmonton product managed 13 goals and 39 assists over 30 games with OHA this season.
Also in the third round, Medicine Hat’s Ryan Miller was selected at 66th overall by the Portland Winterhawks.
Round 4
The Tigers followed that up in the fourth round by taking fellow Hatter Hudson Gainer, a 5-foot-6, 140-pound South East Athletic Club defenceman, with the 77th overall pick. Gainer put up 14 goals and 16 assists in 34 games with SEAC this season.
“Paranych is a really good puck-moving D, then we get Gainer from Medicine Hat. It’s exciting to get a Medicine Hat kid,” said Desjardins. “It wasn’t just Gainer, Miller was another really good player who went to Portland. Medicine Hat had a strong group, and sometimes you don’t all get drafted out of that group, but Curtis Valk didn’t get drafted either, and he turned into a heck of a hockey player for us.”
Round 5
The Tabbies had a pair of picks in the fifth round, adding another defenceman in Jack Kachkowski, of the St. Albert Sabres, and a goaltender in NAX’s Jordan Switzer.
Kachkowski, a 5-foot-11, 155-pound blueliner from St. Albert, had 14 goals and 17 assists in 33 games with the Sabres this year.
Switzer, a 5-foot-11, 160-pound product of Edmonton, posted a 12-1-0 record with a 2.06 goals against average and a .917 save percentage over 14 games for NAX.
Round 6
The Tigers added another defenceman in the sixth round, taking Leduc Oil Kings blueliner Cohen Carter with the 114th overall pick. The 5-foot-11, 162-pound defenceman from Drayton Valley had five goals and seven assists in 29 games with Leduc this year.
Round 7
Medicine Hat wrapped up its day at the draft in the seventh round, taking RHA Winnipeg right winger Brody Green at 133rd overall and Minnesota Blades defenceman Kyle Heger at 135th.
Green, a 5-foot-11, 157-pound Winnipeg product, scored 19 goals with 29 assists in 30 games this season.
Heger, a 5-foot-10, 165-pound blueliner from Eagan, Minn., had seven goals and 29 assists in 51 games.
“Bobby Fox (director of player personnel) and his crew did an outstanding job,” Desjardins said of the draft results. “We’re really happy with this draft, and not just this one, we had the U.S. one the day before and I think we got two top prospects out of that one as well.”
