The Medicine Tigers selected centre Tomas Mrsic with the eighth pick in Thursday's WHL Prospects Draft. - SUBMITTED PHOTO WESTERN HOCKEY LEAGUE
jtubb@medicinehatnews.com@ReporterTubb
The Medicine Hat Tigers are happy with their 2021 WHL Prospects Draft on Thursday.
So much so that when Tigers director of player personnel Booby Fox was asked who his favourite pick was, he could not answer.
“That’s like asking a parent if they have a favourite kid, that’s not the case,” Fox said. “We have seven quality people and I think that’s really important. We also got seven excellent hockey players that are going to help us in the future.”
The 2021 draft was pushed until Thursday to allow players to get games in and for scouts to evaluate talent after COVID-19 shutdowns plagued the 2020 hockey season.
Medicine Hat took seven players over six rounds of the day-long draft. The Tabbies’ day started with selecting centre Tomas Mrsic with the eighth overall pick.
The Surrey, B.C. product plays for the Delta Hockey Academy U17 Prep and this season, the 5-foot-10 forward has 27 goals and 58 points in just 16 games.
Fox said after the draft in an interview with the News, that Mrsic is a dynamic, offensive forward. He says the 150-pound centre can really shoot the puck and has high potential.
“I think when you pick a guy eighth overall, you want him to be a guy that a power play runs through, to be a leader, be a guy that give you a chance to win on a nightly basis and score some goals and create some offence,” Fox said. “I definitely see him as a first-line guy in the future and he has a ton of potential, I can’t wait to see how he develops.”
The Tigers followed up picking Mrsic with another offensive stalwart in Diego Buttazzoni, elected in the second round with the 37th pick. The Langley, B.C. product has put up seven goals and 21 points in 11 games so far this season. Fox said he told Tigers head coach and general manager Willie Desjardins, “this is a player you’re going to love.”
“He is an offensive weapon as well,” said Fox. “Despite his offensive ability, and it is high level, I love his competitiveness. I love how he’ll get his nose dirty, I love how he’ll be in puck battles and most of the time he’ll come out with the puck, he’ll drive defence man crazy.
“We will rely on Diego big-time on a power play or when we need a goal, that is the type of guy we will want on the ice.”
Medicine Hat had a quick turnaround in the second as two picks later, the Tabbies drafted goaltender Ethan McCallum 39th overall from the Notre Dame U16 Hounds. In 11 games this season, the Brandon product has a 2-7-1 record with a 3.26 goals against average and a .927 save percentage. McCallum was also named a tournament all-star at the recent WHL Cup with Team Manitoba.
Fox said they wanted one of the top available goalies and once one went ahead of their pick, they didn’t want to wait.
“Ethan is a big body, he was the top goalie of the WHL Cup, he’s going to be a fantastic guy for us,” said Fox.
The Tigers made four more picks in the next three rounds to finish off their draft.
They traded their sixth-round pick to the Lethbridge Hurricanes in exchange for a sixth-round pick in 2022 and moved their seventh-round slot to the Seattle Thunderbirds for a seventh in the 2022 draft that was previously Victoria’s.
Fox said the Tabbies were happy with where they were at after the fifth round and cited it as part of the reason they didn’t make another pick.
“There’s a little bit of list management you have to do, considering there is a draft in May as well so there was a couple things that came into play,” Fox said.
He said he will take a few days off before getting prepared for the 2022 draft in May, adding he was happy with his staff’s work up to and on draft day.
“I was really happy with the dedication and hard work that the staff put into this,” Fox said. “It was a condensed, hard, trying year to try and see everyone and they were tireless and relentless with it and I am very grateful for it.”
Hat represented at draft
Two Medicine Hat products heard their names called Thursday. The Everett Silvertips took Lethbridge AAA Hurricanes goalie Beck Boiteau with the 163rd pick.
Forward Josh Evaschesen was taken in the ninth round by the Lethbridge Hurricanes with the 184th pick.
Both are SEAC Tigers alumni.
