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Okanagan Hockey Academy defenceman Riley Steen was one of 10 players drafted by the Medicine Hat Tigers in the WHL's prospect draft last Thursday.
jtubb@medicinehatnews.com@ReporterTubb
The Medicine Hat Tigers continued to strengthen and add to their prospect pool with Thursday’s WHL prospects draft.
They added 10 players born in 2008 – six forwards and four defencemen – to a future wave of talent headlined by 2022 first-rounders Gavin McKenna and Hayden Harsanyi (2007). Their 2023 prospects draft was led by twin forwards Liam and Markus Ruck, selected ninth and 21st overall from Osoyoos, B.C.
The Tigers, like all WHL clubs, were ecstatic with their draft and the players they picked on the day. The News spoke with WHL scout Joel Henderson, director of scouting for Puck Preps and a WHL scout with Future Considerations Hockey about his thoughts on the Tigers selections and how they fit the orange and black.
He says the Ruck twins, who both suited up for the Okanagan Hockey Academy’s U15 prep team this season, only further build Medicine Hat’s forward core and add more skill to the bunch.
“You go back to 2021 and they got Tomas Mrsic and Cayden Lindstrom, two big parts of their future moving forward, you’ve got a versatile centre-winger in Mercer, you’ve got a big centreman in Lindstrom and you build from there,” Henderson said. “The next year they get Gavin McKenna, Hayden Harsanyi Kadon McCann, that’s another big swath of different forwards. You’ve got a net-front presence with Kadon McCann, speed and size, you’ve got speed up the wings with Harsanyi and you’ve got Gavin McKenna. So with this draft going and getting the Rucks, they are a one-two punch you can put a number of those players with and it works.
“If you decide down the line when they’re older – maybe 17 – you’re putting the Rucks with Gavin McKenna, that’ll work. The combination of the way that they move puck that’ll work, if you put the Rucks with Tomas Mrsic that’ll work. If you put them with Harsanyi, that’ll work. The lines all look different but it works because it’s just such strong possession and it’s really great puck movement.”
Henderson added the Ruck twins and their skill help the Tigers up front as much as their other forward selections of Brayden Ryan-MacKay, Avery Watson, Liam Chartrand and Sutton Verot, all who Henderson says add talent to the pool.
“Looking at them adding, it’s just skill, they’re adding more skill, skill, skill, skill,” Henderson said. ‘Then you put Brayden Ryan McKay in that mix and even looking down the line at Watson and Liam Chartrand, it’s intelligence, it’s puck movement, it’s skill. So I think what they’re going to do is just build with skill and then probably fill out a player here or there via trade that kind of makes sense for the mix of their groups.
“I like what they did, they just continue to add skill.”
He sees their back-end draft selections of defencemen Koray Bozkaya, Riley Steen, Tafari Chingwaru and Matyas Fischer as players who give them options defensively. Henderson says Steen (5-foot-11), who played with the Rucks at the Okanagan Hockey Academy, could end up playing alongside and finding success with the 6-foot-2 Bozkaya.
“I’m not too sure why Riley dropped, it’s just probably to do with size and going through his stride on the one hand, but if the Rucks are going there’s probably a high chance that Riley will come too, so that’s a really good player,” Henderson said. “I had Steen in my second round because he thinks the game so highly. You’re going to have to put him maybe with a bit more of a bigger physical guy that can take a bit more of the defensive responsibilities and you know what, that’s Koray Bozkaya. So right there, the two of them as a potential defense partnership is really good too.”
All of the players selected in the 2023 prospects draft are eligible to make their WHL debuts this upcoming season but are limited to five games until their club team’s season comes to a close or they are recalled on emergency basis. Which means it will be at least a full season before the Rucks, Ryan-MacKay or any of the Tigers other draft picks can make an extended impact on the team’s success.
But once this group is eligible to crack the lineup and is added to the previous draft classes of talent, Henderson says it will be an exciting time and an even more exciting watch for the Tigers’ faithful.
“This is not a team that’s going to play boring, shut-down hockey, this is a run-and-gun high offence, high intellect, possession, smart team that they’re building,” Henderson said. “Regardless of how you shake it down, if I was in Medicine Hat, I’d be going to these games to watch. Sometimes from a perspective of a fan or perspective of someone who’s building a team, that’s maybe the most important thing is that when you’re when you’re going to go and watch the Rucks, watch Brayden Ryan-MacKay or Riley if they make these teams and even the guys down the line, what you’re going to get is great, fun hockey.”
