NEWS FILE PHOTO
The Medicine Hat Tigers have the 16th overall pick in the Western Hockey League's prospects draft on Thursday.
jtubb@medicinehatnews.com@ReporterTubb
For the first time in three years the Medicine Hat Tigers will be drafting outside the top 10 in the WHL draft.
The Tigers hold the 16th overall pick in Thursday’s WHL prospects draft after finishing the regular season 37-23-6-2, good for seventh overall in the league.
The last time they drafted at 16th was in 2022, when they selected forward Hayden Harsanyi after acquiring the pick in a trade the previous December sending Lukas Svejkovsky to the Seattle Thunderbirds.
Medicine Hat has only one player on their roster, forward Marcus Pacheco, who they did not draft. It’s a point of pride for head coach and general manager Willie Desjardins who likes building teams through draft development over a flurry of trades. He sees this draft as another opportunity to add to their core.
“The draft is a huge part of us, we believe in development, we believe in identifying players early and then trying to develop them, that’s probably one of the keys to our success,” Desjardins said. “The draft is huge, every year it’s always surprising, you never know which guys are going to come out of it as players. But it’s going to be another year where there’ll be some new players we find and it’ll be exciting to get them as part of our team.”
The Tigers enter the draft with a stacked forward core, with 12 returning and five signed 2008-born players who will look to crack the lineup at training camp this fall.
On the blue line, they have seven signed defencemen, two are rookies also looking to crack the roster, and in net they have three goalies, one being 17-year-old Jordan Switzer looking to make the full-time jump to the WHL.
Having that number of players ready at each position, especially the overflow of forwards, doesn’t have an impact on their draft strategy, Desjardins says.
“We always look at the best player, wherever it is, if it’s a goalie, forward or defenceman, you always look for the best player,” Desjardins said. “If it’s tied, you probably look at the position, like what position do we need guys in?
“But you always want the top guy because they’re so hard to find. It’s amazing what our scouting staff has been able to do because these are young guys. There’s lots and lots of things that come into factor when you pick them. So for our staff to pick the guys they have done in the past is great and we just need another really good year from them.”
Whomever they select at 16th, or their other picks to follow, won’t be eligible to play full time in the WHL until the 2025-26 season. That season will be an important one for the Tigers, with forward Gavin McKenna entering his NHL draft year where he is already the projected first overall pick and could make the jump to the ‘show’ the following season.
Desjardins says their approach to this year’s draft won’t be altered by when the players they select are eligible to play, they’ll carry the same approach they always do.
“There’s never any different side of that, that’s what you have to build on,” Desjardins said. “Those are the guys who are gonna make you successful down the road and they’re the guys who have to push guys each year. So it’s always an exciting time when you get out and see these young guys, it’s amazing how good they are. Like, it’s absolutely incredible how good these players are.”
Before the WHL prospects draft on Thursday, the Tigers hold the 16th and 38th pick in the WHL’s U.S. draft on Wednesday. They recently signed their ninth overall pick in the 2023 draft, Shaeffer Gordon-Carroll, who will be at development camp at the end of May and will look to make the roster this fall.
When asked if his signing helps them as a recruiting tool heading into the U.S. draft, Desjardins wasn’t sure but he says it can’t hurt their ability.
“It does say something that a high-end guy would commit to our program,” Desjardins said. “If I was another U.S. kid, I’d look at why did he decided to go that way. It’s not that he didn’t have opportunities in the USHL or wherever, so why would he decide? So maybe that’ll help, maybe guys will look at it. I don’t know, but I just know we’re excited to get him.”
