Just like Leicester City and Donald Trump. It couldn鈥檛 happen, right?
But it did.
As a result of their wholly unexpected run to the Western Hockey League regular-season championship, the Victoria Royals will select 22nd and last today in the 2016 WHL bantam draft in Calgary.
鈥淲e鈥檙e 22nd for now,鈥� said Royals GM Cam Hope. 鈥淭here are opportunities to move up or down.鈥�
The Royals have the official 22nd pick, but will actually draft 21st because Portland has forfeited its first-round selection as part of a league sanction. Does that move the Royals closer to nabbing defenceman Jacson Alexander from Shawnigan Lake School Hockey Academy, projected by some for the middle of the first round, but for later by others? Would they move up for any player?
With defenceman Joe Hicketts set to turn pro, Alexander could eventually be the replacement. And think of the possibilities of marketing a home-Island star who was raised in Esquimalt.
鈥淸Alexander] is going to be a great player,鈥� acknowledged Hope.
But that鈥檚 all he would say about the Royals鈥� plans for today.
As in poker, you can鈥檛 show your hand. If the Royals let on they are ravenously hungry to move up, other teams will sense they can extract far more in a trade with Victoria.
There sometimes comes a moment in team history to move up in a draft, noted Victoria coach Dave Lowry, 鈥渂ut you also have to be cautious not to leave yourself exposed with no picks in the second or third rounds.鈥�
And you can only go so far in pursuing a player at age 15. This process can be a real crapshoot. The list of players overlooked in the WHL bantam draft is legendary. It includes Victoria鈥檚 Jamie Benn and the likes of Jarome Iginla, Dan Hamhuis, Shane Doan and Shea Weber.
鈥淵ou can鈥檛 draft for need in the WHL because you don鈥檛 know what your needs are going to be three years down the road when this year鈥檚 drafted bantams become impact juniors at 18 to 19,鈥� said Hope.
鈥淪o you draft for projected ability, regardless of size or position.鈥�
In other words, you take the best player available when your pick comes up.
Yet, in recent drafts for the Royals, those best players available have remarkably been smaller and speedier forwards. Likely by design.
鈥淲hen I got here [four years ago], we had a bigger, heavier team,鈥� said Lowry.
鈥淲e looked at Portland and Kelowna at the time, and noticed that speed and skill was a factor in their success, and that we had to upgrade in those departments.鈥�
Hiring former Portland head scout Grant Armstrong as the Royals director of player personnel in 2012 was a big part of the Victoria makeover to a quicker, more skill-based team that has been built through recent WHL bantam drafts with forwards such as Dante Hannoun, Matthew Phillips, Jared Dmytriw and last year鈥檚 first-round pick, Eric Florchuk.
Whatever their skill sets, the drafted players will be coached a certain way once here.
鈥淲e believe in our brand,鈥� said Lowry.
鈥淧layers have to be not only talented, but willing to play our way. It takes a special player to play in Victoria and play every day under the demands of our system.鈥�
The Kootenay Ice, who suffered through a dismal last-place 12-win season, won the WHL bantam draft lottery and will select first today. The Ice will be followed in the selection order by the other non-playoff WHL teams: Vancouver, Saskatoon, Swift Current, Tri City and Medicine Hat.
Players picked in the bantam draft are limited to five games in the ensuing WHL regular season. They can become full-time WHL rookies the season after that at the age of 16.
