The Victoria Royals will be facing a prodigy, in every sense of the word, tonight in Everett, Washington. The Silvertips’ rookie defenceman Landon DuPont is only the second player after current Chicago Blackhawks sophomore forward Connor Bedard to receive exceptional status to play in the WHL as a 15-year-old and the ninth in CHL history on a list that includes Connor McDavid, John Tavares and Aaron Ekblad.
The 2024 WHL prospects draft was all about first-pick DuPont, who already has five goals and 17 assists for 22 points from the blue line in 20 games for Everett to indicate just how special he might be. But the rest of the draft class is not about to cede DuPont anything in their careers, including No. 2 overall selection Brock Cripps, a defenceman from Victoria, who went to the Prince Albert Raiders.
The Royals have already begun to ease their first-rounders from this year into the mix (2024 WHL prospects draft picks, other than DuPont, are limited to five WHL regular-season games). The Royals had two first-round selections and took forward Jacob Schwartz eighth overall and forward Ludovic Perreault 18th overall.
Schwartz has an assist in three games up with Victoria. The five-foot-seven Perreault has yet to record a point in the WHL but the undersized dynamo has impressed nonetheless in two games up with the Royals, including in Victoria’s last game, a 7-3 loss in Red Deer against the Rebels on Saturday.
“We’re really excited to see what he [Perreault] is going to become. He’s got hockey sense, good speed, good skills and high-end compete,” said Victoria head coach James Patrick.
“For a 15-year-old to play against guys he was playing against and to battle, to do the little things, to get in shot lanes to pick off passes, and get pucks deep. To skate like that when things are happening so fast for young players when they come up. He has been very impressive. He’s going to be a really good player for this franchise.”
Royals head scout Tanner McCall said of Perreault that he is “an absolute work horse and can really shoot the puck.”
The Royals did not indicate if they plan to call up Perreault again tonight. Victoria will be down a forward tonight with Cole Reschny, ranked by Central Scouting for the first round of the 2025 NHL draft, to miss the game in Everett. The play-making centre is with the CHL team that beat the USA Under-18 program team in the CHL-USA Prospects Challenge series game Tuesday night in London, Ont., and will close out the set tonight in Oshawa, Ont.
The Royals (12-8-4) are 3-3-1 on their longest road trip of the season, which concludes in Everett. The result tonight will decide if Victoria finishes the eight-game swing with a winning, losing or even record. It will be a stiff task against the WHL-leading Silvertips, who are 19-3-2, and ranked No. 4 in the CHL national top-10 poll.
The Royals return to Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre on Friday and Saturday nights against the Western Conference last-place Seattle Thunderbirds (7-13-3).
