Blades select 11 players in 2020 WHL bantam draft

Saskatoon Blades general manger Colin Priestner was beaming at the opportunity to select a top-end talent on Wednesday during the 2020 WHL bantam draft.

Not only was the 2020 draft pool one of the most talented in recent memory, Priestner felt any one of the top five players has the ability to alter the path of a franchise — and he didn’t hold back when asked about fifth overall selection Tanner Molendyk.

“I think the guy we got is one of the most exciting defencemen the Blades have ever drafted, without any exaggeration there,” Priestner said about his first selection. “One of the GMs in the league this morning when things were happening texted me and said, ‘You just got the best D-man since (Bowen) Byram.’ ”

That’s high praise for Molendyk, a 5-foot-11, 160-pounder from Kamloops who played his hockey most recently at Yale Hockey Academy in the Canadian Sports School Hockey League.

Being compared to last year’s fourth overall selection in the NHL entry draft isn’t out of reach for Molendyk, according to Priestner.

“He’s as good in his own end as he is offensively,” Priestner said of Molendyk, who racked up 55 points in 27 games last season. “He’s a fantastic skater, like a true 10-out-of-10 skater for his level, and a guy we see as a franchise player starting right away.

“He’s going to be extremely exciting for our fans to watch.”

The pick almost didn’t happen.

Molendyk has spent considerable time pondering a path to the NCAA, which would make him ineligible to play in the WHL Some convincing from Priestner eased the mind of Molendyk and his mother to decide on the major junior route rather than play collegiate hockey.

The pick put an end to the team’s streak of selecting at least one player at centre in the first round since 2015. Priestner wasn’t focused on filling any roster holes with the first-round pick, instead choosing the best player available.

With the remaining picks in the draft, Priestner was hoping to replenish some forward depth in the prospect pipeline.

With their second selection in the draft, the Blades took Lukas Hansen from the Winnipeg Warriors bantam AAA hockey club. The centreman scored 43 goals and 42 assists for 85 points in just 36 games this season.

Priestner feels an abrupt end to minor hockey across the country negatively impacted Hansen’s draft stock, but became a gift for the Blades to land him at No. 28.

“He didn’t get a chance to play at some of the big tournaments that some of the other teams did this year,” Priestner said. “I think the Manitoba Cup is when he was really going to show what he was all about to the people outside of Manitoba.”

Priestner said all of his scouts in Manitoba were in his ear about picking Hansen, a player he already compared to captain Chase Wouters.

“I know that there was a team that was in the top 10 that was seriously considering taking him,” Priestner said. “They ended up going with a defenceman, and I talked to that team about who they were going to take and they had mentioned his name as a forward if they were going to go with a forward.

“With Molendyk and Hansen in the hopper at that point we were just off to the races.”

Saskatoon’s next selection, Jordan Keller, was Molendyk’s teammate this season at Yale. Of the 11 players selected, only three players were defencemen.

The remaining Blades picks included forwards Tyler Parr (Rink Academy), Mikhail Volotovskii (Calgary Bisons bantam AAA), Carmelo Crandell (St. Albert Sabres bantam AAA), Rowan Calvert (Moose Jaw bantam AA), Hayden Fechner (Edmonton SSAC bantam AAA) and Jadon Iyogun (Calgary North Stars bantam AAA), as well as D-men Tait Humphries (Burnaby Winter Club Academy) and Matthew Ronn (Yorkton Terriers bantam AA).

Saskatoon prospects have banner year

Of the 233 players selected in the draft for 2005-born prospects, 53 players from Saskatchewan were selected, compared to 30 players in 2019.

Saskatoon players accounted for 15 of those selections; that’s one player shy of the city’s record in 2011.

What separates players selected on Wednesday from those in 2011 is the majority of players landing with teams in the early rounds of the draft.

Ten players from the Bridge City were selected in the first five rounds of the draft, including Riley Heidt and Brayden Yager with the second and third overall picks.

Reid Andresen was the other Saskatoon product selected in the first round, going to the Medicine Hat Tigers with the 11th overall selection.

The remaining selections from Saskatoon include: Price Caden (Kelowna Rockets), Noah Chadwick (Lethbridge Hurricanes), Luke Korte (Kamloops Blazers), Tyson Yaremko (Swift Current Broncos), Matt Edwards (Vancouver Giants), Connor Gabriel (Swift Current), Dustin Renas (Lethbridge), Alex Garrett (Calgary Hitmen), Isaiah Arnold (Winnipeg Ice), Jeter Korte (Brandon Wheat Kings), Josh Zakreski (Portland Winterhawks) and Adam Beamin (Lethbridge).