The biggest crapshoot in junior hockey will be conducted today.
“It can be a weird thing, outside of the top prospects,” Victoria Royals GM Cam Hope said of the Canadian Hockey League’s import draft.
The Royals will select 38th among the 60 CHL teams, comprising the Western Hockey League, Ontario Hockey League and Quebec Major Junior League, alternating per league based on reverse order from last year’s season records.
The QMJHL picks first this year and that overall selection goes to the Acadie-Bathurst Titan. Next up are the Saskatoon Blades of the WHL with the Sudbury Wolves of the OHL picking third.
Victoria’s WHL B.C. Division rivals, the Vancouver Giants and Kamloops Blazers, had poor records last season and will select eighth and 11th. Selecting 60th and last will be the WHL regular-season champion Brandon Wheat Kings with the 2015 Memorial Cup runner-up Kelowna Rockets 59th.
Each CHL club is allowed to carry two European import players.
This year’s import draft got more pressing for the Royals after defenceman Alexey Sleptsov notified the team of his intention to remain in Russia to play pro next season.
That leaves another Russian blue-liner, Marsel Ibragimov, as the currently remaining import player on the Victoria roster and he is expected back.
Hope confirmed the Royals will be making only one pick today, and despite the loss of Sleptsov from the blue line, that selection will be a forward.
“We’re going to be strong on defence this season and it would be hard for a player to come in from Europe and push for playing time [on the Royals blue line],” said Hope.
With position settled, then it’s often a matter of hoping for the best and trusting your European contacts.
“You know the elite guys who have expressed an interest in coming over to North America,” said Hope.
But they are not going to fall to Victoria in the second half of the draft.
Those top few picks can make an impact, as attested by the five first-round picks in the 2015 NHL draft last week who came to the CHL through the import draft. They were forward Pavel Zacha from the Czech Republic and the Sarnia Sting of the OHL, drafted sixth overall by the New Jersey Devils; Russian defenceman Ivan Provorov, who went seventh overall to the Philadelphia Flyers out of the Brandon Wheat Kings of the WHL; forward Timo Meier of Switzerland, ninth overall to the San Jose Sharks out of the Halifax Mooseheads of the QMJHL; Czech defenceman Jakub Zboril, out of the Saint John Sea Dogs of the QMJHL, 13th to the Boston Bruins; and forward Evgeny Svechnikov of Russia, from the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles of the QMJHL, 19th overall to the Detroit Red Wings. In the 2014 NHL draft, WHL power- forward Leon Draisaitl from Germany went third overall to the Edmonton Oilers out of the Prince Albert Raiders.
Each CHL team relies on its network of overseas contacts.
“We’ve been [canvassing people] from Denmark to Germany to the Czech Republic to Russia,” said Hope.
The Royals regular season begins Sept. 25 at Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre against the Portland Winterhawks.
