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Victoria Royals hoping for some luck in WHL draft lottery

On the whole, the six teams involved in today’s Western Hockey League draft lottery would rather be anywhere but there watching the balls roll around in the hopper. It means they are the half-dozen that missed the playoffs this season.
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Royals GM Dan Price has the third best odds of winning the WHL draft lottery on Thursday. ADRIAN LAM, TIMES COLONIST

On the whole, the six teams involved in today’s Western Hockey League draft lottery would rather be anywhere but there watching the balls roll around in the hopper. It means they are the half-dozen that missed the playoffs this season. Their consolation prize is that they are guaranteed a top pick-six in the WHL prospects draft of U-15 players which takes place May 19.

The 22nd-place Medicine Hat Tigers will receive six balls in the hopper, 21st-place Tri-City Americans five balls, 20th place Royals four balls, 19th place ­Calgary Hitmen three, 18th-place Swift Current Broncos two and the 17th-place Regina Pats one. Teams can move up a maximum of two spots, meaning the Royals have a shot at the top overall selection, as do the Tigers and Americans.

Sports anchor Scott Roblin of CHAT News Today in Alberta has crunched the odds and come up with the Tigers having a 28.6 per cent chance of having their ball drawn, the Americans with a 23.8 per cent opportunity and the Royals with a 19 per cent chance. The Hitmen have a 14.3 per cent probability, the Broncos 9.5 and the Pats 4.8 per cent, but neither of the latter three teams can move to the No. 1 slot.

“We can’t control the randomness of the draw but we do know that a good player will be available to us,” said Royals GM and head coach Dan Price.

“There is a deep group of 2007-born players and I really like this class.”

The Royals have never had a pick this high and have previously had only two top-10 selections with forward Tyler Soy taken eighth overall in 2012 and defenceman Austin Zemlak ninth in 2020.

The Royals will be looking to make up for the 2021 draft in which they did not have a first-round selection after trading it to the Brandon Wheat Kings in the deal that brought then St. Louis Blues-prospect Tanner Kaspick to Victoria in 2018. That proved costly down the line when the Royals finished last in the 2021 WHL pandemic bubble season only to have their first-round pick, which turned out to be No. 3 overall in the lottery, go to the Wheat Kings. That player turned out to be six-foot-two defenceman Charlie Elick, who Wheat Kings director of player personnel Chris Moulton has described as “the total package,” and who played nine games for Brandon this season with a goal and assist after turning 16 in January.

“At this high in the draft you are looking at someone who can contribute a little as an affiliate player at 15 and then become a regular as a rookie at 16,” said Price.

The six 2022 WHL lottery-pick players should be notable prospects for the 2025 NHL draft.

Among the top prospects for the 2022 WHL prospects draft are forwards Gavin McKenna of Rink Academy in Kelowna, Cole Reschny of Northern Alberta Xtreme and Jordan Gavin of Delta Academy and defencemen Will Sharpe of Yale Academy of Abbotsford and Henry Brzustewicz of Shattuck St. Mary’s in Minnesota.

But it’s still a gamble. The list of players overlooked in the WHL draft is legendary and includes Jamie Benn, Jarome Iginla, Shea Weber, Shane Doan and Tyler Ennis. The Royals’ top current player, San Jose Sharks-prospect defenceman Gannon Laroque, was also not selected in the WHL draft but was signed as a free agent by Victoria.

“Everyone’s development has a different timeline,” said Price.

“The draft is one small step.”

LOOSE PUCKS: Laroque was summoned by the Sharks Wednesday to finish the ­season with San Jose’s American Hockey League affiliate, the San Jose Barracuda… . Royals captain Tarun Fizer, who just completed his 20-year-old and final season with Victoria, has signed a contract with the Utah Grizzlies of the ECHL for the remainder of this season.

cdheensaw@timescolonist.com