Forward Tanner Kaspick of the Utica Comets of the American Hockey League and Kale Clague, who split this season between the Ontario Reign of the AHL and Los Angeles Kings of the NHL, are both three-season pros. That’s a near eternity in hockey. Their junior days are long in the rear-view mirror.
But they hover over the 2021 Western Hockey League U-15 draft lottery today as ghosts of trades past from 2017-18 who haunt the Victoria Royals and Moose Jaw Warriors. The Royals traded their 2021 first-round U-15 draft pick for Kaspick and the Warriors their 2021 first-rounder for Clague, both to the Brandon Wheat Kings. That means those deals made in 2017-18 could reverberate through 2025-26 for the Wheat Kings.
Kaspick, who had a pro-style game even in junior, played well in the late season for Victoria with 13 goals and 27 points in 25 games but was injured just two games into the 2018 first-round playoff series against the Vancouver Giants and his Royals career was over as he didn’t return for the remainder of the post-season, which concluded in the second round against the Tri-City Americans. The Warriors were hoping Clague would help them over the top against their torrid rivalry that season against divisional rival Swift Current but the Warriors went down to the eventual WHL-champion Broncos in seven games in the second round.
Now comes time to pay the draft piper, leaving the Wheat Kings sitting pretty. Both the Royals and Warriors suffered through the pandemic-abbreviated 2021 WHL season, finishing at the foot of their divisions. The Royals and Warriors, along with the two other divisional bottom-dwellers Red Deer Rebels and Swift Current, will each get the maximum four balls in the hopper today. Those selections can go as high as first overall to no lower than sixth overall. That means the Wheat Kings are guaranteed two of the top six selections in the 2021 WHL U-15 draft, to take place in December.
Not only did the Wheaties win the East Division this season but their future seems set, as well, potentially avoiding the normal rebuilding lull which usually follows a peak season of success in major-junior hockey.
The Royals and Warriors aren’t alone, however, as trading future first-rounders for immediate veteran gratification is simply too tempting a quick fix for some WHL general-managers. Several teams are in that situation today, although the Warriors are also beneficiaries, with the Saskatoon Blades’ first-round selection belonging to Moose Jaw. The Kelowna Rockets’ first-round pick belongs to the Edmonton Oil Kings and the Portland Winterhawks’ first-round selection to Swift Current.
If that wasn’t involved enough, the Blades’ first-round 2021 selection which went to the Warriors, also involved the Royals in a round-about fashion. Victoria received Saskatoon’s first-round picks for 2019 and 2021 in the trade for forward Eric Florchuk in 2018. It is the 2021 first-round selection acquired from the Blades that Victoria flipped to the Warriors last year to acquire NHL first-round Anaheim Ducks draft-pick Brayden Tracey, who led Victoria in points this season.
Although the Royals are currently without a first-rounder for the 2021 WHL draft, that could change said GM and head coach Dan Price. If the past has shown anything, it’s that the WHL trade/draft situation can be a sort of carousel.
“We don’t have a first-rounder right now,” said Price.
“But you never know what can happen in terms of trades. It’s always fluid when managing assets, including draft assets.”
The Kaspick and Tracey deals were made by former Royals GM Cam Hope, now CEO of B.C. Hockey. Price won’t play his hand on whether he believes in selling draft picks and buying veterans or selling veterans and stockpiling draft picks. There are no hard and fast rules, he indicated.
“It’s really is situational,” said Price.
“It depends on the year.”
The four divisional champions from this year – Brandon, Edmonton, Everett and Kamloops – can only select sixth through 22nd. Along with the four divisional bottom teams, with four balls each in the hopper, 13 other teams will receive two balls each in the hopper to have a chance at the top overall selection.
The WHL draft is usually held in May. But with U-15 hockey largely suspended over this winter and spring due to the pandemic, the draft was pushed back to December to allow scouts more time to evaluate talent through the fall.
Each team will also get one ball in a side selection process today for the 2021 WHL U-15 U.S. priority draft lottery, also to take place in December.
cdheensaw@timescolonist.com
