There were two Red Deer Rebels among the 217 selections at the 2018 NHL Entry Draft. A bit of a surprise led to Alexander Alexeyev being drafted in the first round 31st overall to the Stanley Cup Champion Washington Capitals. The second pick was also a blue liner, Dawson Barteaux, was selected in the sixth round 168th overall to the Dallas Stars.
The Washington Capitals selected defenseman Alexander Alexeyev with the 31st overall selection in the first round of the 2018 NHL Draft on Friday at American Airlines Center in Dallas. #ALLCAPS #CapsDraft https://t.co/1exHsq5bPf
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) June 23, 2018
The WHL released the reduced 68-game schedule for the 2018-19 season. The Rebels will start off the season with a home-and-home with the Edmonton Oil Kings. They will start the season on the road for the first time since the 2013-14 season. The team’s longest home stand starts before the Christmas break (December 7th) and ends after it (December 29th) for a total of six games. Four times they will play three games in a row at home. The team will see a six game, a five game and a four game road trip. A strange part of the schedule will see the Rebels on their U.S. Division road trip from February 12th until the 22nd, the team will then play one game at home, then head back on the road for four more games. This will have the team playing just one home game from February 12th until March 8th.
The Rebels will play three games in three nights five times. September 28, 29, 30th (two home games and one away), November 9, 10, 11th (three away games) November 30th, December 1, 2nd (two home and one away), December 28, 29, 30th (two home and one away), January 18, 19, 20th (one home and two away). They also have a stretch of five games in six nights November 27th through December 2nd.
Below is a month by month break down of the team’s regular season schedule.
| Month | Home | Road |
| September | 3 | 2 |
| October | 4 | 5 |
| November | 5 | 6 |
| December | 7 | 2 |
| January | 6 | 6 |
| February | 4 | 9 |
| March | 4 | 4 |
Kristian Reichel was not taken in the 2018 NHL Entry draft but the speedy forward was signed to an AHL deal with the Manitoba Moose, meaning he will not be back with the Rebels in the fall.
Confirmed: Kristian Reichel (F) | Red Deer Rebels -> Manitoba Moose | https://t.co/gq20jizt2Z #AHL
— EP Transfers (@ep_transfers) June 28, 2018
At the 2018 CHL import draft the Red Deer Rebels selected 17th and 77th overall. Due to Alexeyev being drafted in the first round and Reichel being a 20-year-old import the Rebels could use both selections. With the 17th overall pick the Rebels selected Oleg Zaitsev from Russia. Zaitsev is 17 years old and eligible for the 2019 NHL Entry Draft. He is six-foot-one and weighs 185 pounds. He played last season in the MHL for Dynamo Moskva.
With their second selection the Rebels took 1999 born forward Ivan Drozdov from Belarus. Drozdov is six-foot and weighs 174 pounds. He played last year with Yunost Minsk.
Both players are expected at training camp in the fall.
