WHL links and notes: who will get drafted from the WHL this weekend?

It’s been a long year for NHL scouts both professional and armchair. Their year officially concludes this weekend with the 2018 NHL Entry Draft, which starts tonight. Let’s take a look at the WHL players listed in the final NHL Central Scouting Service’s final rankings and where they were through the year.

Player Position Team Final CSS Ranking Midterm November Prelim
Ty Smith Defense Spokane 14 14 A A
Alexander Alexeyev Defense Red Deer 22 26 A B
Jett Woo Defense Moose Jaw 28 20 A B
Calen Addison Defense Lethbridge 30 34 B B
Milos Roman Forward Vancouver 41 40 B C
Riley Stotts Center Calgary 51 88 C C
Kristian Reichel Center Red Deer 53 80 C Not Ranked
Filip Kral Defense Spokane 54 52 C Not Ranked
Kyle Topping Center Kelowna 59 64 C Not Ranked
Egor Zamula Defense Calgary 64 100 B C
Cole Fonstad Center Prince Albert 65 78 C Not Ranked
Vladislav Yeryomenko Defsen Calgary 73 79 C Not Ranked
Riley Sutter Center Everett 80 72 B B
Justin Almeida Center Moose Jaw 88 125 Not Ranked Not Ranked
Luka Burzan Center Brandon 91 89 C B
Chase Wouters LW Saskatoon 92 103 C C
Eric Florchuk Center Saskatoon 110 93 C Not Ranked
Libor Zabransky Defense Kelowna 115 110 C C
Connor Dewar LW Everett 117 Not Ranked Not Ranked Not Ranked
Cole Reinhardt LW Brandon 121 164 C C
Jackson Leppard Forward Prince George 122
Brett Kemp Center Edmonton 128 166 C Not Ranked
Brodi Stuart Forward Kamloops 129 144 Not Ranked Not Ranked
Dawson Barteaux Defense Red Deer 133 156 C C
John Ludvig Defense Portland 137 107 C Not Ranked
Isaac Johnson RW Tri-City 140 170 C C
Carson Focht Center Calgary 155 200 C C
Leif Mattson Forward Kelowna 157 Not Ranked Not Ranked Not Ranked
Jermaine Loewen Forward Kamloops 160 Not Ranked Not Ranked Not Ranked
Josh Paterson Forward Saskatoon 163 Not Ranked Not Ranked Not Ranked
Chris Douglas Forward Red Deer 168 Not Ranked Not Ranked Not Ranked
Martin Bodak Defense Kootenay 172 Not Ranked Not Ranked Not Ranked
Kody McDonald Forward Prince Albert 178 Not Ranked Not Ranked Not Ranked
Eli Zummack Forward Spokane 184 Not Ranked Not Ranked Not Ranked
Dylan Plouffe Defense Vancouver 185 Not Ranked Not Ranked Not Ranked
Artyom Minulin Defense Swift Current 186 Not Ranked Not Ranked Not Ranked
Jacob Herauf Defense Red Deer 188 203 C Not Ranked
Brayden Pachal Defense Prince Albert 200 Not Ranked Not Ranked Not Ranked
Chase Hartje Defense Brandon 202 181 Not Ranked C

-It seems that Spokane’s Ty Smith is the only WHL player for sure getting drafted tonight, but we should see a whole lot go over the weekend. As always, it seems likely that a name or two off this list will not be drafted and there will be some names not on this list that will be.

We will have much more from the draft as players get selected.

Links and notes:

-While he was a star player on a team that fell just shot of the Ed Chynoweth Cup in 2017, Adam Brooks was quite okay with being an energy player on a team that did win it all. He was on the Toronto Marlies team that just took home the AHL’s top prize – the Calder Cup.

-He may not be writing on a daily basis, but Gregg Drinnan still has his sources. He reported last night that the Swift Current Broncos appear to have their replacement for Manny Viveiros. Former Saskatoon Blades coach Dean Brockman is in line to take over according to Drinnan.

Brockman was the head coach in Saskatoon for the last two years and was an assistant there for the two seasons prior.

-Drinnan goes further and also says that Matt Bardlsey has his guy in Kamloops as well and than man is former University of Alberta Golden bears bench boss Serge Lajoie. He played seven games for the Blazers back in 1986-87 before going to the AJHL and later the University of Alberta.After playing overseas, Lajoie came back to Alberta and was an assistant with the Golden Bears. He coached in some different areas of Alberta before coming back to take the head coaching job with the U of Alberta in 2015. He could be going full circle and land in Kamloops 23 years after he played there.