Good fortune smiled upon the Rebels in this year’s WHL Bantam Draft as the team had five picks in the first 50 and the team was happy with how their day went across the draft board.
Shaun Sutter, Assistant General Manager of the Red Deer Rebels had this to say about the draft overall; ” I think when you have five picks in the top-50 you know you are going to get some good players. Based on the players we picked and where we had them rated, even though we had a gap, it felt like we just started picking players in the fourth round.”
With the season being cut short, the teams had to work extra hard because there was not much to go on when it came to playoff-style hockey. It was also a different draft in that many felt it was very loaded, especially in Saskatchewan and British Columbia.
“This was a different draft I think in a sense that once you got into an area that there were some picks that were all over the map,” said Sutter.
“I think it’s all about familiarity and the players that you were familiar with. Our guys do a great job of getting around and seeing everybody. That’s where your hard work pays off.”
Red Deer had a lot to be happy about as they were able to get the players they wanted in the spots they had hoped to pick them.
“A lot of teams probably feel they had the best draft in the Western Hockey League. That’s the way it always works on draft day. We feel really good not only the players we got but the people we got too.” said Sutter.
The Red Deer Rebels have taken forward Kalan Lind with the 6th overall selection in today’s Western Hockey League Bantam Draft. Lind, from Shaunavon, SK, played with the Swift Current Broncos Bantam AA team. He had 120 points in 27 games. #RDR
?Eric James pic.twitter.com/gxJesNE8mt— Red Deer Rebels (@Rebelshockey) April 22, 2020
Kalan Lind
Red Deer’s first-round pick went at sixth overall. They selected Kalan Lind, younger brother of Kole Lind, an NHL prospect with the Vancouver Canucks. The Linds are from Shaunavon, SK, and also have a sister, Taylor, that plays high-level hockey.
Shaun Sutter spoke about Kalan at great length as the team had him highly rated all season.
“Thomas Miller and Randy Peterson our scouts in Saskatchewan have seen him a ton. Obviously they really like him. I was fortunate to also see him quite a bit, we saw this player play defense at the Macs Tournament. Bantam kid went up and played Midget AAA, at arguably the top Midget tournament in Western Canada and he looked like a defenseman and I remember talking to some of our scouts after and saying a lot of these other top players if we threw them into the fire like that and had them play defense, they wouldn’t be able to do what Kalan did.”
As an Affiliate Player at the Macs Midget tournament, Lind had an assist and played in all four of the Legionnaires games as a defenseman. He also had some time with the Legionnaires during the regular season, where he scored a goal and added an assist in 10 games.
The Rebels kept their eye on him all season. “There was kind of a few moments where we were watching Kalan that we just said Kalan Lind is the player we want to target with this draft with the picks we had. For us to be able to pick him where we did to say that we are ecstatic is an understatement,” said Sutter.
“It was a really strong year for Saskatchewan. The thing about Kalen is Kalan is the guy you want in a seven-game series. He has those elite abilities offensively to make plays and score. He’s also the guy that can play both ends of the rink and he can play gritty and he can play in your kitchen. He’s the kind of guy you have to pull back a bit.”
You can find details about Kalan on DUBNetwork Scouting.
Talon Brigley
The Rebels were able to score local (Sylvan Lake, AB) product Talon Brigley with their first pick in the second round of the WHL Bantam Draft.
“Talon plays the right way. He’s a good two-way player that has skill, can make plays and score. But plays both ends of the rink,” said Sutter of the Red Deer Rebels Midget AAA forward.
“Being a local player, he’s a kid with pretty high character, comes from a hockey-playing background, there’s some genes there and some lineage. The familiarity with Talon is pretty good, maybe the stats weren’t what they would (be) with other teams but all the other players on the team were very similar. He played through some injuries this year and he kind of kept playing where some other kids maybe wouldn’t be playing at all. He’s a guy that you can win with.”
Talon’s father Travis is a former NHLer, playing with the Calgary Flames and Colorado Avalanche in the late 1990s and early 2000s. He also won a WHL title with the Lethbridge Hurricanes and retired from hockey following a stint with the Bentley Generals of the Chinook Senior Men’s Hockey League.
Matteo Fabrizi
The product of St. Albert, AB played his hockey at Yale Academy of the CSSHL. At just over 15 years old, Fabrizi is listed at 6-foot-3, 222-pounds, and still has room to grow.
“He’s a big guy, huge, that can skate and he can move the puck. He looks like a pro, a smart player. He’s a guy we gave a first-round grade to the whole year, so to get him in the second round we felt that was a steal, there were a lot of good defensemen in his age group, he’s a really good player so to get him there, it was a shock that he was there, but there was no way we were passing on him,” was Sutter’s assessment of the hulking defenseman.
Arjun Bawa
Bawa hails from Richmond, BC, and played at St. George’s School in the CSSHL. The Rebels are excited about his future prospects.
“He’s a tall lanky guy, he’s already grown a ton this year, think he’s almost 6-foot-2 and weighs 170 pounds. He’s a bigger body that’s got skill and he’s smart, he sees the ice. He’s only gonna get better and better,” said Sutter.
Bawa also has NHL lineage, his dad, Robin, played for four teams over four seasons in the NHL before calling it a career following the 1998-99 season with the IHL’s Fort Wayne Komets.
