Here we have it, the third article in what I hope continues to be a yearly adventure down memory lane: redrafting the 2010 WHL Bantam Draft. These links will take you to the 2008 and 2009 Reboots.
Of course, I have the advantage of hindsight. None of what I am doing is meant as a slight to the players chosen or the teams that drafted them. There were all kinds of circumstances that allowed players to have a lot of success in their WHL careers while others were unfortunate.
This time around I wanted to look at some of the numbers behind the draft before I dive into redrafting the 2010 edition of the WHL Bantam Draft.
130 of 235 players drafted played at least 1 WHL game (57.45%)
13 players from this draft of 235 players went on to play in at least one NHL game. (5.53%)
11 of the players chosen went on to play NCAA hockey instead of playing in the WHL. (4.68%)
Clay Spencer, selected 29th overall by the Chilliwack Bruins, was the highest draft pick not to play a single WHL game. He spent three seasons with three different teams in the AJHL before moving down to the HJHL (Alberta Junior B) for his final two seasons of junior hockey eligibility.
Drafted 242th overall, or 226 of 235 players chosen, was Elliot Peterson. He was the last 2010 WHL Bantam Draft pick to play in the WHL and he carved out a decent path, playing in 171 games with two WHL teams (Calgary and Vancouver) while scoring 28 goals and adding 49 assists. Peterson still plays hockey with the Lanigan Pirates of the Long Lake Hockey League in Saskatchewan.
The last player drafted to score 100 points was Mark McNaulty, picked by the Prince George Cougars. He scored 136 points in 264 games after being chosen 215th overall (10th round).
Chase De Leo was the lowest drafted player to score 200 or more points. Pickeded 192nd overall by Portland, De Leo went on to score 251 points over 279 WHL games, all with the Winterhawks.
Players with 300+ points – 3
Players with 200+ points – 16
Players with 100+ points – 42
1st overall – Prince George Cougars
Original pick – Alex Forsberg
Rebooted pick – Nic Petan (16th overall)
The highest scorer from the 2010 WHL Bantam draft was none other than Nic Petan. He played his Bantam hockey with the North Shore WC Bantams and put up 76 goals and 63 assists in 57 games. He then went on to play three games with the Winterhawks in his Midget season. It was all uphill from there as Petan registered seasons of 35, 120, 113, and 89 points for the high-powered Winterhawks offense en route to three WHL Finals and an Ed Chynoweth Cup. Petan also played on two IIHF World Championship teams. He went on to be drafted by the Winnipeg Jets in the second round of the 2013 NHL draft and is now a member of the Toronto Maple Leafs.
2nd overall – Edmonton Oil Kings
Original pick – Curtis Lazar
Rebooted pick – Sam Reinhart (15th overall)
Reinhart was selected out of the Hollyburn Huskies Bantam program in the same league as Nic Petan. His regular season point totals are not registered but he also played in five BCMML games, scoring twice. Reinhart joined the ICE for four games in his draft season and scored two goals. From there, Reinhart went on to four successful seasons with the ICE, spending the last two as captain. Reinhart also played for Team Canada on five separate occasions. In 2014, he was selected second overall by the Buffalo Sabres and remains with the team.
3rd overall – Lethbridge Hurricanes
Original pick – Jay Merkley
Rebooted pick – Shea Theodore (64th overall)
Theodore went on to have the greatest career of any Thunderbirds defenseman in history. He started his journey through to the WHL with the Aldergrove Bruins Bantam A1 program and graduated to 35 games with the Fraser Valley Bruins after his selection to the Thunderbirds. In his rookie season, Theodore had four goals and 31 assists and his WHL career took flight from there. He twice represented Canada internationally, winning gold on both occasions. Theodore was a first-round draft pick (26th overall) of the Anaheim Ducks in 2013. He is now a member of the Vegas Golden Knights.
4th overall – Seattle Thunderbirds
Original pick – Jared Hauf
Rebooted pick – Josh Morrissey (6th overall)
Morrissey spent his Bantam season with the Calgary Royals Gold team in the AMBHL. Morrissey spent his career mainly with the Prince Albert Raiders before being drafted by the Winnipeg Jets at 13th overall in 2013. He was dealt to the Kelowna Rockets in his final season in the WHL to help the team in its quest for a Memorial Cup. He finished his WHL career with 196 points in 249 games. Five times Morrissey played internationally for Team Canada and he won two golds and a bronze medal. Morrissey remains a member of the Winnipeg Jets.
5th overall – Regina Pats
Original pick – Morgan Klimchuk
Rebooted pick -Tyson Baillie (53rd overall)
The third and final player drafted in 2010 to wind up with more than 300 WHL points, Baillie finished his 329 career games with 310 points. Baillie is a product of the Fort Saskatchewan Rangers Bantam AAA program. In 65 games over two seasons, he scored 120 points for the Rangers. Baillie was a steady force with the Rockets over his five seasons, including being named an assistant captain for the final three years of his career. He was a member of the Ed Chynoweth Cup-winning 2014-15 Rockets team. Baillie was not drafted to the NHL and now plays for the University of Alberta Golden Bears.
6th overall – Prince Albert Raiders
Original pick – Josh Morrissey
Rebooted pick – Curtis Lazar (2nd overall)
Lazar remains in the first round as the highest redrafted pick from the actual 2010 WHL Bantam Draft. The Salmon Arm, BC, native played his Bantam hockey with the Pursuit of Excellence Bantam Prep program. He scored 57 goals and added 58 assists in 51 games. Lazar then spent three full seasons with the Edmonton Oil Kings, playing in 199 games. Lazar scored 99 goals and added 70 assists for the Oil Kings, who won two Ed Chynoweth Cups and a Memorial Cup with Lazar. He also represented Team Canada twice in his junior career and won a gold medal. In 2013, Lazar was drafted 13th overall by the Ottawa Senators. He is currently a member of the Buffalo Sabres organization.
7th overall – Chilliwack Bruins
Original pick – Keegan Kanzig
Rebooted pick – Morgan Klimchuk (5th overall)
Klimchuk played his Bantam hockey in Calgary with the Bisons AAA program. In his Midget season, Klimchuk played in five games with the Pats and collected an assist. Klimchuk then spent 228 of his 261 games with the Pats before being dealt to the Brandon Wheat Kings. In all, Klimchuk scored 118 goals and added 149 assists. Twice he played internationally for Canada, winning a goal medal with the U-18 team. He was drafted 28th overall by the Calgary Flames and is now a member of the Ottawa Senators organization.
8th overall – Kamloops Blazers
Original pick – Matt Needham
Rebooted pick – Madison Bowey (23rd overall)
Originally a pick of the Kelowna Rockets, the first in the second round of the 2010 WHL Bantam draft, Bowey is selected here by their closest rivals. Following a 69 point season with the Winnipeg Monarchs Bantam AAA program, Bowey moved on to play with the Winnipeg Wild Midget AAA program and took in three games as a Rocket in his Midget season. Bowey spent four full seasons with the Rockets, the final two as captain of the team. He won a WHL Championship with the Rockets. He played in 259 WHL games scoring 58 times and adding 114 assists. Three times Bowey played international contests with Canada and won two gold medals. A second-round draft pick of the Washington Capitals, Bowey is now a member of the Detriot Red Wings. He has a Stanley Cup ring with the Capitals.
9th overall – Kelowna Rockets
Original pick – Jesse Lees
Rebooted pick – Eric Comrie (13th overall)
An Edmonton native, Comrie played his Bantam level hockey in Los Angeles with the Selects HC Bantam team. In his draft season, he moved up to play with the Selects U16 team. Comrie spent four seasons as a full-time member of the Americans, playing in 168 regular-season games. He went 85-64-6-9 in those games and had a .916 career save percentage and 2.67 goals-against average. Comrie won a gold medal with Team Canada at the IIHF World Junior Championships. He was drafted in the second round by the Winnipeg Jets in 2013 and is a member of the Winnipeg Jets organization.
10th overall – Moose Jaw Warriors
Original pick – Carter Hansen
Rebooted pick – Macoy Erkamps (27th overall)
From Delta, BC, Erkamps played his Bantam hockey in the Greater Vancouver Area, also getting into three games with the Greater Vancouver Midget Canadians. Erkamps spent three seasons with the Hurricanes before being dealt to the Brandon Wheat Kings for his final two seasons. He really exploded in his last season in the WHL, scoring 13 goals and adding 58 assists as captain of the Wheat Kings. The team went on to win the Ed Chynoweth Cup during this season. In all, he played 341 WHL games, adding 30 goals and 158 assists. Although not drafted to the NHL, Erkamps plays for the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins of the AHL.
11th overall – Swift Current Broncos
Original pick – Dillon Heatherington
Rebooted pick – Tim McGauley (20th overall)
There is not much available information regarding the Bantam season for McGauley aside from playing for Lumsden-Bethune Contacts and scoring 103 points. He was traded from the Blades following his Midget season to the Brandon Wheat Kings. It took a little bit of time for McGauley to hit his WHL stride, but he stuck with the team full-time in the 2012-13 season. For his career, McGauley played in 276 games and scored 102 goals and added 157 assists. He won an Ed Chynoweth Cup with the Wheat Kings. Not drafted to the NHL, McGauley has toiled at the ECHL/AHL level and most recently split his time between the Colorado Eagles and the Utah Grizzlies.
12th overall – Red Deer Rebels
Original pick – Kayle Doetzel
Rebooted pick – Chase De Leo (192nd overall)
The biggest mover in the draft might have been considered an overachiever because he was on a powerhouse Winterhawks team. But you would be wrong to think that as De Leo has played well over several seasons in the AHL. He has even garnered some time in the NHL as a member of the Anaheim Ducks organization. He was drafted by the Winnipeg Jets in the fourth round in 2013. De Leo was drafted to the Winterhawks as a member of the Los Angeles Selects Bantam AAA team, scoring 27 goals and adding 56 assists in 28 games. He spent four full seasons as a member of the Winterhawks and scored 110 goals and added 141 assists, winning a WHL Championship with the Winterhawks in 2013.
13th overall – Tri-City Americans
Original pick – Eric Comrie
Rebooted pick – Tristen Jarry (46th overall)
This is a pretty decent tradeoff here for the Americans as Jarry won 93 games as a member of the Edmonton Oil Kings. He was drafted from the North Delta Sundevils Bantam program. Jarry was a member of two WHL Championship teams as well as a Memorial Cup winner. His record in the regular season was 93-49-6-4 and was 17-7-2-0 in the playoffs. He had a .913 save percentage and 2.37 goals-against average in the regular season. Jarry was then drafted in the second round of the NHL draft in 2013 by the Pittsburgh Penguins and remains a member of that hockey club.
14th overall – Medicine Hat Tigers
Original pick – Spencer Jensen
Rebooted pick – Jason Fram (171st overall)
A Vancouver native, Fram played his minor hockey in the Greater Vancouver Area and was drafted by the Spokane Chiefs in the eighth round of the 2010 WHL Bantam draft, making him the second-highest riser in this reboot. Fram spent all five of his WHL seasons with the Chiefs, playing in 308 games and registering 187 points on 32 goals and 155 assists. In his final season, Fram was named Chiefs captain. Following his WHL career, Fram gave professional hockey a try before heading to the University of Alberta for two and a half seasons. He now plays professionally for the Kunlun Red Star of the KHL.
15th overall – Kootenay Ice
Original pick – Sam Reinhart
Rebooted pick – Luke Philp (59th overall)
Philp is the only player in this exercise that ended up with the team that drafted him. From Canmore, AB, Philp played his Bantam hockey with the closeby Airdrie Xtreme Bantam AAA team in 2009-10, where he put up 30 goals and 29 assists in 27 games. Despite his smaller stature, Philp played in the WHL in five seasons. Mainly spending his time with the ICE, Philp scored 103 goals and added 148 assists in 264 contests. In his final season in the WHL, Philp was traded to the Red Deer Rebels for their Memorial Cup-hosting run. Following his WHL career, Philp played three seasons with the University of Alberta Golden Bears and signed last season with the Calgary Flames, spending the season with their AHL affiliate, the Stockton Heat.
16th overall – Portland Winterhawks
Original pick – Nic Petan
Rebooted pick – Cole Sanford (117th overall)
A teammate of Curtis Lazar’s at the Pursuit of Excellence Bantam program, Sanford put up big numbers in his Bantam season, included 64 goals and 83 assists over 64 games. Sanford was a small but speedy forward throughout his time in the WHL, mainly with the Tigers, and he put up some strong numbers there as well. Over 260 WHL games, he had 126 goals and 123 assists. He spent all but 30 of those games with the Tigers as he was traded to the Pats for their 2015-16 playoff run. After a short stint in the ECHL, Sanford headed to the University of Alberta program and has completed three seasons with the Golden Bears.
17th overall – Spokane Chiefs
Original pick – Tyler King
Rebooted pick – Kyle Burroughs (47th overall)
Burroughs was drafted out of the Langley Eagles Bantam A1 program that played in the PCBHL in 2009-10. He had 10 goals and 30 assists in 33 regular-season games. The defenseman went on to play 250 WHL games, mainly with the Pats, scoring 22 goals and adding 98 assists. He joined the Medicine Hat Tigers for the final 30 games of his WHL career. Burroughs was drafted in the seventh round of the 2013 NHL draft and remains a member of the New York Islanders organization, completing last season as the captain of the Bridgeport Sound Tigers.
18th overall – Edmonton Oil Kings
Original pick – Mason Geertsen
Rebooted pick – Jaedon Descheneau (62nd overall)
Descheneau was a member of the Leduc Oil Kings Bantam AAA team when he was selected by the Kootenay ICE in the third round of the 2010 WHL Bantam Draft. He had 31 goals and 46 assists in 33 games that season. He spent his entire junior hockey career with the ICE and played 265 games in the WHL. He had 111 goals and 161 assists as a member of the ICE and missed most of his 20-year-old season following surgery to repair his separated shoulder. Descheneau was a fifth-round pick by the St. Louis Blues in 2014 and spent one season playing professionally in North America following his junior eligibility. He has since played overseas and is currently a member of Byrnas IF of the Swedish Hockey League.
19th overall – Vancouver Giants
Original pick – Anthony Ast
Rebooted pick – Greg Chase (22nd overall)
Chase spent two seasons with the Sherwood Park Flyers Bantam AAA program, scoring 45 goals and adding 46 assists in 62 games. He was the last draft pick of the first round of the 2010 WHL Bantam Draft. Chase spent parts of five seasons with the Hitmen before being dealt to the Victoria Royals for 46 games and the 2014-15 playoffs. All told, Chase played 265 WHL games, scoring 78 goals and adding 143 assists. He was a seventh-round pick of the Edmonton Oilers in 2013 and has since spent his time between the ECHL and AHL, totaling 271 North American professional games. He is now a member of the Maine Mariners of the ECHL.
20th overall – Saskatoon Blades
Original pick – Tim McGauley
Rebooted pick – Colby Williams (67th overall)
The Regina, SK, product spent his whole career with the Regina Pats following his Bantam season. In a cruel twist of fate, he is drafted here to the divisional rival Blades. With the Regina Pats, Williams scored 25 goals and added 79 assists in 211 games and was named captain in his final season despite missing significant time with an upper-body injury suffered in the off-season. In 2015, Williams was drafted by the Washington Capitals and remains a member of their AHL affiliate, the Hershey Bears.
21st overall – Moose Jaw Warriors
Original pick – Torrin White
Rebooted pick – Cole Ully (30th overall)
Another player that spent his entire career with one team, Ully was picked by the Blazers from the Calgary Flames Bantam AAA team after scoring 34 goals and adding 30 assists in 32 games. Ully saw steady improvement over the four full seasons with the Blazers, registering 20, 50, 72, and 94 points respectively. He had 256 WHL games under his belt when his junior eligibility expired along with 95 goals and 142 assists. Ully was a fifth-round draft pick of the Dallas Stars in 2013. He has since toiled in the ECHL and AHL and was with the South Carolina Stingrays of the ECHL last season.
22nd overall – Calgary Hitmen
Original pick – Greg Chase
Rebooted pick – Dillon Heatherington (11th overall)
Heatherington played for two different Bantam teams before he was drafted by the Swift Current Broncos back in 2010. All told, in those two seasons Heatherington played 65 Bantam games and scored 10 goals and added 30 assists. Heatherington played four full seasons with the Broncos, getting into 247 games, where he scored 13 goals and added 74 assists. He also represented Team Canada twice, earning a gold medal both times. Heatherington was a second-round draft pick of the Columbus Blue Jackets and has since been traded to the Dallas Stars. He has played 11 NHL games in his career and is currently a member of the Stars AHL affiliate, the Texas Stars.
