WHL Draft Lottery Takes Place Wednesday (Mar. 23)

With the conclusion of Lethbridge’s 2010-11 season, the Hurricanes will now turn their attention to the ongoing task of player identification and scouting for the 2011 WHL Bantam Draft.

The final draft order will be determined at the 2011 WHL Bantam Draft Lottery to be held on Wednesday, March 23rd at 11:00AM in the WHL Head Offices in Calgary. The lottery will determine the order of the first six selections in the first round of the 2011 WHL Bantam Draft and will include this season’s six non-playoff teams – Calgary, Swift Current, Regina, Lethbridge, Seattle and Kamloops. Each team, based on their rank at the end of the 10-11 regular season will have a set allotment of balls of the 21 available (Calgary - 6, Swift Current - 5, Regina - 4, Lethbridge - 3, Seattle -2 and Kamloops -1) with the lower placed teams receiving the higher number of chances at the first overall selection. Only one ball is selected to determine the first overall pick and each team can only advance two selections in the draft lottery – as such for example, the 22nd place Calgary Hitmen are guaranteed at worst – a second overall selection in the draft.

The Canes are in the midst of a historic draft lottery as for the first time in club history they are guaranteed two top five picks in the Bantam Draft. The Hurricanes acquired Regina’s first round pick last season as a result of the Carter Ashton trade which also saw the Canes acquire Graham Hood, 94-born Tayler Balog and a 2nd round pick in 2010 – which the club would later use to select blue chip prospect Macoy Erkamps with the 27th overall pick in the 2010 draft. The Hurricanes will enter Wednesday’s draft lottery with Regina’s four balls as well as three of their own for a total of seven of the 21 balls in play. This of course can play out one of four ways for the Hurricanes:

Should:

1. One of Regina’s four chances be selected in the lottery – Lethbridge would receive the 1st overall selection (from Regina) as well as the 4th overall selection in the 2011 Bantam Draft

2. One of Lethbridge’s three chances be selected in the lottery – Lethbridge would receive the 2nd overall selection as well as the 4th overall selection (from Regina) in the 2011 Bantam Draft

3. Either Calgary (6 balls) or Swift Current (5 balls) win the lottery – Lethbridge would retain the 3rd (from Regina) and 4th overall picks based on their position in the standings

4. One of Seattle's (2 balls) be selected in the lottery - Lethbridge would recieve the 4th (from Regina) overall pick while dropping to the 5th overall pick based on their position in the standings

5. Kamloops' (1 ball) be selected in the lottery – Lethbridge would receive the 3rd (from Regina) and 5th overall picks based on their position in the standings.

The order of the second round and all other rounds will be the inverse order of final 2010-11 regular season standings. The Hurricanes currently hold a pair of picks in the second round of the 2011 Draft – their own pick (26th overall) as well as the 29th overall pick acquired from the Everett Silvertips in exchange for defenseman Brennan Yadlowski. This after a 2010 draft which saw the team select several highly touted prospects after holding four of the top 41 picks. Their own selections, 3rd in the first and second round, as well as Regina’s second round selection (5th in the second round – 27th overall (Carter Ashton & Craig Orfino) and Tri City’s second round selection (19th in the second round – 41st overall – Acquired in the trade of Eric Mestery).

Lethbridge’s highest ever selection in the WHL Draft was last season as they selected Calgary’s Jay Merkley with the third overall pick in the 2010 draft. This was the Canes first lottery pick since selecting Alex Theriau in 2007 with the 6th pick overall and it marked the Canes first ever selection in the top 3 of the WHL Draft. Other notable Hurricanes first selections include: Carter Ashton (7th overall in 2006); Dwight King (4th overall in 2004); Ben Wright (25th overall in 2003) and Brent Seabrook (8th overall in 2000).

The 2011 WHL Bantam Draft will take place on May 5th, 2011 in Calgary, AB. This will mark the first step in the identification of the top rated 1996-born prospects as WHL Clubs select players from this age group to add to their WHL Player Protected List.


(From Ryan Ohashi, Hurricanes Manager of Communications and Events)

Thanks,
Pat

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