FIVE MINUTE MAJOR

by Derek Harper

This year’s NHL entry draft has officially come and gone and once again, the Canadian Hockey League (CHL) had a strong presence with 88 players drafted. Of those 88, the WHL had 34 drafted.

The 88 selections from the CHL accounted for 39% of the 255 draft picks. This was the largest number of selections from the CHL since 2017.  It’s also the fourth consecutive year where the CHL saw over 80 of its players drafted. It was the 17^th time in the last 20 years the CHL has exceeded the 80-player mark in the NHL Draft.

Since the 1967 NHL Draft, a total of 2,196 players have been selected from the WHL, including 344 first round picks. Of the 88 players selected from the Canadian Hockey League at the 2024 NHL Draft, 38.6 percent were from the WHL.

There were four WHL players selected in the first 10 picks of the draft. It was the most for any development league in the world. An additional player was then selected in the picks after that to make five in the top 20, and again the most for any development league in the world.

Kelowna’s Tij Iginla, son of Hall of Famer Jarome Iginla, was Utah Hockey Club’s inaugural pick as they selected him sixth overall.

Forward Terik Parascak from the Prince George Cougars was the final WHL player selected in the first round, as the Washington Capitals called his name with the 17th overall pick. 

Berkly Catton, forward for the Spokane Chiefs was selected eighth overall by the Seattle Kraken. This completed a run of three consecutive WHL players and rounded   out four picks in the top 10. 

Of the 34 WHL players selected, 18 were called during the first three rounds of the 2024 NHL, including five in the first round, seven in the second round, and six in the third round. 

The Medicine Hat Tigers stood out at the 2024 NHL Draft, leading the way among WHL Clubs with four players selected. Cayden Lindstrom was selected fourth overall by the Columbus Blue Jackets. Andrew Basha was then selected 41^st overall by the Calgary Flames. Medicine Hat then saw forwards Tomas Mrsic selected by St. Louis Blues 113th overall and Hunter St. Martin by the Florida Panthers 170^th overall.

Of the 34 WHL players selected, 18 were called during the first three rounds with five in the first round, seven in the second round and six in the third round. 

Four WHL teams had three selections each in this year’s NHL Draft. The Everett Silvertips had Julius Miettinen, Smith, Eric Jamieson while the Kelowna Rockets had Iginla, Hiroki Gojsic and Max Graham. Prince George Cougars had Parascak, Ondrej Becher, Hunter Laing with Spokane having Catton, William McIsaac and Nathan Mayes.

This just goes to show the vast talent in North America and beyond that choose the major junior route to pursue their dreams of eventually playing professional hockey. Shortly after the NHL Draft wrapped up, the CHL had their import draft on Wednesday, July 3.