2024 was the second consecutive year that the Prince Albert Raiders played a major role at the WHL Prospects Draft.
After making three top 10 picks and five selections in the top 50 in 2023, the Raiders made four top 50 selections in 2024, including two in the top five.
Bruno Zarrillo is the director of player personnel for the Raiders and oversees the scouting staff and works closely with general manager Curtis Hunt on decisions made about the active roster.
Zarrillo says he was extremely pleased from what he saw from the 2009-born players in camp as well as the progression from other players in the organization.
“It’s excellent to see the ‘09s come in and really all of them performed well above my expectations. I was very happy with that. You see the ‘08s, how they went from last year to this year and how they’re progressing. It’s been an excellent weekend.”
One player the Raiders are hoping for big things from in the 2009-born draft class is defenceman Brock Cripps. Prince Albert selected Cripps with the second overall pick out of the St. George’s School U15 Prep program.
The pick used to select Cripps was acquired as part of the November 2022 blockbuster deal that saw the Raiders send Nolan Allan to the Seattle Thunderbirds.
Cripps, who is originally from Victoria, BC, says he has enjoyed his time in Prince Albert so far.
“It’s definitely been exciting. Met a lot of new players and all the staff, so that’s pretty good. I actually like it a lot (in Prince Albert). When I came here up on Wednesday, we drove from Saskatoon all the way up to Prince Albert and I like the drive, it was pretty cool. Definitely different than BC, because it’s flat here compared to BC, there’s lots of mountains.”
On draft day, the Raiders were aggressive moving up five spots from ninth to fourth overall. The Raiders sent the ninth overall pick (used on Owen Hayden), a third round pick (used on Jake Hargrave) and a 2025 fifth round selection to Kelowna to acquire the fourth overall pick which they used on Ben Harvey, a forward from the Northern Alberta Xtreme program.
Harvey says he has enjoyed the challenge of playing with and against older players during training camp.
“It’s super exciting. It’s lots of fun. It’s fast-paced with a bunch of bigger guys. It’s super cool because it’s something that I’m working towards and something that I strive for and it’s cool to get the opportunity to battle against the bigger guys.“
With the Raiders having a wealth of young prospects and only a certain number of roster spots, Zarrillo says it is a challenge for management to find spots for everyone deserving.
“It’s awesome to have, but it’s also a lot of work to manage all these kids and to get them into our lineup and get them into our program and they have to also earn it and we have to be accountable to them and raise the expectations of the whole group.”
With Cripps and Harvey highlighting the 2024 draft class for the Raiders, they haven’t been the only ones turning heads of the Raider brass.
Zarrillo says it has been an adjustment for some players, but everyone has shown they were deserving of a selection by the team.
“Brock (Cripps) and (Ben) Harvey, they’ve always played with the older age groups. They’ve been in elite programs. They’ve been very successful kids. They adjust well to these things. It’s more the ones that you get a little later in the draft who are coming here and it’s a little bit of a change. I thought everyone’s done very well. I’m very happy with every pick we’ve had has come in here and shown that they can play. I’m very thankful to our scouting department who evaluated these players and brought them forward to me and as a group. I’m very thankful for the effort of this whole staff.”
The Raiders open the pre-season on Wednesday night when they welcome the Saskatoon Blades to the Art Hauser Centre. Puck drops at 7 p.m.
sports@paherald.sk.ca
