The first major event of the Western Hockey League’s off-season will take place on Wednesday as the league will announce the results of this 2021 WHL Prospects Draft Lottery at 10 a.m.
The lottery will take part in four phases, with a full explanation on the WHL’s website.
The teams with the best chance of securing the first overall selection are the Moose Jaw Warriors, Red Deer Rebels, Swift Current Broncos, Tri-City Americans and Victoria Royals, as they’ll have four balls entered into the first phase of the lottery.
The Brandon Wheat Kings own the rights to the Warriors and Royals first round selections as part of the Kale Clague and Tanner Kaspick trades at the 2018 WHL Trade Deadline.
The Prince Albert Raiders have two balls entered in the lottery and have the chance to pick as high as first overall and no than 19th.
The draft itself, which is for 2006-born players, will be held on Thursday, Dec. 9.
The WHL also announced that the U.S. Priority Draft Lottery results will be revealed on Thursday, with further details on the lottery itself coming out on Tuesday.
All-Star Teams
Monday also saw the first year-end awards from the 2020-21 WHL campaign as the divisional all-star teams were revealed.
The members for each squad, which were voted upon by WHL general managers, are as follows:
East Division
- Goaltender: Nolan Maier (Saskatoon Blades)
- Defencemen: Ryker Evans (Regina Pats) and Braden Schneider (Brandon Wheat Kings)
- Forwards: Connor Bedard (Regina Pats), Peyton Krebs (Winnipeg Ice) and Ben McCartney (Brandon Wheat Kings)
Central Division
- Goaltender: Sebastian Cossa (Edmonton Oil Kings)
- Defencemen: Cole Clayton (Medicine Hat Tigers) and Matthew Robertson (Edmonton Oil Kings)
- Forwards: Dylan Guenther (Edmonton Oil Kings), Brett Kemp (Medicine Hat Tigers) and Jake Neighbours (Edmonton Oil Kings)
B.C. Division
- Goaltender: Trent Miner (Vancouver Giants)
- Defencemen: Alex Kannok-Leipert (Vancouver Giants) and Kaedan Korczak (Kelowna Rockets)
- Forwards: Tristen Nielsen (Vancouver Giants), Justin Sourdif (Vancouver Giants) and Connor Zary (Kamloops Blazers)
U.S. Division
- Goaltender: Dustin Wolf (Everett Silvertips)
- Defencemen: Nick Cicek (Portland Winterhawks) and Ronan Seeley (Everett Silvertips)
- Forwards: Cole Fonstad (Everett Silvertips), Gage Goncalves (Everett Silvertips) and Simon Knak (Portland Winterhawks)
