Hurricanes prepared for drafts

By Lethbridge Herald on May 9, 2023.

Herald FILE photo Hurricanes G.M. Peter Anholt went centremen heavy in this year's WHL Prospects Draft

By Justin Seward

Lethbridge Herald

The Lethbridge Hurricanes are entrenched in a busy couple of days with the U.S. Priority Draft today followed by WHL Prospects Draft on Thursday.

The Prospects Draft will see Lethbridge pick within the top 40 at 14th, 23rd and 36th overall.

“Yeah I think the depth of the draft is pretty good,” said Peter Anholt, Hurricanes general manager.

“We’re picking three in the top (40). So I think we’re going get three real good players. You know I think historically, our first round picks have been good picks and have been contributors for us. And Will Sharpe (last year’s 11th overall pick), we project him to be a real good player for us for a long time and a big contributor for us. You know you look at (Miguel) Marques, you know you look at (Tristen) Doyle who were first rounders and they’re going to be important Canes for us for a number of years. So everybody understands how important those first picks are and you can’t miss on them and if you miss on them, it really puts you back, as far as your team goes.”

The Hurricanes will hopefully lean towards a skillful forward

“I think that’s our focus is that  we want to add some skill upfront and you know our back end looks like it’s rounding into shape pretty good again after building it for a number of years,” said Anholt.

Anholt said there’s a lot of good defenceman available.

“I think especially in the top of the first round,” he said.

“But there’s some really skilled forwards too. I think it’s a good draft and even for us, we’ve got the 23rd pick, which is the first pick in the second round. I think that is a really important pick for us. So we’re excited about that pick.”

Anholt thinks teams could garner interest on their 23rd pick.

“It could be an asset for us or there’s going to be a good player sitting there for us that we want to take,” said Anholt.

The Canes will also have picks in the fourth and every round after.

The Prospects Draft goes May 11 beginning at 10 a.m. with the first two rounds being streamed live.

The Hurricanes will pick 14th and 36th overall in today’s U.S. Priority Draft.

“Yeah, you know what, we’re always a little hesitant about getting too excited about the U.S. Draft,” said Anholt.

“We haven’t had a lot of luck with the U.S. Draft to this point. So you know what, we’d take it with a bit of a grain of salt. We’ll pick the best players that we think have a chance to be Hurricanes. But really when it’s all said and done, I think when we look back on it, we’re making some traction with U.S. players before COVID and then we lost traction totally during COVID and near after.”

Anholt did confirm the Hurricanes have contacted U.S. players.

“We’ve got a half decent list,” said Anholt.

“But that being said, that’s a draft that is kind of a bonus draft for us. And if we get the players, great. Hopefully they’re good players but ultimately it’s the Prospects Draft that’s the key one.”

The U.S Priority Draft begins today at 10 a.m.

Both drafts can be followed online at http://www.whl.ca/drafts.