GM Bruce Hamilton with Assistant GM Curtis Hamilton. Photo credit: Steve Dunsmoor

By Regan Bartel

Changing directions in trade plans

Bruce Hamilton never surrenders

Jan 6, 2023 | 6:00 AM

Decisions. Decisions. Decisions.

Bruce Hamilton has never been one to wave the white flag in surrender.

The Kelowna Rockets GM is the builder of championship teams, with the word ‘rebuild’ never uttered from his lips in the 22+ years I’ve known him.

Those red banners hanging with pride above the ice surface at Prospera Place are a clear indication that tactical moves, with little in the way of luck, have paved the way to championship titles and envy among others across the Western Hockey League.

When the annual trade deadline approaches, Hamilton has always added, and rarely subtracted from the roster.

No panic, just picks

Inside the Rockets war room - calm, cool and carded

8h ago

Roster changes and renovations

Things that make me go hmm...

Apr 01, 2025

Playing with passion amid losing record

Things that make me go hmm...

Mar 18, 2025

That said, you have to wonder which direction he might take on January 10th in an effort to build for the future.

Marred in a season-high six-game losing streak, while the sky isn’t falling, one has to address the elephant in the room.

To build a winner for the 2020 Memorial Cup, which was eventually cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, draft picks were sacrificed.

A lack of first-round WHL Prospect picks, three of which were surrendered to Seattle and one to the Edmonton Oil Kings in trades, has forced the team to make creative moves to remain competitive.

The Rockets surrendered two-first-round picks, in 2019 and again in 2022, to the Seattle Thunderbirds in the Dillon Hamaliuk, Jake Lee, Cole Schwebius deal.

Another first-rounder [2023] was given up to the T-Birds in the Matthew Wedman trade and yet another highly coveted first-round selection was sacrificed [2021] in a deal that sent d-man Connor McDonald to the Okanagan from the Edmonton Oil Kings.

The only first-round pick in four of the last five seasons was in 2020, when the scouts hit one out of the ballpark when they plucked Andrew Cristall off the board with the 8th overall selection.

If you look at the current roster, eight players were chosen in the fifth-round or later.

Eight.

By comparison, BC Division leading Kamloops has three.

Don’t get me wrong, players can be found in the lower rounds, but few teams that have success have a third of the roster with picks that late in the draft.

Seattle Thunderbirds forward Reid Schaefer, a first-round NHL draft pick of the Edmonton Oilers, was the 164th player taken in the 2018 draft, in the 8th round.

Damon Severson, with 602 NHL games under his belt as a member of the New Jersey Devils, was chosen by the Kelowna Rockets in the 9th round of the 2009 draft.

You can get an impactful player, but again, that arrow only hits the bullseye every so often.

Making late picks, year-after-year will catch up to you, no matter how astute the scouting staff.

Have those late picks finally caught up to the Rockets?

I am not saying blow up the roster and totally rebuild, but clearly the talent pool of young prospects is a shallow one and the cupboards need to be restocked.

With the trade deadline four days away, if the asking price for a current player nets the Rockets a first-round WHL Prospect pick, it is best to consider it.

Before we get carried away, Andrew Cristall, who you build around, is not on that list.

Not since forward Brett McLean, who was dealt to the Brandon Wheat Kings in 1999, has Bruce Hamilton made such a bold move to trade away a first line, impact player.

That was essentially 24 years ago.

It may be wise, again, to revisit that transaction with the trade deadline set for next Tuesday.

Which direction will Hamilton go?

Decisions. Decisions. Decisions.