Photo credit: RocketFAN

By Regan Bartel

Choosing a young player to build around

Rockets scouts finally picking from a position of strength

May 7, 2024 | 8:00 AM

Pinch me, I’m dreaming. 

That may best describe how Kelowna Rockets Director of Player Personnel Terry McFaul is feeling heading into Thursday’s Western Hockey League Prospects Draft.   

McFaul and his scouting staff are positioned to choose a player in the opening round for the first time since 2020. The Rockets own the fourth overall pick after obtaining it from the Seattle Thunderbirds in a trade for Colten Dach in 2022. That bantam pick was originally owned by the Regina Pats, who finished with the fourth-worst record in the WHL this past season. 

 “Absolutely,” McFaul told RocketFAN when asked if they can get a good player at that spot in the draft. “There are some good players. The first round should be pretty good. They are all really good players, but it drops off a little bit, and then another really good group of players, but they are all different.”  

The Everett Silvertips own the first overall selection, and will undoubtedly pick marquee d-man Landon Dupont, and then it’s anyone’s guess who the Prince Albert Raiders and Tri-City Americans choose before McFaul has his chance to pluck a player off the board. 

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 “It was painstaking,” he admitted about sitting idle the previous three drafts without a chance to select a player in the opening round. “You look on my draft board and pull the card out and say, there goes another one.”

The last player chosen by the Rockets in the first round was four years ago, when Andrew Cristall was taken 8th overall. In that draft, McFaul hit the bullseye twice, nailing the second round pick in 2020 by taking smooth skating d-man Caden Price. 

“If COVID had not come, we wouldn’t have been in that situation,” McFaul added. “We had to deal with it. Now we are coming through the right side of the track. I think things are going to start looking up.” 

A lack of top end picks in four of the last five drafts would cripple most franchises, but that hasn’t stopped the team from placing fourth and fifth in the Western Conference in back-to-back seasons.

“We have good coaches that work hard with the kids to get them better,” McFaul added.  “We knew where we were. No one panicked from Bruce [Hamilton] down. We stuck to the plan. We just got to work hard and get better, and we will get through this.”

After a 33 win season in 2023-2024, what are the Rockets needs when selecting a player, who unfortunately won’t play fulltime for the team until the fall of 2025? 

“The best player possible,” McFaul added. “We tend to lean the defenseman way, but if there is a really good forward, we aren’t uncomfortable taking any of them.” 

The perils of picking late in the draft are likely a drop-in hockey IQ. While players chosen between the fourth and 12th rounds may exhibit character, the way they see the ice to make smart, skilled plays is often diminished. 

“They have to go hand-in-hand,” McFaul said when asked if skating or hockey IQ is what he looks for in a prospect. “If you can’t skate you can’t play.  If you can’t play, you have no hockey IQ. Just about all the kids can skate now. 

“The way the rules have changed, and the way these smaller guys compete now, with some of them competing off the charts. They see someone who is six foot two or six foot four and they aren’t intimidated.” 

With the help of Assistant General Manager Curtis Hamilton, the two spent countless hours this winter attending top end bantam tournaments in an effort to stockpile the cupboards with high end talent.

“We do our homework,” McFaul admits. “We see these guys so many times. We fully know what to expect from them. There are seldom few surprises.

“We had a really good draft last year,” McFaul concluded.

“If we can duplicate that this year, we will be in good shape.”