Photo credit: RocketFAN file photo

By Regan Bartel

No panic, just picks

Inside the Rockets war room – calm, cool and carded

May 11, 2025 | 12:00 PM

You’d expect absolute chaos. The kind you see on the trading floor of the New York Stock Exchange – people yelling over each other, flailing arms, papers flying in every direction, maybe someone dramatically throwing a chair. At the very least, a coffee gets spilled.

But step inside the Kelowna Rockets’ war room at the WHL Prospects Draft, and it’s… weirdly calm. Eerily calm. It feels less like a draft and more like a silent chess match between two very polite Canadians.

At the center of it all are Director of Player Personnel Terry McFaul and Assistant GM Curtis Hamilton, who operate with the steady hands and unflinching focus of surgeons prepping for open-heart surgery – or two dads assembling IKEA furniture without yelling at each other.

McFaul’s secret weapon? A time-tested, high-tech system of – wait for it – index cards. Each card has a player’s name, carefully ranked in the order he believes they should be taken. It’s like fantasy hockey meets office supply catalog. When a player gets drafted, McFaul gently removes the card and drops it into the discard pile like he’s sending it off to summer camp. Sometimes, he’ll let out a subtle eye roll that says, “Really? You took that kid there?” Other times, it’s a grimace that suggests someone just stole his sleeper pick while he was mid-water bottle sip.

It’s not an exact science – more like educated guesswork mixed with hockey dad intuition. A kid might look like the next Gretzky in U15, only to hit a ceiling harder than a slapshot to the crossbar. The trick is figuring out who’s got that mysterious “next gear” – the extra something that’ll turn them into a top-line contributor at 18, maybe even the guy you lean on to chase a WHL championship at 19.

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For now, McFaul and Hamilton quietly keep sorting cards, trusting their notes, their instincts, and the countless cold rinks they’ve sat in all winter. It might not be loud or chaotic, but make no mistake—this is where the Rockets’ future gets built.

With index cards.

And maybe a few eye rolls.

Now for the astute move:

In a twist that had draft watchers raising eyebrows and armchair GMs firing off hot takes, the Kelowna Rockets pulled the most cunning move of the opening round – not by picking a player early, but by not picking one. Instead of using the third overall selection, they shipped it off to the Regina Pats.

The result? Regina, bless their rebuilding hearts, snagged two of the top three picks: Maddox Schultz first overall and, thanks to Kelowna’s generosity, Liam Pue at No. 3. Yes, Pue in Rockets colours would’ve looked pretty sharp – and he might just become a star- but let’s face it: the Rockets aren’t playing the long game. They’re aiming for a Memorial Cup now, not in 2028.

While some fans with tunnel vision were chuckling from their couches, the Rockets’ brass were already five moves ahead. In return for passing on Pue, they secured not one, but two future first-round picks from the Pats – one in 2026, another in 2027.

Think of those as loaded chips in the trade pot, ready to be cashed in mid-season to add battle-tested veterans when it matters most.

In another year, sure – Pue’s Kelowna-bound. But this season? There’s no time to babysit.

The Rockets are chasing banners, not building blocks. And since Regina’s in the Eastern Conference, they’ll only have to see Pue once a year anyway – four if the hockey gods get wild.

Low risk, high reward.