Photo courtesy: Marissa Baecker/Shoot the Breeze

By Regan Bartel

Some similarities, some differences

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It has been suggested the Seattle Thunderbirds are a super team.

With five first-round NHL draft picks, that moniker is likely accurate.

Let’s not forget the WHL champion Kelowna Rockets were a super team in their own right back in 2015.

Eleven players from that roster are currently or played in an NHL game.

Like Dylan Guenther starting the season in the NHL with the Arizona Coyotes before being sent back to junior hockey, Leon Draisaitl, now leading the NHL playoffs in goals scored (6), followed a similar path after being a first-round selection of the Edmonton Oilers.

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Then 19 years old, the squirming German started the season in the NHL, but after 37 games, then Oilers GM Craig MacTavish elected to demote him to the WHL, where his rights were traded from Prince Albert to Kelowna in a blockbuster trade.

“I think for obvious reasons, Kelowna was the destination for Leon and I think this is going to be extremely important for his development”, MacTavish told NHL.com at the time.

With the acquisition of another first-round NHL draft pick, Winnipeg Jets prospect Josh Morrissey four days later, many media outlets were calling the Rockets a glorified all-star team.

With the trade for Morrissey, and Madison Bowey captaining the team, it gave the Rockets two gold medalists from Canada’s world junior team anchoring the d-core.

When asked what fans could expect before Draisaitl made his debut against the Vancouver Giants in early January of that season, the well spoken forward calmly stated, “I guess I’ll surprise you….just work hard and help the team win.”

‘Dratz’, as he was known to his teammates delivered, much like he is doing today as arguably the Oilers’ best player, yes, even better than Connor McDavid in an opening-round playoff series with the LA Kings.

“He was a man amongst boys,” former teammate Tyson Baillie told RocketFAN when looking back at playing with Draisaitl.

“He was a sure-fire NHLer.”

Baillie, who will go down as one of the best playoff performers ever to wear Kelowna Rockets colours with 27 goals in 64 post-season games, says no matter the stage, Draisaitl’s competitiveness was off the charts.

“He wanted to win as bad as we did,” Baillie continued. That is what helped us that we saw how much he wanted to win, and the younger guys followed that too.

“I didn’t know him before that,” Baillie added. “Some guys play in the NHL and come back to junior and say, whatever, I am too good for this. His mindset was to win, wanting to win a championship. That’s what we did, and it was a whole lot of fun.”

Draisaitl would be named the WHL playoff MVP that season, leading the Rockets to a four-game sweep of Brandon in the league final.

“Half the guys were drafted by NHL teams, or in Leon’s case, had played NHL games. At the junior level, we had four lines that clicked. We didn’t have one weakness on that team. That is what made us so strong was our depth. Our fourth line could score goals as well as our first line, and they were good at shutting down the other team’s top forwards too.”

Draisaitl would eventually be named the MVP at the 2015 Memorial Cup, despite a devastating 4-3 overtime loss to the Oshawa Generals in the tournament final.

“That team was the deepest team I’ve ever been a part of,” Baillie recalled. “Coach [Dan] Lambert did a great job that year of bringing us together. We were all on the same page. We didn’t have egos on the team. We had a bunch of superstars in the WHL, but everybody bought in and played the right way.”

The Rockets would lose only three times in 19 WHL playoff games that season, courtesy of a four game sweep of Tri-City in round one, a five game series win over Victoria (the lone loss coming in overtime), a six game series triumph over the Winterhawks before handing the Wheat Kings their first four game losing streak of the season.

“They fit right in with the team culture we had built”, Baillie continued about trades made that season to pick up Draisaitl, Morrissey and Chance Braid [acquired from Prince George] to bolster their playoff chances.

“It was all about working hard, being serious but also having fun. I think we enjoyed the ride.

“Before the game started, we were having fun and being loose, but as soon as that puck dropped, we were ready to go.”