Rockets take ten players in Prospects Draft

The Kelowna Rockets selected a total of 10 players in the 2021 WHL Prospects Draft (formerly the bantam draft) that took place online today, including one goaltender, four defencemen and five forwards.

It was Rockets head scout Terry McFaul’s first WHL Prospect Draft since taking over the position from Lorne Frey. Typically held in May, the draft was pushed back to December due to Covid-19 to give teams time to evaluate players.

“The draft went very well,” said McFaul. “It was an off draft because you didn’t get to see the kids as much as you normally would in a normal year, we’re satisfied with how it went and with the kids that we selected today.

“The kids grow a lot over the summer, you really have to spread your scouts out to catch them. We tried to hit everything that we could, I thought that we did a pretty good job. I’ve been all over the place, Lorne has been all over, our team of scouts have done a great job.”

With their first pick of the day, the Rockets selected right shot defenceman Gabriel Guilbault in the third round (No. 61) from the Burnaby Winter Club U18 Prep of the CSSHL.

Guilbault, 15, has posted five assists and six penalty minutes through 11 games this season with the U18 Prep team.

The Burnaby product was named the 2019-20 Bantam Varsity Division MVP.

The 6’2″, 163-pound defenceman represented British Columbia at the 2021 WHL Cup, registering an assist and tw0 penalty minutes.

“We’re very excited to Gabriel in the third round. He’s a big defenceman, moves the puck well, good skater, can be physical and has some offence to him. He’s got lot’s of bite to his game, he’s going to be  a  good player.”

For more on the Rockets’ picks, click here.

With the first-overall pick in the Prospects Draft, the Spokane Chiefs used the selection to take forward Berkly Catton of Saskatoon from the Saskatoon Contacts U18.

Tij Iginla of Lake Country, a forward, and son of Hall of Famer Jarome Iginla, was taken 9th overall by Seattle.

Forward Ritchie Ryder of Kelowna, was selected 14th by Prince Albert.

Click here to see all the picks, courtesy of the WHL.