With the Memorial Cup completed, the 2023-24 CHL season comes to an end. An end is a perfect time to reflect back on the past few years. As I look back on this most recent era of the Western Hockey League, I'm astonished at just how good the top half of the first round of the 2019 WHL Prospects Draft was. And it certainly explains why a number of teams, including the Thunderbirds, traded up into the top half of the draft to get a chance to draft those 2004 born players. Four teams ended up with multiple selections in the top ten.
The first round consisted of 22 selections, so the top half of the draft would be picks one through eleven. To be fair there were picks in the second half of the first round that were solid picks but among the top eleven choices there was more than a handful of players who have left their mark on the WHL. That draft hasn't completely finished making its mark on the WHL. Many players from that draft, including some of the first round picks, will return next season for their 20 year old seasons, but the majority are moving on, if they hadn't already.
The first overall selection was Matthew Savoie, taken by the Winnipeg ICE. In fact the ICE had the first two picks, having acquired that second pick from Swift Current. After Savoie they selected Conor Geekie (ironically Geekie was traded to Swift Current by Wenatchee at the 2024 trade deadline).
With Savoie and Geekie, Winnpeg would capture two Scotty Munro trophies, finishing with the best regular season record in both 2021-22 and 2022-23. They won two Eastern Division pennants and one Eastern Conference championship. This past winter Savoie was traded to Moose Jaw and helped lead the Warriors to the Eastern Conference Championship and their first ever Ed Chynoweth Cup. Both Savoie and Geekie would end up being NHL first round draft picks.
The Prince George Cougars had picks three and four in that 2019 Draft, choosing Keaton Dowhaniuk and Koehn Ziemmer. Together they helped the Cougars capture the 2024 B.C. Division banner and led them to the Western Conference Championship Series, where they fell to the Portland Winterhawks.
Despite falling short, they helped PG to one of the best seasons in franchise history. Ziemmer was drafted by the NHL's L.A. Kings (third round) and is likely headed to the AHL next season. Dowhaniuk has gone undrafted thus far and could return to the Cougars for his 20 year old season and help make Prince George one of the favorites again next season in the B.C. Division.
Picks five and six belonged to the Brandon Wheat Kings. Going fifth overall to Brandon was Nate Danielson. While Danielson could not lead the Wheat Kings to any significant playoff success in his tenure there, he did get selected by the Detroit Red Wings in the first round of his NHL draft year. His WHL postseason success came this past spring after he was dealt to Portland and helped the Winterhawks to a U.S. Division title and a Western Conference championship, before being ousted by Moose Jaw in the league final.
With the sixth overall selection in the 2019 draft the Wheat Kings chose Tyson Zimmer. Zimmer's time in Brandon was brief, playing parts of two seasons there before being traded to Lethbridge. He had a solid, if not spectacular season and a half with the Hurricanes before they traded him this past winter to Vancouver where he helped the Giants reach the playoffs. He should get one more season as an overager with the Giants this coming season as they, like PG, should be a favorite in the B.C. Division.
Pick number seven belonged to the Kamloops Blazers and they chose defenseman Mats Lindgren (the Blazers would pick again later in the first round, selecting Connor Levis 20th overall). Lindgren was part of a couple of Blazer teams that won B.C. Division banners and was still with the team when they advanced to the Western Conference Championship Series in the spring of 2022, where they lost to Seattle.
Lindgren requested a trade in the summer of 2022 and was dealt to the Red Deer Rebels, where he played the last two seasons. He was part of the Rebels 2022-23 Central Division pennant winners. In the summer of 2022 he was drafted in the fourth round by the NHL's Buffalo Sabres.
The Thunderbirds had two picks in the top ten of the 2019 draft and the first of those, at pick number eight, was Jordan Gustafson. Gus, of course was part of a T-Birds team that won one U.S. Division title, two Western Conference Championships and an Ed Chynoweth Cup. Along with that he played in the 2023 Memorial Cup Championship game. He was a third round draft pick of the NHL's Vegas Golden Knights and was T-Birds captain this past season.
In between Seattle's two top ten picks, Saskatoon chose Brandon Lisowsky with the ninth overall pick. Lisowsky's Blades went to back-to-back Eastern Conference Championship series, won one Eastern Division title and captured the 2023-24 Scotty Munro Trophy after finishing with the league's best regular season record. Lisowsky is a Toronto Maple Leafs 2022 draft choice (seventh round).
The Thunderbirds executed a 2019 draft day trade with Kelowna to move back into the first round and used that 10th overall pick on Kevin Korchinski. Korch did not disappoint, helping the T-Birds to a division title, two Western Conference Championships and the franchise's second ever Ed Chynoweth Cup as well as a berth into the Memorial Cup Championship game last spring in Kamloops. Additionally, he won a gold medal with Canada at the 2023 IIHF World Junior Championship.
He was taken seventh overall in the 2022 NHL Draft by the Chicago Blackhawks and instead of returning to the T-Birds for his 19 year old season, spent the entire campaign playing regularly at the NHL level.
Lastly, with the eleventh selection in the 2019 WHL Draft, the Moose Jaw Warriors took Denton Mateychuk. With Mateychuk the Warriors won this past season's Eastern Conference Championship. A few weeks ago Mateychuk help the Warriors win their first ever WHL championship and was named the 2023-24 WHL Defenseman of the Year. In the summer of 2022 he was taken 12th overall in the NHL Entry Draft by the Columbus Blue Jackets.
To summarize, nine of the top eleven picks from that 2019 WHL Prospects Draft were drafted into the NHL. Five of those nine were taken in the first round of the NHL Draft (Savoie, Geekie, Danielson, Korchinski and Mateychuk).
Ten of those top eleven picks won at least one WHL division title and played at least once in a WHL conference championship series. Five of them won at least one conference championship, three of them won two conference titles and four of them (Savoie, Gustafson, Korchinski and Mateychuk) raised the Ed Chynoweth Cup.
Shockingly, the second half of that 2019 first round was pretty, well, mediocre at best. We mentioned Levis going to Kamloops with the 20th overall pick and he was probably the best of the remaining first round picks. Swift Current did select Tyson Jugnauth 21st overall but he never signed with the Broncos and they surrendered his rights. He was subsequently listed by Kamloops. But Jugnauth stayed in the NCAA with Wisconsin until this past winter when his rights were dealt to the Portland Winterhawks. So he only played half a season in the WHL but did earn a U.S. Division banner and Western Conference Championship with the 'Hawks.
So who was the best pick of those top eleven players? Or maybe a better way to state it is which of those top eleven picks ended up being the most bang for the buck? A case can be made for Savoie. He was the first overall selection and ended up with two Scotty Munro trophies, a couple of Eastern Division banners, two Eastern Conference Championships and an Ed Chynoweth Cup, though it took a trade for him finally to raise the Cup. But admittedly with a little bias, my pick would be Kevin Korchinski.
Korchinski was passed over nine times in that draft. Eight other WHL teams had a chance to pick him and chose not to. Two other defenseman were picked higher. Yet he was part of four banners (one U.S. Division, two Western Conference Championships and one WHL Championship) all with the same team. He came within one win of a Memorial Cup and he won gold with Team Canada at the World Junior Championships. He was the highest drafted WHL player in the 2022 NHL Entry Draft, taken two picks ahead of Savoie, and was the first of those players to make it to the NHL full-time.
Some notable later round bargains? Everett chose Ben Hemmerling in round three. Moose Jaw took 2023-24 CHL Player of the Year Jagger Firkus in the fourth round, Swift Current got NHL drafted defenseman Owen Pickering in round nine and the T-Birds drafted a kid out of Prince George in the sixth round who would go on to score the 2023 Ed Chynoweth Cup clinching goal, then get picked at the top of the second round of the 2023 NHL Draft...Nico Myatovic.
