By Jeff D'Andrea

Head scout Gunville chats about Raiders’ draft day; pair of P.A. kids picked

May 4, 2017 | 2:22 PM

CALGARY—In a draft in which they had the first overall pick, and two choices in each of the first three rounds, the Prince Albert Raiders knew Thursday’s 2017 WHL Bantam Draft was vital to building the contending team of tomorrow.

Raiders director of player personnel Ron Gunville believes his club did exactly that. “We think we did great. We’re really happy.”

They kicked it off the draft proceedings in Calgary by selecting Kaiden Guhle, standout defenceman and younger brother of former long-time Raider Brendan Guhle. The Raiders now are stacked on the blueline in terms of young, promising talent. Last year, the Raiders drafted Rhett Rhinehart 12^th overall in the 2016 WHL Bantam Draft, then took Adam Herold in the second round.

“That was our plan once we determined Kaiden was the first pick overall. Once we settled him on him, we knew we had to go 17 and 25 on our forward group,” Gunville said. “We’re really happy with Adam Herold’s development and Rhett’s taken massive strides. In two or three years, teams are going to have to have a hard time getting pucks in our zone with those guys skating.”

After Guhle’s selection, the Raiders drafted three straight forwards in Cohner Saleski in the first round, as well as Ozzy Wiesblatt and Jakob Brook in the second round.

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Here is the complete breakdown of the Raiders’ selections, along with comments from Gunville and other special notes.

First round

1. Kaiden Guhle, D, 6’1, 174, OHA Edmonton, CSSHL Bantam, 17 goals, 40 points in 30 games

CSSBHL Top Defenceman, younger brother of former Raider Brendan Guhle

Gunville’s thoughts: “Of course we had the first pick and took Kaiden. To us, he was the number one player and number one D-man. It was a no-brainer.”

17.  Cohner Saleski, C, 5’8.5, 148, Saskatoon Stallions, SBAAHL, 43 goals, 85 points in 30 games

Second in SBAAHL in both goals and points

Gunville’s scouting report: “The second pick Cohner Saleski, he was right there. He was one of the guys we targeted. He had speed, skill, tenacity and he’s a first class goal scorer.”

Second Round

25. Ozzy Wiesblatt, C/RW, 5’8, 164, Calgary Bisons, AMBHL, 38 goals, 73 points in 32 games

Gunville’s take: “Ozzy Wiesblatt was a guy that fell in our lap. We thought he was going to go higher and obviously getting him with the third pick in the second round, we were extremely happy.”

40. Jakob Brook, RW, 6’2, 154, Rink Hockey Academy, CSSHL Bantam, 20 goals, 32 points in 27 games

Younger brother of Moose Jaw Warriors defenceman Josh Brook, son of former Raider Dwayne Brook.

Gunner’s thoughts: “He’s a big, tall lanky guy. I played a little bit with his dad [Dwayne], who’s a former Raider. Jakob is a big tall right winger, shoots the puck like a pro already and comes from a great program with the Rink Academy.”

Third Round

47. Braydon Clark, D, 5’10, 172, Pursuit of Excellence, CSSHL Bantam, three goals, 14 points in 27 games

Won CSSBHL Championship with Pursuit of Excellence this past season

64. Evan Herman, C, 5’8, 134, Rink Hockey Academy, CSSHL Bantam, 19 goals, 37 points in 27 games

Fifth Round

100. Davin Griffin, FW, 5,9.5, 144, Regina Monarchs, SBAAHL, 50 goals, 18 assists in 30 games

Led Saskatchewan in goal scoring with 50 goals in SBAAHL

105. Graham Skinner, D, 6’0, 178, Saskatoon Outlaws, SBAAHL, 2 goals, 17 points in 29 games

Sixth Round

120. Hunter Strand, C, 5’10, 155, Alaska Oilers, U.S. Tier 1, stats unavailable

Was eighth American ranked in the WHL Bantam Draft by Western Elite Hockey Prospects

Seventh Round

150. Dylan Scriven, RW, 5’11, 190, Notre Dame Hounds, CSSBHL, 9 goals, 12 points in 23 games

From Humboldt, Scriven was born in Prince Albert

Eighth Round

Raiders traded their eighth round pick to Kelowna on draft day for the Rockets’ eighth rounder in 2019

Tenth Round

Traded 201^st pick to Prince George.

Passes on 215^th pick.

P.A. kids

The Raiders didn’t end up selecting Prince Albert’s Alex Ozar, but he still ended up very close to home. The Saskatoon Blades selected Ozar 109^th overall in the 5^th round. Ozar had 10 goals and 35 points with the Bantam AA Raiders as a defenceman this year.

In the eighth round, Prince Albert’s Ethan Ironside was picked 168^th overall by the Kamloops Blazers. Ironside scored 10 goals and 24 points in 29 games this year with the Bantam AA Raiders this year.

Jeff D’Andrea is paNOW’s sports reporter. He can be reached at jdandrea@jpbg.ca or tweet him @jeff_paNOW.