Raiders still feeling effects of busted 2007 draft

The Western Hockey League announced Wednesday morning that the Prince Albert Raiders will have the second overall pick in the 2012 WHL Bantam Draft, after the Seattle Thunderbirds, who finished third last in the league, won the draft lottery.

The Raiders will hope when they make their selections May 3 in Calgary, that this year's draft class will look nothing like the one they selected in 2007, which they are still paying for now.

The Raiders finished last in the Western Hockey League standings this season, and all although a lot of things went unexpectedly wrong to lead them to their basement dwelling situation, it's their lack of success in past drafts, especially the 2007 draft.

Players selected in the 2007 draft would have been 19-years-old for the 2011-2012 season, a very important age for any hockey club in the Canadian Hockey League. This season, the Raiders did not have one of the 11 players they drafted that year on their active roster.

Then-GM Donn Clark and head scout Dave O’Brien selected Ryan Aasman with the eight overall pick that year. The slightly built d-man was 5-10, 160 pounds when he was drafted and was expected to provide offence from the backend, but he never turned into the puck-moving magician they hoped he would be. In 90 games with the Raiders, including 10 games as a 15-year-old, Aasman produced just one goal and four assists.

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Aasman was selected two spots ahead of former Prince George Cougar Brett Connolly, who made the NHL as a 19-year-old with the Tampa Bay Lightning. Aasman was also picked ahead of Kamloops Blazers sniper Brendan Ranford, Medicine Hat Tigers goaltender Tyler Bunz, who was named as WHL Eastern Conference First Team All-Star on Wednesday, and Everett goaltender Kent Simpson.

Aasman was traded midway through the 2009-2010 season, when he was 17-years-old, to the Seattle Thunderbirds for forward Jonathan Parker. Aasman finished with 12 points in his 166 game WHL career, and played for five teams in total. He's now with the Spruce Grove Saints of the Alberta Junior Hockey League. However, it should be noted that Aasman lost his father Tony to cancer at the beginning of his rookie season, a very tough situation for anybody to deal with.

Their second round pick that year was Ryan Harrison, picked 29th overall. After a promising rookie season, scoring 35 points in 62 games as a 16-year-old rookie forward, Harrison failed to reach expectations in his 17-year-old up-and-down season, with 54 points in 72 games. Harrison requested a trade following his sophomore season and was shipped to the Medicine Hat Tigers to start the 2010-2011 campaign.

The Tigers then traded him to the Everett Silvertips later that season. He's still with the 'Tips and had 52 points with them this year, but has yet to beat his career high 54 points he posted as a 17-year-old with the Raiders.

Third rounder Sean Aschim played 26 games with the Raiders, scoring four points as a 16-year-old before getting traded. He’s now with the Melville Millionaires in the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League.

The only other player that played in the WHL from that draft class was sixth rounder Jacob Edwards, who played just two games as a goaltender with the Raiders. The other seven players played at the Junior A level or lower.

Of course, the Raiders dramatically improved in evaluating talent and drafting players since then, especially in the first two rounds.

The following year in the 2008 draft, the Raiders picked Mark McNeill fifth overall, a first-round choice of the Chicago Blackhawks in the 2011 NHL Draft. Harrison Ruopp was a third-round choice of the Phoenix Coyotes. Mike Winther was chosen in the 2009 WHL Bantam Draft, played in the CHL Top Prospects Game will likely be selected in the top two or three rounds in this year’s NHL Entry Draft.

In his first draft as the Raiders’ head scout, Dale Derkatch picked Josh Morrissey sixth overall in 2010 and was second in points among WHL rookie defencemen, and first in goals with 10 and has a very bright future ahead of him. The Raiders are high on Derkatch’s 2011 picks as well, which include Reid Gardiner eighth overall, and Tim Vanstone, who looks to be an absolute steal in the third round.

A drastic draft recovery or not, the fact remains the Raiders essentially missed out on a full-year of the draft, and really felt the effects of that this season. Not only did they have to do a lot of patchwork to get their 19-year-old class this year, but also were forced to add a lot of undrafted youth to their team (all due respect to Jesse Knowler, Chance Braid, Carson Perreaux and affiliate Joey Santucci).

With the second overall pick this draft, and the first pick in the subsequent rounds, the Raiders will have ample opportunity to build for the future, and not to dwell on their past.

jdandrea@panow.com