For the first time in its history the WHL Draft will be conducting a draft solely for US born players. This draft will take place this afternoon at 2pm MDT.
NZ has put together a list of every US born player drafted in the top 150 in the WHL Draft since 2015. You can click on every prospect and go to their individual player profile.
There has only been 1 first-round pick and only 4 second-round picks in the past 5 years of drafts which shows the difficulty the WHL has in drafting US born bantams. Of the 59 players who have been drafted from the US in the top 150 of the WHL Draft only 11 have actually signed with those teams (so far).
US Players Drafted in Top 150 of WHL Draft from 2015-19
| Name | Round | Overall | Draft Yr | Star Rating | Where are they now? |
| Luke Toporowski | 1 | 8 | 2016 | 4.25 | Spokane (WHL) |
| Luke Reid | 2 | 27 | 2016 | 4.75 | Chicago Steel (USHL) |
| Josh Niedermayer | 2 | 30 | 2019 | 4 | OHA (CSSHL) |
| Jake Hoffrogge | 2 | 41 | 2018 | 3.75 | Sask Contacts (SMHL) |
| Gabe Ludwig | 2 | 42 | 2019 | 4 | Pitt Elite U15 (NEP) |
| Ty Smilanic | 3 | 51 | 2017 | 4.75 | NTDP U18 (Ind) |
| Bryan Lockner | 3 | 58 | 2015 | 3.5 | Medicine Hat (WHL) |
| Hunter Campbell | 3 | 60 | 2016 | 3.5 | Everett (WHL) |
| Zane Rowan | 3 | 61 | 2019 | 3.75 | Delta (CSSHL) |
| Ty Murchison | 3 | 63 | 2018 | 4.5 | NTDP U17 (USHL) |
| Braxton Whitehead | 3 | 66 | 2019 | 3.75 | Pitt Elite U15 (NEP) |
| Jake Sanderson | 4 | 67 | 2017 | 4.75 | NTDP U18 (Ind) |
| Erik Middendorf | 4 | 67 | 2015 | 4.25 | Chicago Steel (USHL) |
| Coleton Panowyk | 4 | 68 | 2017 | 3.25 | Georgetown (OJHL) |
| Ryan Savage | 4 | 68 | 2015 | 4.25 | Miami-Ohio (NCAA) |
| David Hymovitch | 4 | 69 | 2018 | 4 | Phoenix U16 (T1EHL) |
| Alex Bolshakov | 4 | 69 | 2017 | 3.75 | Victoria (WHL) |
| Chaz Lucius | 4 | 74 | 2018 | 5 | NTDP U17 (USHL) |
| Cross Hanas | 4 | 77 | 2017 | 4.5 | Portland (WHL) |
| Camden Shasby | 4 | 83 | 2019 | 3.75 | Fox Motors (T1EHL) |
| Jackson Desouza | 4 | 84 | 2018 | 4 | Okanagan (BCMML) |
| Garrett Brown | 4 | 85 | 2019 | 3.5 | San Jose (T1EHL) |
| Josh Langford | 4 | 85 | 2016 | 3.75 | Topeka (NAHL) |
| Michael Gildon | 4 | 86 | 2016 | 4.5 | Ohio State (NCAA) |
| Tyler Dysart | 4 | 88 | 2019 | 3.75 | San Jose (T1EHL) |
| Zach Michaelis | 4 | 88 | 2017 | 3.75 | Elk River HS (MN HS) |
| Nick Castro | 5 | 89 | 2015 | 2.75 | Yellowstone (NA3HL) |
| Aidan Hreschuk | 5 | 90 | 2018 | 5 | NTDP U17 (USHL) |
| Jack Niedermayer | 5 | 90 | 2016 | 3.75 | Penticton (BCHL) |
| Dino Kambeitz | 5 | 90 | 2015 | 3.75 | Lethbridge (WHL) |
| Erik Atchison | 5 | 94 | 2017 | 3.5 | Spokane (WHL) |
| Dylan Silverstein | 5 | 95 | 2019 | 4 | Dexter (NE Prep) |
| Colton Langkow | 5 | 99 | 2019 | 3.75 | Phoenix U15 (T1EHL) |
| Matthew Ng | 5 | 100 | 2019 | 3.5 | Culver U16 (Ind) |
| Riley Stuart | 5 | 104 | 2017 | 3.75 | Dubuque (USHL) |
| Dustin Wolfe | 5 | 104 | 2016 | 4.5 | Everett (WHL) |
| Jack Barnes | 5 | 104 | 2015 | 3.5 | Penticton (BCHL) |
| James Hong | 5 | 108 | 2019 | 3.5 | Anaheim (T1EHL) |
| Ryan O’Reilly | 5 | 109 | 2015 | 4.25 | Green Bay (USHL) |
| Dawson Butt | 6 | 118 | 2015 | 3.75 | Everett (WHL) |
| Nik Norman | 6 | 118 | 2016 | 3.5 | Chippewa (NAHL) |
| Hunter Strand | 6 | 120 | 2017 | 4.25 | NTDP U18 (Ind) |
| Hayden Cox | 6 | 121 | 2018 | 3.5 | Compuware (HPHL) |
| True Crowe | 6 | 122 | 2017 | 3.25 | Aurora (OJHL) |
| Luke Schelter | 6 | 124 | 2019 | 3.5 | Mt. St. Charles (NEP) |
| Stanislav Demin | 6 | 127 | 2015 | 4.5 | Denver (NCAA) |
| Will Brown | 6 | 129 | 2015 | 3 | Retired |
| Jackson Dylla | 6 | 132 | 2017 | 3.5 | Dallas Stars (T1EHL) |
| Devlin McCabe | 7 | 135 | 2015 | 3.75 | Minnesota (NAHL) |
| Jaxon Nelson | 7 | 137 | 2015 | 4.25 | Minnesota (NCAA) |
| Matthew Gross | 7 | 141 | 2018 | 3.75 | Phoenix U16 (T1EHL) |
| Cal Sandquist | 7 | 141 | 2016 | 3.75 | Corpus Christi (NAHL) |
| Aidan Thompson | 7 | 143 | 2017 | 4 | Berkshire (NE Prep) |
| Paul Minnehan | 7 | 146 | 2018 | 4.25 | NJ Avalanche (NEP) |
| Ryan Robinson | 7 | 146 | 2016 | 4 | Des Moines (USHL) |
| Jeff Montoya | 7 | 147 | 2017 | 2.75 | Phoenix U18 (T1EHL) |
| Nicholas Kent | 7 | 147 | 2016 | 4 | Vernon (BCHL) |
| Jace Foskey | 7 | 148 | 2015 | 4 | Harvard (NCAA) |
| Ryan Nutt | 7 | 150 | 2018 | 3.25 | Lake Forest (MPHL) |
The new US WHL Draft will allow the WHL programs to focus more on the best players in the US instead of having to guess what round they can afford to take a prospect at.
“We are seeing just over 7% of the WHL Draft in the top 150 selections are Americans and of those picks only 18% of those prospects are signing with the teams,” said Donald Godreau, Director of Western Canadian scouting for Neutral Zone. “This means less than 2% of the last 5 years of WHL drafted Americans who went in the top 150 spots have been signed. So it was clear a change needed to be made to the system and we feel this is a good step so GM’s and scouts don’t have to worry if they should take a player in the 3rd round or 6th round not knowing if the player will report or not.”
Donald also suggests it will bulk up teams scouting efforts in the US now that they have to draft two rounds of US talent before their draft begins. “Some teams spend more time than others in the US, some have full time scouts in Minnesota or Western US but this should collectively improve the leagues scouting and recruiting efforts south of the border.”
The WHL also made the date of this draft over a month before the regular WHL Draft which allows teams to start educating US players and parents on the WHL route and their specific programs. “It will be interesting to track the impact of the new NCAA recruiting rules and how that impacts Western US prospects,” said Donald. “All the WHL teams will have the ability to offer a contract to these prospects before the NCAA schools can even talk to them which could be a real advantage to the WHL going forward.”
# of US Born prospects drafted in Top 150 in WHL Draft from 2015-2019
| Year | US Top 150 | Players Signed |
| 2019 | 12 | 1 |
| 2018 | 10 | 1 |
| 2017 | 13 | 3 |
| 2016 | 11 | 3 |
| 2015 | 13 | 3 |
Check back with NZ after the draft tonight to get insight on the players selected!
Photo Credit: Dan Hickling/Hickling Images