Wheaties acquire overage duo at draft

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This article was published 07/05/2025 (276 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Brandon Wheat Kings reshaped their overage group for the upcoming Western Hockey League season with a massive trade and also found time to draft a skilled defenceman on Wednesday.

Brandon acquired overage forward Luke Mistelbacher of Steinbach and overage defenceman Grayson Burzynski of Winnipeg from the Swift Current Broncos for the Wheat Kings’ own pick in the first round, 15th overall, plus 15-year-old prospect Alex Letourneau, a second-round pick in 2025 originally belonging to the Saskatoon Blades, third-round picks in 2027 and 2028 and a sixth-round pick in 2028.

Brandon head coach and general manager Marty Murray said the team, which will be losing captain and top defenceman Quinn Mantei to college next season, had to shore up as it tries to get to the next level.

“It’s hard to replace a guy like that,” Murray said. “You look at our D corps and we needed help. Grayson was available, and a player like Mistelbacher who was eighth in the league in scoring last year and pushing 100 points and one of a handful of guys over 40 goals, I think you look at teams that go a long way and are playing in the league final right now, they have guys who are point producers and no disrespect to our guys in the last few years, but when your top scorers have 60 or 70 points, it doesn’t get it done.

“We thought we had the ability with Mistelbacher to take it to another level with a guy who could be over 100 points and hopefully (Roger) McQueen is there with him, and those are game changers.”

The draft continues today, with the two-round U.S. Prospects draft first — Brandon holds the top pick — and then the rest of the main draft.

The six-foot, 167-pound Mistelbacher, a right-handed shot who played in the Eastman Selects system prior to jumping to the WHL at 17, led Swift Current with 42 goals and 51 assists last season.

Meanwhile, the six-foot-four, 211-pound Burzynski, a left-handed shot who played U15 with the Winnipeg Monarchs and U18 with the Wild before coming into the league at 16, also brings some offence, with 11 goals, 36 assists and 48 penalty minutes last season.

Murray said both players were pleased with the news when he spoke to them.

“They’re Manitoba guys and really excited to play close home and recognize that we’re going to have a good team hopefully,” Murray said. “They’ll help contribute to our success.”

Broncos GM Chad Leslie told the WHL broadcast it was important for his team to recoup some picks after the acquisition of Strathclair’s Conor Geekie two seasons ago, and the deal made sense. But that didn’t make it easy.

“You get close with your players,” Leslie said. “They did a lot for our team, Luke being a listed player and having the year that he had last year and having the success he’s had, and Grayson having a great year as well. It’s hard to say goodbye to those guys but they’ve been with us for a while and understood they get a good opportunity in a place I believe has a chance to win, and do a great job in Brandon.

“We’re going to move forward with a young group.”

Letourneau, a rangy forward, had 12 goals and seven assists in 38 games with the U18 Fort Saskatchewan Rangers last season. He had 28 goals in 33 games when Brandon grabbed the product of Legal, Alta., in last year’s draft in the fifth round.

But with the addition of a third import player on rosters next season and a skilled existing group, Murray said it was time to make a major move.

“We owe it to our fanbase to show that we’re serious this year,” Murray said. “We’re a team that wants to make some noise. We don’t want to empty the shelves — we played with house money a little bit, this draft is a little light for picks — but when he traded the tough decision to trade guys like (Nate) Danielson and Jake Chiasson, we thought we had the ability at some point to use them. We don’t want to use them foolishly but we feel like we got two pretty good players.”

Brandon’s potential overagers for next season also include forwards Dominik Petr, Nick Johnson and Matteo Michels. That will give them the opportunity to potentially recoup some of the picks in trades.

He added they essentially have another first rounder with the top pick in the U.S. Priority draft.

“We’re happy about it,” Murray said of the team’s day. “When the draft is going by you wish you had more picks but we feel good about prospect pool. The one thing that put us over the edge to make a move like that was to win the U.S. lottery.

“We’re going to pick a kid we really like who is a stronger, no-brainer first-round pick in the entry draft that we’re going to sign so that was almost like a bonus for us, almost like another first-round pick.”

FIRST ROUND

As expected, the Regina Pats grabbed forward Maddox Schultz with the top pick. The 15-year-old forward had 43 goals and 50 assists as an underage playing with the under-18 AAA Regina Pat Canadians last season, adding 22 points in 10 playoff games and 20 points in seven games as they won the Telus Cup.

The Edmonton Oil Kings grabbed defenceman Holden Wouters, and the Pats made a deal to pick up the third overall pick from the Kelowna Rockets in return for the 26th overall pick in 2025 and first-round picks in 2026 and 2027. The Pats then took forward Liam Pue.

After Penticton made their first-ever pick to select defenceman Thor Liffiton, the Everett Silvertips grabbed Brandonite Reid Nicol.

With the 12th overall pick, Brandon grabbed defenceman Cruz Jim of Grande Prairie, Alta.

Jim had 13 goals and 53 assists in 35 games with 42 penalty minutes with NAX this season, and added five points in five playoff games.

Cruz, who is an elite skater, was named the top defenceman at the prestigious John Reid Memorial Tournament.

“I was just watching and then saw my name came up and it was Brandon,” Jim said. “I’m super, super excited.”

Cruz, who is five-foot-eight and 150 pounds, said he actually had an inkling it could be the Wheat Kings after they had had showed an interest during the season.

“I had talked to Brandon leading up to the draft a fair amount,” Jim said. “There was a belief there they might select me and they did, and that’s awesome.”

Murray said the youngster is a very, very good player that Brandon didn’t expect to see available at 12.

“Our group liked everything about him,” Murray said. “I think his ability to break pucks out on his own and he was a dynamic player who could run a power play. There’s so much to like about him. He’s elusive, he can make plays, he does a great job of getting pucks through at the blue-line, he’s just a modern-day, real good, offensive defenceman.”

Three picks later, Brandon made the deal with Swift Current, and Leslie then sent the pick to Saskatoon for the Blades’ first-round pick, 22nd overall, plus fourth- and fifth-round picks in 2025.

The other Manitobans picked in the first round were defenceman Mateo Ferreira of Winnipeg, defenceman Crosby Mateychuk of Dominion City and forward Athens Shingoose of Waywayseecappo, who played at the Rink Hockey Academy in Winnipeg.

Overall, 13 forwards and 10 defenceman were selected in the first round. No goalies were taken.

There were two other deals around the league on Wednesday.

• The Rockets, who are hosting the next Memorial Cup after missing the playoffs this season, acquired 19-year-old forward Carson Wetsch and a second-round pick in 2028 from the Calgary Hitmen for 2008-born defenceman Ben MacBeath, a second-round pick in 2025, a fourth-round pick in 2025 and a first-round pick in 2027.

• The Penticton Vees acquired forward Willy James from the Saskatoon Blades for a fifth-round pick in 2025.

EXPANSION DRAFT

On an eventful day, Brandon also lost 16-year-old forward Isaac Davies to Penticton as the Western Hockey League’s newest club grabbed players and made trades in the expansion draft.

The six-foot, 170-pound forward from Carstairs, Alta., was called up by the Wheat Kings for seven games last season, and stuck around for the playoffs and saw action in two games.

“It’s hard, especially with those young guys who you draft,” Murray said. “They’re almost like family. You’re with them when they’re 15 on the day of the draft and he’s right on the cusp of coming to play for us. Just unfortunately for everybody, we lost Isaac today but we only had so many open spots to protect players and we were going to lose somebody we didn’t want to. It’s the nature of the beast.

“I had a good chat with after and said we were sad to see him go but at the same time excited for him because he’ll get a real good opportunity there for him to play.”

Penticton grabbed 13 players in the expansion draft, and made seven trades that brought them nine more players. The Medicine Hat Tigers and Spokane Chiefs didn’t lose anybody yet: They were granted an extension because they are in the league final, which begins on Friday in Alberta.

ICINGS: Medicine Hat forward Gavin McKenna has been awarded the Four Broncos Memorial Trophy as the WHL’s player of the year. He had 129 points in the regular season and is nursing a 53-game point streak as the league final begins.

» pbergson@brandonsun.com

 

FIRST ROUND

1. Regina — Maddox Schultz, F.

2. Edmonton (from Moose Jaw) — Holden Wouters, D.

3. Regina (from Kelowna) — Liam Pue, F.

4. Penticton — Thor Liffiton, D.

5. Everett (from Kamloops) — Reid Nicol, F.

6. Vancouver (from Wenatchee) — Louis-Oscar Holowaychuk, F.

7. Red Deer — Nolan Wolitski, D.

8. Edmonton (from Seattle) — Christopher Kokkoris, D.

9. Tri-City — Ben Oliverio, F.

10. Wenatchee (from Swift Current) — Kalen Miles, F.

11. Kamloops (from Vancouver) — Mateo Ferreira, D.

12. Brandon (from Portland) — Cruz Jim, D.

13. Vancouver (from Edmonton) — Crosby Mateychuk, D.

14. Kamloops (from Saskatoon) — Teagen Bouchard, F.

15. Saskatoon (from Swift Current/Brandon) — Kain Martinuik, F.

16. Prince Albert — Athens Shingoose, F.

17. Prince George — Cohen Baker, F.

18. Moose Jaw (from Lethbridge) — Kash Elke, F.

19. Victoria — Roan Greschuk, D.

20. Kelowna (from Spokane) — Will Kelts, D.

21. Seattle (from Calgary) — Brook Haile, D.

22. Swift Current (From Saskatoon/Medicine Hat) — Cohenn Rotar, F

23. Regina (from Everett) — Logan Henry, F.