New hockey landscape offers challenges

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

When Marty Murray was hired by the Brandon Wheat Kings in August 2022, he couldn’t have imagined the change that lay ahead.

A decision by the NCAA to accept major junior players has impacted every facet of his job, including tonight’s Western Hockey League draft.

“I never would have dreamt that this would be the case,” said Murray, who serves as head coach and general manager. “Our players have the opportunity to look at NCAA. It’s always been this path or this path, and now that you can combine them, it creates some cloudiness.

“Some of it might be bad as far as guys wanting to leave early — there have been some stories across the league — but on the flip side of that, there may be some opportunities to bring in some players you otherwise probably didn’t have a chance to get.

“It’s a different world and it’s probably going to take some time here for the market to straighten out.”

That’s important because Brandon is in a very unique position.

Murray’s team appears to be entering its window of contention, and it has two first-round picks and two in the second round, giving them four selections in the top 38. That gives Brandon some incredible draft capital to potentially acquire players.

“There has been a lot,” Murray said of interest from other GMs. “We’ve been talking to everybody and seeing what’s out there. Obviously those are pretty valuable pieces and we’ve talked to almost everybody in terms of the opportunities out there.”

But with the new era, there’s a problem. If Brandon paid a high price for a player who never reported because he unexpectedly headed to the NCAA instead, it would be devastating.

“There is a bit of uncertainty with who might potentially be back,” Murray said. “It’s uncharted waters from everybody right now. That’s something we would certainly look at. We’ve talked to a lot of teams about that but there is some uncertainty with who is actually going to be playing in our league next year.”

FIRST DRAFT

This year it’s 2010-born players who will be selected.

It would be an absolute shock if the first pick isn’t highly touted forward Maddox Schultz of the Regina Pat Canadians U18 AAA, especially since the Regina Pats hold the pick.

After that, it’s anyone guess.

“Even after Maddox Schultz I think there is some cloudiness on who is even going to be two or three and four and five,” Murray said. “I think there are a lot of guys lumped in from two to eight, let’s say, and then after that there are a lot more guys lumped in. It’s an interesting one.

“You don’t know who is going to be available at 12 or 15 or whatever. The top 10 probably looks a lot different on everybody’s list.”

By position, Murray said the talent seems to be more readily available on the blue-line. He expects Manitoba will see its usual 25-30 players selected, although he’s not sure how many top-end players will come out of the province, mostly because there is so much uncertainty in the draft rankings.

“It’s obviously close to us and nobody should take the province lightly,” Murray said. “There are good players who come out year after year.”

The draft continues to be done remotely after many years of meeting at a hotel in Calgary.

Director of hockey operations Chris Moulton remains the lead at the Brandon draft table, with the scouts either physically in the Wheat Kings board room or plugged in remotely via Zoom.

It will be the fourth Brandon draft for Moulton, who came on board on July 2, 2021, and Murray’s third.

The Wheat Kings’ draft list is pretty much set, with the odd late tweak possible. With the number of picks they have, Murray said the decision making will be a mix between best player available and meeting team needs by position.

“It’s a little bit of both,” Murray said. The WHL adopted a new format this year, staging the first round tonight, with Thursday’s agenda involving the two rounds of the U.S. Priority draft and then moving to the rest of the main draft.

“It what it is,” Murray said of the new structure. “It gives the league an opportunity to showcase the first round a little bit more, where in the past all the kids were in school and stuff like that. It’s a little different but at the end of the day, you’re still making all the same picks. We’ll see how it goes.”

YOUNG AMERICANS

The Wheat Kings also hold the top pick in the U.S. Priority draft after they won the league lottery. While that draft has essentially been a wasteland for Brandon since it started in 2020 — the only player selected in it to suit up for them is Matteo Michels, who was acquired from the Pats — it does offer another opportunity to land an impactful player.

“That was a pleasant surprise,” Murray said of the top pick. “Again, with the changing landscape, it opened up an avenue for U.S. players having more interest in playing in the Western Hockey League. That’s a pretty big one and we’ve done a lot of work and done our due diligence talking to people.

“There are players are very interested, who would maybe even consider signing right away, and there are guys who are really good players who would be flattered to be taken but at the same time, maybe not in a rush to sign. We have to decide if we want to roll the dice a little bit and maybe hang on to see if a guy will sign.

“You might not know that for a year from now, but we might be in the position to get a real good player who we know would sign and come right away. That’s something we’re trying to work through and get a couple of concrete answers to have all that information in front of us, but we’ve narrowed it down to a very small group.”

There have been immediate signings of the top American pick on draft day in past years, but Murray said he’s under no pressure from the league to get it done on Thursday.

Brandon dealt its 2023 first-round pick, Reed Brown, to the Portland Winterhawks for overager Marcus Nguyen last summer after the Arizona product’s family said he would rather play in a city with a direct flight home.

There is a chance, however, that Brandon’s inability to sign American players could change. Murray expects more Americans will be in camp in the fall, although some programs south of the border run their camps at the same time and it’s hard to get those players to come up.

The 2023 second-rounder, Jimmy Egan of Mahtomedi, Minn., has been in conversation with the Wheat Kings, and 2024 picks Colin Grubb and Ethan Sung may also attend camp. They also have some listed American players in the mix.

“There might be an opportunity to get some of those guys signed,” Murray said. “Again, with this changing landscape, it works both ways. You might end up losing players and at the same time, you might end up getting players you may not have had a chance to get in the past.”

EXPANSION LOSS

On top of all that, the club also has the upcoming expansion draft for the Penticton Vees to worry about.

The expansion draft will be held today just before the first round begins. Each of the other 22 teams in the league will lose one player, although trades are permitted in lieu of an expansion pick.

Teams have two options on who they can protect from their 50-player, injured, suspended, graduate, special import and 20-year-old lists, plus an additional six players appearing on their college list.

• 16 players — Anyone aged 17 to 20 years old.

• 17 players — 14 players aged 17 to 19 years old and three 20-year-old players.

“That’s another piece of it for sure,” Murray said with a chuckle. “We’ve talked on a few occasions to see if there is anything in place and we’ll continue to do that as the expansion draft approaches. It’s always a tough one. The last few spots are very competitive and lots is going to go into it, whether it be by position or what have you.

“Everybody is going to lose a player they don’t necessarily want to lose. That’s part of the expansion process.”

Tonight’s activities begin a couple of busy days for the club, but Murray is optimistic it will all work out fine as they wade through the new reality.

“Our scouts have done a real good job pounding the pavement again this year,” Murray said. “Depending on what we do, we should have some high-end picks.”

» pbergson@brandonsun.com