Buydens takes NHL draft ranking in stride

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This article was published 06/07/2022 (1329 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A player from the Manitoba Junior Hockey League hasn’t been selected in the National Hockey League’s entry draft since 2018.

There’s a chance Virden Oil Capitals forward Carson Buydens could change that.

The Gladstone product was ranked 167th among North American skaters in NHL Central Scouting’s final rankings for the 2022 draft, which begins this evening in Montreal.

While his name could be called in the later rounds on Friday, the 18-year-old is keeping things in perspective.

“If I do get picked, it would be an incredible honour,” Buydens said. “If I’m not picked though, that’s all right. I’m still going to keep putting in the work to get better and I’ll still be playing hockey.”

Buydens was one of two MJHL players to be noticed by NHL Central Scouting, with Steinbach Pistons forward Ty Paisley earning the 193rd spot among North American skaters.

Selkirk Steelers defenceman Spencer Penner — a signed prospect of the Western Hockey League’s Seattle Thunderbirds who had his rights dealt to Steinbach last month — and Pistons forward Davis Fry both made the mid-season list but were not included in the final rankings.

“It was kind of a shock to me when I was told that I had been ranked,” Buydens said. “I didn’t even know that they (the rankings) were even out that day until someone told me about it.

“There are several Junior A guys from the West that made the final list and I think it just shows that those leagues are getting better all the time. All you have to do is look at (Colorado Avalanche defenceman) Cale Makar. He was in the AJHL (with the Brooks Bandits) a few years ago and now he’s one of the best players in the world.”

Buydens — who is slated to join the NCAA’s Princeton Tigers for the 2023-24 season — is coming off an impressive freshman campaign in the MJHL.

He led all first-year skaters with 53 points, which put him second in scoring for the Oil Capitals, in 54 games and joined Justin Lee as the only players in franchise history to win the league’s rookie of the year award.

During the playoffs, he had two goals and three assists in 10 contests.

“I really liked how I steadily improved throughout the season,” Buydens said. “I’m proud of the fact that I’m a much better player now than I was at the start of September.

“I think my skating has improved the most, which comes from just being on the ice a lot and working alongside some great people. When you are surrounded by that every day, it just makes you better.”

Buydens also pointed to the lessons that he learned from the Oil Kings veterans as a key reason for the strides that he made in his game after making the jump from the Central Plains Capitals under-18 AAA program.

“They know what the younger players are going through as rookies and they really made sure to help us out in certain situations,” he added. “The advice they gave us was extremely important as we experienced things for the first time.”

One of the big learning experiences for Buydens came this spring as he embarked on his first long playoff run.

After finishing in third place in the MJHL’s West Division with a 30-20-4-0 record, the Oil Capitals swept aside the Waywayseecappo Wolverines before falling in six games to the Pistons in the semifinal round.

“I think one of the things that I realized during our run was how the desperation level amped up even more after each game,” said Buydens, who was on a line with Branden Huminuk and Dylan Halliday.

“When you win, you are one step closer to the title. When you lose, it’s one step closer to the end of your season. You could feel the desperation increase when we got the series lead on Waywayseecappo and we found ourselves in that situation with Steinbach. Everyone’s working hard to try and get things going their way and those that responded to the desperation were able to keep going.”

When asked what the keys were to the Oil Capitals run to the final four, Buydens pointed to their improved play after the trade deadline as goaltender Bailey Monteith and forwards Nathan Driver and Beau Larson got settled in their new surroundings.

“Those three helped us a lot and we really started to click more as a group,” Buydens said. “It wasn’t a big change so to speak, but as we won more games, I think we realized that we could make some noise.

“We were all working towards a common goal. We were sound defensively, we got depth scoring from throughout the lineup and our goaltending (from Monteith) was really good in the playoffs.”

As the 2022-23 campaign draws closer, Buydens has a couple of options for where he can ply his trade.

He could return to the Oil Capitals for his sophomore season or he could venture down south and try to make the United States Hockey League’s Cedar Rapids RoughRiders, who picked him eighth overall in this year’s entry draft.

While those plans have yet to be set in stone, the recent graduate of William Morton Collegiate is putting what he learned last season into his summer training.

“I don’t know if my routine has changed a ton, but that experience of playing with the Oil Capitals has determined my approach for my weight training, running and skating during the off-season,” Buydens said.

“With a year under my belt in junior, I now have an idea of what things are like and what I need to do in order to get faster and stronger.”

ICINGS: Matthew Thiessen was the last player from the MJHL to be picked in the NHL entry draft as the Vancouver Canucks chose the Steinbach Pistons netminder in the seventh round four years ago. The last skater to be selected was Portage Terriers blue-liner Dean Stewart, who was a seventh-round choice by the Arizona Coyotes in 2016.

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