The Kelowna Rockets franchise has historically been a breeding factory for top-end defencemen.
Shea Weber, Alex Edler, Luke Schenn, Josh Gorges, Duncan Keith, Tyler Myers, Tyson Barrie and Damon Severson are just some of the NHL blue liners who have played their WHL hockey in Kelowna.
If things go the Rockets’ way on Wednesday, there’s a chance that the club could draft a generational defence prospect when the WHL draft rolls around in May.
Kelowna enters Wednesday’s WHL draft lottery with the third-best odds to select first overall in the 2024 draft.
We'll be keeping a close eye on tomorrow's WHL Prospects Daft Lottery as we have the third best odds.
— Kelowna Rockets (@Kelowna_Rockets) March 26, 2024
The Rockets have Regina’s pick, which was acquired from the Seattle Thunderbirds last January in the Colton Dach deal.
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Although the Rockets are in the playoffs, the team has those odds of securing the top selection in the draft because they own the Regina Pats’ first overall pick.
The pick was traded to Seattle in October 2022, then to Kelowna in the blockbuster deal that sent Colton Dach to the Thunderbirds in January 2023.
The Pats finished with the third-best record in the WHL this season, which puts the Rockets in prime position to pick first overall for the first time in franchise history.
A team can only move up two spots in the draft order, which means only three clubs have a chance to secure the top pick.
Here’s how the lottery odds break down:
The highest pick in Rockets franchise history was second overall in 2007, when they picked Luke Moffat, and the club’s most recent top 10 pick was Andrew Cristall at eighth in 2020.
While a top five draft pick will certainly net Kelowna a top-end prospect, the first overall pick has significantly added value this year because of a teenager named Landon Dupont.
Dupont is the projected top pick in this year’s draft and will potentially become just the second WHL player ever to receive exceptional status after Connor Bedard.
At just 14 years old, Dupont has been tearing up the CSSHL U18 Prep League with the Calgary Edge School, scoring 19 goals and adding 43 assists for 62 points in just 30 games.
He is already drawing comparisons to another Calgary product, Norris, Calder and Conn Smythe winner Cale Makar, and it’s easy to see why while watching his highlights.
“Obviously he’s a superstar in the making, and he’s the real deal,” Dupont’s coach James Poole, who has 15 years of high-level coaching under his belt and says he’s never seen a better 14 year old, told Sportsnet in December.
“I got a chance to see Bedard at 14. Landon is special. A defenceman doing what he does and how much the game revolves around him is pretty special. I think the skating is the first thing, and he reads the game just a couple plays ahead of everyone else. Cale Makar comes to mind in terms of how much the game revolves around him.”
There’s still uncertainty on whether Dupont will go the WHL or NCAA route, but if he decides to play in the WHL, there is a zero per cent chance he won’t be the first player off the draft board in May.
The results of the 2024 WHL draft lottery will be broadcast live on the league’s YouTube channel at 2 pm PDT on Wednesday.
