Building a Bright Future: A Deep Dive Into The Future of the Royals, With Newly Appointed General Manager Jake Heisinger

Victoria, B.C. – It was 262 days ago that the Victoria Royals continued their off-season of change, as the club announced the hiring of Jake Heisinger as Associate General Manager on July 25th, 2023. A flurry of trades, accompanied with an optimistic season which saw the Royals return to the playoffs and a buzz around the city prompted the Royals to promote Heisinger to General Manager. The news came just one week after the conclusion of the 2023-24 season.

“I’m really looking forward to continuing to work with Joey (Poljanowski), James (Patrick), and the rest of our staff this summer,” said Heisinger. “We made some good steps in the right direction this season, but we still have some work to do, but certainly looking forward to building off this season.”

Heisinger became the Royals’ Associate General Manager, transitioning from a successful six-year tenure with the Winnipeg ICE franchise. In Winnipeg, he held roles such as Vice President of Hockey Operations and Assistant General Manager. Before the team’s relocation from Kootenay, Heisinger served as the Manager of Hockey Operations and Director of Scouting starting in 2017.

In Winnipeg, Heisinger contributed to the team’s achievements, including winning the Scotty Munro Memorial Trophy for the WHL’s best record in consecutive seasons. Additionally, the team made appearances in the Eastern Conference Final and WHL Championship.

In his first season with Victoria, the club finished 29-30-5-4 (67 points) which placed the Royals seventh in the Western Conference standings. The 29 wins was the most by the franchise since 2019-20, which propelled them into a berth in the 2024 WHL Playoffs against the Portland Winterhawks. 

“Overall, we were quite happy with this season. Our goal was to be playing meaningful games at the end of the season, and we accomplished that.” stated Heisinger.

The Off-Season Work Begins 

The hard work doesn’t stop now that the 2023-24 season has concluded, as the team will set their sights on the off-season to continue to build for the years to come. The first step in that is a pair of drafts taking place in just under a month: U.S. Import Draft (May 8th) and WHL Prospects Draft (May. 9th).

“I think it’s fair to say that these drafts are very important for our franchise,” said Heisinger. “The most successful teams in our league are built through the draft and we’ll be looking to do that with our team.”

Victoria has a surplus of draft picks in the coming years via trades that the Royals were able to make over this past season. The high volume of picks includes seven picks in the first four rounds of the WHL Prospects Draft, two of which are first round selections.

This will be just the second time in franchise history in which the Royals have multiple first round selections in the same draft. The only other year was 2012 when the club selected Tyler Soy (8th overall) and Chaz Reddekopp (13th overall), both of which sit in the Royals top-15 All-Time for games played, assists and points.

Heisinger will work closely with the team’s scouting staff this summer as the team prepares for an important off-season. Leading the charge in the scouting department is Tanner McCall, who has plenty of experience with Heisinger as they worked together with the Winnipeg Ice.

“Tanner leads our scouting staff, he does a great job at evaluating talent. I’ve worked closely with Tanner for a few years now, so we’re pretty comfortable with each other’s style.” said Heisinger.

Plenty to Look Forward to 

As the club looks ahead at the upcoming drafts, and aims to build a successful core going forward, the foundation has been laid from previous years, making their two highest picks in franchise history the past two seasons.

Cole Reschny (3rd overall – 2022) and Keaton Verheoff (4th overall – 2023) will look to continue to build off their 2023-24 campaigns with the club.

Reschny tallied the most points ever (59) by a 16-year-old in Royals history. His 21 goals and 38 assists helped him reach the top-five in rookie scoring amongst players in the WHL.

“Cole played a huge role on our team this season. Everyone saw the development and the steps that he took,” explained Heisinger. “Playing where he played in the lineup, he had to play against top matchups every night against the other teams best players and that helped him become an even better all around player. He has a very bright future.”

On the blue line, Verhoeff made his presence known in Victoria during his 15-year-old season. The defenceman played 22 games during the 2023-24 season with RINK Hockey Academy U18 Prep (CSSHL) where he produced at more than a point-per-game clip. Following the conclusion of his season in Kelowna, Verhoeff joined the Royals for the end of their season, and playoffs.

“Keaton had a great year, after his U18 season came to an end, he ended up getting 16 games with us this season, including playoffs. When he came up at the end of the season, he played a very important role for our team, playing big minutes,” stated Heisinger. “We feel that he has a very bright future ahead of him. He’ll be a big part of this team next year and moving forward.”

Poise From The Blueline 

Speaking of the blueline, that was a key element of success for the Royals this season, despite a handful of injuries to many of their regulars. A trio of 2005-born players, Justin Kipkie, Nate Misskey, and Austin Zemlak all boasted career seasons on the offensive side of the puck.

“I think our defense is a major strength of our team. We ran into some injuries this season on the blueline which gave some other guys chances to play some big minutes and really develop throughout the season,” said Heisinger. “Going into next season, we’re expecting it to be competitive for minutes on the blueline. With the depth we have, it will ensure that these guys are having big summers so they hit the ground running come training camp.”

What’s Next 

Regardless how you look at it, this off-season will provide the Royals a chance to continue molding their foundation for the future as newly appointed General Manager Jake Heisigner will get a full summer of work to forge the Royals roster.