Wenatchee Wild Awarded Third Overall Selection in WHL Draft
WENATCHEE, Wash. – Over the past 36 years, the list of hockey’s best players has come to include quite a few who heard their names called early on the Western Hockey League’s annual draft day.
This season, the Wenatchee Wild will call one of those very first names.
The Wild are excited to announce that they have secured the third overall selection in this year’s WHL Prospects Draft, following the announcement of this year’s WHL Draft Lottery results Thursday evening. This year’s third overall selection was made possible thanks to the club’s January 2024 trade with the Swift Current Broncos involving current Syracuse Crunch forward and first-round National Hockey League draft pick Conor Geekie, with Wenatchee receiving the Broncos’ first-round selection in this year’s draft. Swift Current finished this season in 10th place in the Eastern Conference standings and 22nd overall. It is the highest selection for the club since its acquisition of the former Winnipeg ICE franchise in the summer of 2023.
The list of third overall selections in the WHL Prospects Draft is an impressive one, headlined by former New York Rangers goaltender Dan Blackburn, who won a WHL championship with the Kootenay ICE in 2000 before being taken by the New York Rangers at 10th overall and going directly to the National Hockey League after his WHL career ended in 2001. Also topping the list of third overall picks is current Czech pro Mark Pysyk, who is in his second year of European competition after making 521 NHL appearances for the Buffalo Sabres, Florida Panthers and Dallas Stars. This will be the 37th year for the WHL Prospects Draft, since its debut in 1990.
This year’s WHL Prospects Draft is scheduled for Wednesday, May 6 and Thursday, May 7, with first-round selections to be made Wednesday and subsequent rounds to be held Thursday.
