Wenatchee Wild Prepare for 2026 Western Hockey League Prospects Draft
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WENATCHEE, Wash. – The future is now for the Wenatchee Wild, as well as the best 2011-born hockey players in Western Canada and the western United States.
Wednesday evening, the Wild will join the Western Hockey League’s other 22 teams in the WHL’s annual Prospects Draft, with the first pick to be selected at 5 p.m. Pacific time. In the WHL Draft Lottery held March 26, Wenatchee secured the third overall pick in this year’s draft, its highest pick in the draft since the former Winnipeg ICE moved to the Wenatchee Valley in the summer of 2023.
“When you look at the last three teams in this year’s playoffs and you go back the last few years, you can see where for us it’ll be organization-changing, to go along with the first-round picks we’ve had from 2009 and 2010,” said Wenatchee Wild general manager Bliss Littler. “For us, it’s extremely important that we get it right, and we get a kid that at some point will be the face of our organization.”
Recent trades made after the club joined the WHL allowed them to acquire several early-round picks in this year’s draft, with the club set to select five players in the first four rounds. The team’s January 2024 trade with the Swift Current Broncos involving current Tampa Bay Lightning forward and first-round National Hockey League draft pick Conor Geekie allowed the Wild to leap into the third spot on this year’s draft board, with Wenatchee receiving the Broncos’ first-round selection. A corresponding trade moving current Edmonton Oilers forward Matthew Savoie to the Moose Jaw Warriors allowed the Wild to take on a second-round pick this year as well, at 28th overall. University of Wisconsin freshman standout Daniel Hauser was dealt to the Calgary Hitmen at the 2025 trade deadline, accounting for Wenatchee’s third-round pick at 54th overall.
The team’s first-round selections have yielded impressive results each of the last two years – Alberta-born forward Kalen Miles was last year’s 10th overall selection and scored two goals and two assists over a handful of appearances with the Wild this past season. 2024 first-rounder Boston Tait went 12th overall, and was one of the club’s top defensemen in his first WHL season this past year – Tait tallied 23 points, including five goals, and earned a gold medal at the Under-17 World Hockey Challenge in Nova Scotia this past November.
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 year’s WHL Prospects Draft is the league’s 37th annual event, debuting in 1990. First-round selections will be made Wednesday evening, starting with the league’s annual draft show at 4:30 p.m., streaming exclusively on Victory+. This year’s draft will officially open at 5 p.m., with subsequent rounds to be held Thursday.
Follow the Wild social media accounts throughout the draft for real-time announcements of the club’s selections, and visit the team’s website after both days of the draft for a full summary of Wenatchee’s newest prospects.
