Chiefs prepare for WHL bantam draft with eighth overall selection

The Spokane Chiefs will pump new talent into the organization Thursday as the team has three picks in the top 38 selections of the 2016 Western Hockey League Bantam Draft.

The Chiefs have the No. 8 overall pick, which marks only the 13th time in franchise history that the team has a top-10 pick.

Last year, the Chiefs took defenseman Ty Smith with the No. 1 overall selection.

“The depth at the top of the draft is very good this year,” Chiefs director of player personnel Chris Moulton said. “Amongst those three picks, I have no idea what we are going to get … but we are going to get three good players.”

The Chiefs will choose eighth, 29th, 38th, 51st, 95th, 126th, 139th, 159th, 161st, 205th, 227th, 240th, and 249th in the draft which starts at 8 a.m. Thursday.

According to rules of the WHL, players selected in the bantam draft must play a year with a midget team before joining the parent rosters. The 15-year-old players are permitted to play five games with the parent club or join it after their midget seasons end.

Smith played a few games with the Chiefs, but his midget team made a deep run in the playoffs. Moulton said the team did not want to disrupt the midget team’s playoff push despite a rash of injuries for the Chiefs, which were eliminated 4-2 by the Victoria Royals in the first round of the playoffs.

The injuries last season “forced our young guys to play and to take on bigger roles,” Moulton said. “That was the one positive thing for us. They will be better next year because of it for sure.”

While injuries forced coach Don Nachbaur to sometimes play defensemen at the forward position, Moulton said that will have no impact on the number of forwards the team will target.

“Honestly, we are going to take the best players available,” he said. “It usually equals itself out. Last year we took a few more forwards. By the end of the day last year we took two goalies. I imagine we will take another one this year.”

In addition to Smith, joining the team this year will be 16-year-old forwards Koby Morrisseau, who was taken ninth in last year’s draft, and Jacob McGrew.

“We have a good group of (players born in 1999) coming in who will try to make the team and some 2000s as well,” Moulton said. “I think going forward we are going to have a good young group.”

Coming back next year will be leading scorer Kailer Yamamoto, who scored a goal and had two assists April 24 for Team USA’s 10-3 win over Canada for the bronze medal in the IHF U18 world ice hockey championship.

Also returning are forwards Dominic Zwerger, Keanu Yamamoto, Jacob Cardiff and Markson Bechtold. They will be competing with defenseman Matt Sozanski for the three 20-year-old “overage” players the team is allowed to dress for games.

“We’ll bring in all our roster players, as well as all listed and drafted players” to training camp in late August, Moulton said. “We will also bring in some free agents to push for spots as well.”