(File photo/northeastNOW Staff).

By Aaron Schulze

SJHL Draft Uncertainty

SJHL Bantam Draft date uncertain, suggestions to postpone

Dec 24, 2020 | 5:00 PM

With the Western Hockey League (WHL) postponing its Bantam Draft from May to December 2021, the question of what the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League (SJHL) would do has been raised.

SJHL President Bill Chow told northeastNOW the league is still determining a date to hold its draft.

The SJHL Bantam Draft features U15 players, just like the WHL’s.

As U15 players only got three to six games in before the second pause of competitive hockey in Saskatchewan, SJHL scouts don’t have a complete scouting report of their potential future players.

Rick Oakes, director of player personnel for the Melfort Mustangs, said it wouldn’t be fair to the 2006-born players to only have a handful of games to showcase their abilities ahead of their draft eligible year.

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“It’d be fair to move [the SJHL Bantam Draft] back and give these kids an opportunity to show where they’re at and give teams a fair opportunity to do the evaluation process,” Oakes said. “There hasn’t been a whole lot of discussion of the bantam draft and the date, but with the WHL switching their date from May to December, it’s probably a pretty good chance the SJHL will follow suit.”

Even while scouting for the 2020 SJHL Bantam Draft, Oakes said scouts are able to be familiar with underage players, but their main focus is on the draft-eligible players for that year. He said players at the U15 level can change drastically over the course of a month, let alone a year.

“If they were to move the draft back another year and make it a U16 Draft, it wouldn’t hurt my feelings at all,” Oakes said.

The SJHL typically holds its draft in early June. Oakes said scouts are in communication with U15 coaches to get better insight on players in absence of competitive games, but the league’s focus is to see if restarting the season is still possible.

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aaron.schulze@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @SchulzePANow