The first day of the WHL Draft was a busy one for 麻豆精选 Rockets owner, president, and general manager Bruce Hamilton and his front office.
Wednesday, May 7, marked a busy day for the entire league as the newest team, the Penticton Vees held their expansion draft, followed by the first round of the WHL Prospects Draft.
The Rockets started the day by trading their 2025 fifth-round draft pick to the Vees, in lieu for Penticton not selecting a roster player.
Ahead of the first round, 麻豆精选 then made the first of two massive trades. In a deal with the Calgary Hitmen, the Rockets acquired San Jose Sharks prospect Carson Wetsch and a conditional 2028 second round pick in exchange for defenceman Ben MacBeath, a first-round pick in 2027, and a second and fourth round pick in the 2025 draft.
Wetsch was Calgary's captain last season, scoring 33 goals and 52 points in 68 games. He was selected in the third round of the 2024 NHL Entry Draft by San Jose.
鈥淎dding a player like Carson to our team is huge,鈥� said Hamilton. 鈥淗e is a big winger who can skate, score, and has a physical presence. He has outstanding leadership qualities which will help us build towards the Memorial Cup next season. The 麻豆精选 Rockets are happy to welcome Carson, to the club and we look forward to seeing him in the fall.鈥�
That wasn't the only big move of the day as just before the draft, the Rockets traded their first round selection (the third overall pick) to the Regina Pats in exchange for Regina's 2025 second round selection (26th overall) as well as their first round picks in both 2026 and 2027.
鈥淚t was a good trade for us because we鈥檙e building towards the Memorial Cup and so you need to have assets to use moving forward,鈥� said Rockets director of player personnel Terry McFaul. 鈥淲e now have those assets to be able to do some more shopping in order to potentially acquire a couple more guys that we might need.鈥�
The Rockets went into the draft with two first-round picks, as they acquired Spokane's in the Andrew Cristall trade back in January. With that pick, 麻豆精选 selected defenceman Will Kelts at 20th overall. Last year, he scored 13 goals and added 26 assists in 35 games for the Northern Alberta Xtreme U15 Prep team.
鈥淗e鈥檚 a big, strong, defenceman who plays a physical game,鈥� said McFaul. 鈥淏ut he鈥檚 got a ton of offensive abilities 鈥� this was a bit of a transition year for him, and he stepped up so much. It was incredible to see the improvement from the beginning of the year to the end and his ceiling is super high. We think he鈥檒l be a stud for us.鈥�
The action continued into Thursday morning (May 8) as they Rockets selected forward Drew McDevitt from the U14 California Goldrush in the U.S. Priority Draft.
After the U.S. Priority Draft, the WHL Prospects Draft will continue throughout the day.
Black Press Media will update the Rockets moves and selections.
