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2019 WHL Bantam Draft

Capitals03 said:
As per multiple WHL sources, 2004-born generational talent Matthew Savoie has been denied exceptional status in the Western Hockey League.



I can't say, I am shocked with this outcome. Talent is the not decision factor for the WHL. Its the travel as a 15 year old for long periods of time. What 21 year olds talk about is different than a 15 year olds. WHL( Hockey Canada) also does not want some 230 lb. player crushing him in his 2nd game and giving him a career ending injury.
This is just enhanced on how the lack of depth for the 04 year. Alot of the WHL teams that could select him will take the risk. ( NCAA is where the rumors are looking towards)
It will be interesting to see if he drops( but I doubt it)

Every year or two this topic comes up. Yes he is a good player. But its not a who can get to the top first.
Its how and what you learn getting to the top.

He cant go to the USHL for another 2 years. Sometimes its not where you are , but what you make of it.
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Savoie was denied because he wanted to keep his foot in the door of the NCAA. In other words he basically told the league that if he gets drafted by a team he doesn't want to play for he might still go the NCAA route. He's been accelerating his schooling in order to play at the University of Denver, where he was offered a full scholarship, with his brother in his draft year.

TLDR; He was denied because he told the league he didn't want to play for Prince George. The WHL and Hockey Canada aren't going to grant a kid exceptional status only to have him get drafted by Prince George 1st overall and not report.
 
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I think lottery for non-playoff teams, but can only move up 2 positions if they win it. The rest is according to standings. I think lottery affects first round only?
 
Daximus said:
Savoie was denied because he wanted to keep his foot in the door of the NCAA. In other words he basically told the league that if he gets drafted by a team he doesn't want to play for he might still go the NCAA route. He's been accelerating his schooling in order to play at the University of Denver, where he was offered a full scholarship, with his brother in his draft year.

TLDR; He was denied because he told the league he didn't want to play for Prince George. The WHL and Hockey Canada aren't going to grant a kid exceptional status only to have him get drafted by Prince George 1st overall and not report.
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Curious if there's an actual source on this and not just twitter rumors that spread as facts.
 
Big Ben Healy said:
Curious if there's an actual source on this and not just twitter rumors that spread as facts.
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I got the information from a friend who works for a team in the WHL. That he heard through other sources in the team. I can't really say for sure if this is all the info or if it is 100% correct but it's all I got. And when you connect the dots it makes sense. How embarrassing would it be for the WHL and Hockey Canada to grant Savoie exceptional status, only to get drafted by Prince George and then turn around and commit to the NCAA? Wright was granted exceptional status because he committed to playing for whatever team drafted him 100%. If Savoie would have done the same I think they would have done it. It's understandable why some would be mad and question the decision and it;s understandable why Savoie would not commit to playing for Prince George.
 
You are correct, Hockey Canada and the WHL will not do him any favors, if he is not going to commit to them. I do think he a a very good player. However the BC/AB leagues are so watered down this year ( and will get worse) You have 15yr olds playing in MML, CSSHL U15 & U18 and Minor hockey, and some playing in the states. You cant tell how good these kids are when they are playing against 3 or 4 good kids on another team. My point was proven at the U15 Canada games. BC selected some good players , but a few were head scratchers due to them looking good in U15's.

Then you put them against top teams in other areas and they do not look good at all.

But MS is good, I am not sure how much he is really improving against a sub par U18. All the strong players are long gone in BCHL,AJHL, NAHL,WHL.
I wish they did not have all these leagues.
 
Daximus said:
I got the information from a friend who works for a team in the WHL. That he heard through other sources in the team. I can't really say for sure if this is all the info or if it is 100% correct but it's all I got. And when you connect the dots it makes sense. How embarrassing would it be for the WHL and Hockey Canada to grant Savoie exceptional status, only to get drafted by Prince George and then turn around and commit to the NCAA? Wright was granted exceptional status because he committed to playing for whatever team drafted him 100%. If Savoie would have done the same I think they would have done it. It's understandable why some would be mad and question the decision and it;s understandable why Savoie would not commit to playing for Prince George.
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So you basically heard it from a friend of a friend's cousin's sister's ex mailman ?
 
Things to consider is Ziemmer is almost a year younger than Savoie and Savoie has been riding shotgun with Dylan Guenther the past 2 years.
 
Daximus said:
I got the information from a friend who works for a team in the WHL. That he heard through other sources in the team. I can't really say for sure if this is all the info or if it is 100% correct but it's all I got. And when you connect the dots it makes sense. How embarrassing would it be for the WHL and Hockey Canada to grant Savoie exceptional status, only to get drafted by Prince George and then turn around and commit to the NCAA? Wright was granted exceptional status because he committed to playing for whatever team drafted him 100%. If Savoie would have done the same I think they would have done it. It's understandable why some would be mad and question the decision and it;s understandable why Savoie would not commit to playing for Prince George.
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Thats exactly as I heard/understand it from people who were somewhat close to the situation.
And these academy's have absolutely ruined the competitiveness of all the leagues. The league the play in are garbage as a number of teams get blown out. But crazy delusional parents will never stop pulling out there wallet when they are under he delusion it will make their kid into some kind of a player. At the end of the day, Im convinced it doesn't make a wit of a difference. If the kid is going to be good, hes going to get there. If hes not....
 
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This draft is all a game in itself between parents and WHL. High picks are "committing" to NCAA in grade 9 to discourage bottom end teams from drafting their son. Look at Nick Henry who dangled the NCAA card in front of Everett until they traded him to a stacked team that ended up hosting a memorial cup.
 
Daryls Nose said:
Thats exactly as I heard/understand it from people who were somewhat close to the situation.
And these academy's have absolutely ruined the competitiveness of all the leagues. The league the play in are garbage as a number of teams get blown out. But crazy delusional parents will never stop pulling out there wallet when they are under he delusion it will make their kid into some kind of a player. At the end of the day, Im convinced it doesn't make a wit of a difference. If the kid is going to be good, hes going to get there. If hes not....
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The CSSHL is horrible, The U18 is just as bad as the U15. I could not imagine how bad it would have been if they tried to pull off a U16 group. I said this earlier. A U16 Team from Phx( Ranked in the twenties. Goes to Vancouver BC and wins against every team , which happens to be in the U18 Division for the tournament. The stats are point less , when you have a league that promotes itself as a powerhouse league, and the players and sub par at best. Another example is the Winter games, Superstars in the MML and CSSHL then cant do anything against players who were equal the year before. This entire system will get worse when they add the Bantam group to MML.
 
Capitals03 said:
The CSSHL is horrible...
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I wouldn't call it "horrible", but I would agree that it isn't quite as good as advertised. For example, our closest bantam prep team has about half of the top 50 players in the province, but maybe only 2 of the top 10. They would still beat any other team in the province.
Last year's draft saw mostly CSSHL players in the first 2 rounds, but I believe this year is going to be different. Scouts have had to do their homework with regional teams.
 
Capitals03 said:
The CSSHL is horrible, The U18 is just as bad as the U15. I could not imagine how bad it would have been if they tried to pull off a U16 group. I said this earlier. A U16 Team from Phx( Ranked in the twenties. Goes to Vancouver BC and wins against every team , which happens to be in the U18 Division for the tournament. The stats are point less , when you have a league that promotes itself as a powerhouse league, and the players and sub par at best. Another example is the Winter games, Superstars in the MML and CSSHL then cant do anything against players who were equal the year before. This entire system will get worse when they add the Bantam group to MML.
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Delta will have a U16 team next year - the only one in CSSHL. Play some exhibition games against Midget Prep teams but won't have a full regular season schedule. Will play 4 US tournaments. 3 Bantam teams and 1 E15 team all competing for a spot on one Midget team prompted this so they can house more kids that want to play - equally more revenue for their program.
 
WestCoastHockeyDad said:
Delta will have a U16 team next year - the only one in CSSHL. Play some exhibition games against Midget Prep teams but won't have a full regular season schedule. Will play 4 US tournaments. 3 Bantam teams and 1 E15 team all competing for a spot on one Midget team prompted this so they can house more kids that want to play - equally more revenue for their program.
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Delta is gonna have a U16 team but they won't be in a league?
 
Big Ben Healy said:
Think Savoie would play for Winnipeg?

Does winnipeg go for one of their hometown players?
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So if Savoie decides he won't play for Wpg, what does Wpg do..? Do they just move along or do they take him and make a trade to the team he will play for? Is this common?
 
WestCoastHockeyDad said:
That's the word on the street! CSSHL committed to about 20 exhibition games but won't be playing in a regular league since they are only team doing this age group.
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That seems really odd.. I wonder how that would work for a kids development? Would they be competitive with who they play? Playing a year with no finish line/championships... is that good for a kid who's wanting to move along to WHL or NCAA?
 
Big Ben Healy said:
Does winnipeg go for one of their hometown players?
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They'll have to do their research on Savoie to see where he wants to play. As for "hometown", Winnipeg itself does not have the superstars that they had in last year's draft. The closest to hometown would be Denton Mateychuk who lives a 1 hr drive from Ice headquarters (RHA)
Edit: I just noticed Mateychuk shoots left as does Lambos. I was almost thinking they would be a killer pair on defense. Regardless, I think Mateychuk is now favourite for #1 pick overall. It helps that he scored a short-handed winner to take the provincial championship on Sunday.
 
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lfunk said:
I wouldn't call it "horrible", but I would agree that it isn't quite as good as advertised. For example, our closest bantam prep team has about half of the top 50 players in the province, but maybe only 2 of the top 10. They would still beat any other team in the province.
Last year's draft saw mostly CSSHL players in the first 2 rounds, but I believe this year is going to be different. Scouts have had to do their homework with regional teams.
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The horriblness is reflected in how the good teams blow out the average bad all the time. It was far, far better when there were no academys. At least in Alberta it was. Its made almost all leagues a joke now and simply a cash grab. A 15 & 16 year old is far better off playing club hockey in Alberta, as at least the teams are somewhat balanced.
 
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lfunk said:
They'll have to do their research on Savoie to see where he wants to play. As for "hometown", Winnipeg itself does not have the superstars that they had in last year's draft. The closest to hometown would be Denton Mateychuk who lives a 1 hr drive from Ice headquarters (RHA)
Edit: I just noticed Mateychuk shoots left as does Lambos. I was almost thinking they would be a killer pair on defense. Regardless, I think Mateychuk is now favourite for #1 pick overall. It helps that he scored a short-handed winner to take the provincial championship on Sunday.
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Connor Geekie might not be a bad pick for them. Led WBAAA in goals and points, 6'3, 14 year old.
 
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