Rating the bantam drafts: 2002

A look at the 2002 draft now. These were the 1987's. Draft drops to 19 teams now as Everett had not joined the league at the time of this draft.

	Total Picks	Under 50	50 - 100	100 - 150	150 - 200	Over 200	Total GP	WHLers%	GP/pick
Brandon	11	0	1	0	2	5	1669	72.7%	151.7
Calgary	9	0	0	0	0	2	498	22.2%	55.3
Kamloops	14	1	0	1	0	5	1678	50%	119.9
Kelowna	11	1	1	1	0	1	532	36.4%	48.4
Kootenay	9	2	1	0	0	2	623	55.6%	69.2
Lethbridge	11	0	2	0	1	3	1001	54.5%	91
Medicine Hat	11	1	0	0	2	2	832	45.5%	75.6
Moose Jaw	9	1	0	0	1	3	940	55.6%	104.4
Portland	8	0	0	1	1	3	1068	62.5%	133.5
Prince Albert	12	2	1	2	1	2	1178	66.7%	98.2
Prince George	11	1	0	0	0	3	874	36.4%	79.5
Red Deer	9	1	0	0	0	6	1621	77.8%	180.1
Regina	11	4	0	0	1	0	319	45.5%	29
Saskatoon	10	0	0	2	1	3	1144	60%	114.4
Seattle	8	1	0	0	2	4	1667	87.5%	208.4
Spokane	11	0	0	0	0	4	983	36.4%	89.4
Swift Current	9	2	1	0	0	3	955	66.7%	106.1
Tri-City	9	0	0	1	2	0	487	33.3%	54.1
Vancouver	9	1	0	0	1	2	665	44.4%	73.9

Hard to argue that this was a fantastic draft for Seattle. They only made 8 picks but managed to get four 300+ game WHLers and six regular WHLers overall. Also a very good draft for Brandon, Red Deer, and Kamloops, all of whom got five or six 200+ game players. Worth noting is that the 1987's were considered one of the weaker crops of players in the WHL in a few years, so to do very well in this draft gave you a definite leg up on other teams. Teams like Calgary, Regina, Kelowna, and Tri-City had fairly poor drafts, landing only one or two players in most cases. The Hitmen got only one player in total and zero impact players out of this draft, for example. Then there's Swift Current, who had two first round picks and blew both of them, but salvaged an OK draft with some decent later picks. Imagine if they had struck gold with both those first rounders too....would it have been enough to put those almost-good-enough teams they had a few years ago over the top?

Best picks:

- the Russell twins. Medicine Hat got Kris at #138 (8th round) and Kootenay got Ryan at #184 (11th round). Kris was the WHL's defenceman of the year for two straight years and Ryan scored 30+ goals three straight years.

Worst picks:

- Dan Bertram, #2 overall to Vancouver. Never played in the WHL and went the college route. Last seen playing in the ECHL....but at least he got an education, eh?

- Billy Smith, #18 overall to Swift Current. Never played in the WHL either, went NCAA.

- Ryan Sawka (#14 overall to Swift) & Tanner Stockwell (#16 overall to Regina). Both played only 49 games in the WHL.

And the list of WHLers drafted, with the number of games they played in the WHL...

Brandon: Codey Burki (263), Ryan Reaves (201), Tyler Plante (164), Mark Louis (303), Kevin Undershute (188), Daryl Boyle (262), Tyler Strautman (83), Theran Yeo (205)
Calgary: Riley Merkley (240), Terrance Delaronde (258)
Kamloops: Kalvin Sagert (339), Moises Gutierrez (326), Ryan Bender (309), Scott Brownlee (24), Benn Olson (244), Brock Nixon (315), David Reekie (121)
Kelowna: Kevin Reinholt (100), Kristofer Westblom (124), Tanner Irwin (43), Troy Ofukany (265)
Kootenay: Laine Allen (54), Steve DaSilva (271), Chris Cook (21), Michael Young (14), Ryan Russell (263)
Lethbridge: Michael Kaye (204), Ken Petkau (228), Chase Henitiuk (94), Judd Blackwater (171), R.J. LaRochelle (246), Philip Magistrale (58)
Medicine Hat: David Schlemko (198), Gord Baldwin (190), Jason Vokey (2), Kris Russell (241), Darren Helm (201)
Moose Jaw: Kenndal McArdle (261), Jason Battershill (16), Tanner Gillies (196), Justin Scott (236), Karey Pieper (231)
Portland: Frazer McLaren (318), Kevin Tipper (102), Brandon Dubinsky (234), Dustin Butler (188), Brendan Mikkelson (226)
Prince Albert: Mike Gauthier (304), Mike Wilson (175), A.J. Thelen (125), Jordan Morgan (41), Preston Mosewich (59), Garth Collins (126), Blaine Neufeld (38), Jeff May (310)
Prince George: Nick Drazenovic (281), Greg Gardner (338), Michael Fogolin (42), Ryan Gillen (213)
Red Deer: Paul Kurceba (323), Dan Mercer (252), Tyler Dittmer (217), Jacob Dietrich (270), Trevor Peeters (36), John Flatters (249), Andre Herman (274)
Regina: Tanner Stockwell (49), Matt Sawa (43), Derek Reinhart (186), Mike O'Dwyer (40), Ben Manley (1)
Saskatoon: Devin Setoguchi (255), Boris Leckovic (133), Nicolaus Knudsen (232), Garet Hunt (193), Jesse Smyke (122), Keith Voytechek (209)
Seattle: Chris Durand (330), Bretton Stamler (332), Scott Jackson (329), Gavin McHale (45), David Linsley (163), Yashar Farmanara (310), Curtis Patterson (158)
Spokane: Adam Hobson (252), Jason Lynch (238), Myles Stoesz (235), Chris Bruton (258)
Swift Current: Ryan Sawka (49), Clayton Bauer (277), Marc Dafoe (52), Michael Hengen (226), Jerrid Sauer (331), Luke Hughson (20)
Tri-City: Carey Price (193), Kirk Meaver (165), Clinton Pettapiece (129)

Vancouver: Gilbert Brule (165), Shaun Vey (241), J.D. Watt (255), Jordan Kaczmer (4)