And that's beyond the elephant in the room in Connor Bedard, who the Regina Pats announced Tuesday will be signing a standard player agreement after his selection first overall when the draft kicks off at 10 a.m..
Bedard is the WHL's first-ever exceptional status player. But it's the next two behind him who have also had the Warriors eyes for quite some time.
Saskatoon Contacts standouts Brayden Yager and Riley Heidt also looked into receiving exceptional player status after playing up this past season in the Sask Midget AAA league this past season.
Yager finished third in team scoring with 18 goals and 42 points in 44 games, while Heidt racked up 17 goals and 37 points in the same span. Both played as 14-year-olds in the under-18 league.
One of them will undoubtedly end up as a member of the Warriors when they pick third overall, but Moose Jaw Warriors general manager Alan Millar wasn't about to tip his cards just yet.
“The top five-plus players in the draft are all really good, and we feel pretty confident how we rated the top three players,” Millar said on Tuesday afternoon. “We're still waiting on what Prince George will do and we'll take the next guy on our list."
Otherwise...
“Everything is all set to go. We had our final call with our scouting staff last night, we have our draft war room set up for tomorrow morning. [Assistant general manager] Jason Ripplinger and [director of administration] James Gallo will be here in the hockey offices, our scouting staff will all be on the Zoom call, our draft list is done and we're all set to go for 10 a.m. tomorrow.”
Beyond the top three, the 2020 Draft still has enough talent floating around that it's almost guaranteed teams will have a chance to land a potential elite player out of the first round.
“I'm certainly leaning on Jason Ripplinger and our scouting staff more than anything here, they feel it's a strong draft with good depth,” Millar said. “A number of our guys are excited about the talent in Saskatchewan and the depth in Saskatchewan and that's certainly exciting for a Saskatchewan-based team. Our guys feel really confident in our list and what we're going to do.”
With the COVID-19 outbreak, the Warriors have found themselves working things a bit differently in the lead-up to the draft, a situation that Millar doesn't expect will pose any difficulties even with the number of lost scouting opportunities.
“The final three branch camps in Manitoba, B.C. and Alberta were cancelled, and that took away some time for evaluations, but it's also a time where all your scouting staff bring it together and are evaluating and meeting and working on their draft list,” Millar said. “So obviously you're impacted by the loss of those tournaments.”
Outside of that, the Warriors have been largely working through conference call or Zoom since late March, and the technology has paid off.
“We've had really good communication, Jason has had a lot of group calls with our scouts provincially, he's had a lot of one-on-one calls,” Millar said. “Jason and I have had Zoom calls with the top players in the draft and their families, our scouting staff has communicated with a number of players eligible for the draft... so we're prepared and ready to go.”
Fans can catch the WHL Bantam Draft preview show on the WHL YouTube page for a look at all of the top players likely to go in the first round on Wednesday.
The 2020 Draft itself will begin with a pre-show at 9:30 a.m. followed by the first pick at 10 a.m., with the event being broadcast on WHL.ca and WHL YouTube.
