Prospects Draft: NHL Stars Highlight Recent History Of 14th Pick
It stands to reason that the best player in a draft isn’t always going to be taken 14 picks into it. Yet the recent history of the WHL prospects draft is a storied one with the 14th pick, as plenty of teams have landed a star, or even a superstar with that particular selection.
That’s good news for the Brandon Wheat Kings, who hold the 14th overall pick for the first time in their history in the coming draft. As we’ve seen, the Wheat Kings have found plenty of success drafting around the 14th pick without ever selecting in that exact spot.
Lately, the 14th pick has been on a strong run in the WHL. While it’s too soon to judge players selected in the 2023 or even 2022 drafts, the drafts prior to that have seen some genuine gems fall into the laps of teams drafting 14th.
Ryder Ritchie: Prince Albert Raiders, 14th overall, 2021
The most recent 14th overall pick that can be fairly judged, Ritchie started off his WHL career with a bang, winning the league’s Jim Piggott Memorial Trophy for rookie of the year. Though injuries slowed him down in his sophomore season, he still posted 44 points in 47 games.
Internationally, Ritchie has been part of a group of 2006 born players, alongside Roger McQueen and Charlie Elick, that have steered Canada to gold medals at both the Hlinka Gretzky Cup and the World Under-18 Championships. Ritchie was better than a point-per-game player at both events, and is a highly-rated prospect for the coming NHL entry draft.
Zach Benson: Winnipeg ICE, 14th overall, 2020
On the one hand, the Winnipeg ICE/Wenatchee Wild didn’t get too many years of service out of Benson. On the other hand, that was because he made an immediate jump to the NHL at 18. And in the games he did play, Benson was electric.
Over the course of three seasons, including the COVID-shortened season in 2021, Benson put up points at a jaw-dropping pace, considering his youth; he never played a regular season game after his 18th birthday. In 142 games, Benson put up a whopping 181 points, and for good measure he posted 40 points in 30 career playoff games. He spent all of 2023-24 with the NHL’s Buffalo Sabres, who made him the 13th overall pick at last summer’s entry draft.
Mathew Ward: Swift Current Broncos, 14th overall, 2019
On a team packed with weaponry, Ward has been one of the most consistent offensive threats for years now, and isn’t afraid to mix it up physically either. Over 199 games, all with the Broncos, he’s contributed 209 points to the Broncos and 271 penalty minutes.
This past season, Ward was on pace for a career year before injuries got in the way. He still managed 55 points in 43 games, however, and eight points in eight playoff games. As a 2004-born player, Ward is eligible to return to the Broncos for his overage season in 2024-25.
Marc Lajoie: Tri-City Americans, 14th overall, 2018
It took a little time for the towering Lajoie (he stands 6’6 and 223 pounds) to blossom offensively in the WHL, but when he did it was quite the breakout.
Posting seasons of 38 and 37 points from the back end for the Americans in his 18 and 19-year-old years, and earning a camp invite with the NHL’s Los Angeles Kings, Lajoie finished his WHL career in Edmonton, where his father Serge was an assistant coach. Playing closer to his home of St. Albert clearly agreed with Lajoie, as scored 26 goals, the second-highest total for a defenseman in the league in 2023-24.
Lajoie finished his WHL career with 151 points in 283 games. If not for the COVID-shortened 2021 season, he’d surely have played over 300 games in the WHL.
Brayden Point: Moose Jaw Warriors, 14th overall, 2011
Though he was picked more than a decade ago, no discussion of the best 14th overall picks in modern history would be complete without a mention of Point. Both in the WHL and beyond, the Calgary native has more than outplayed his draft position.
During his career with the Warriors, Point posted an incredible 324 points in 252 games, all while playing in every major international tournament for Canada from the U-17s to the World Juniors. In his final season in Moose Jaw, he piled up 88 points in just 48 games. Since then, he’s been a fixture for the Tampa Bay Lightning with 553 points in 580 regular season games.
With two Stanley Cups under his belt, and 87 points in 87 playoff games, Point will go down as one of the finest WHL players and most respected league alumni of his era. And it all started in 2011, when Moose Jaw selected him 14th overall in the draft.
The WHL will hold their annual prospects draft on Thursday, May 9.