The first day of the WHL Draft was a busy one for Kelowna 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, Kelowna 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.
“Adding a player like Carson to our team is huge,” said Hamilton. “He 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 Kelowna Rockets are happy to welcome Carson, to the club and we look forward to seeing him in the fall.”
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.
“It was a good trade for us because we’re building towards the Memorial Cup and so you need to have assets to use moving forward,” said Rockets director of player personnel Terry McFaul. “We 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.”
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, Kelowna 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.
“He’s a big, strong, defenceman who plays a physical game,” said McFaul. “But he’s got a ton of offensive abilities … 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’ll be a stud for us.”
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.
In the second round of the U.S. Draft, the Rockets selected Ryan Lee 39th overall. In 56 games for the Los Angeles Jr. Kings 14U last season, the forward had 57 points.
After the conclusion of that draft, the Prospects Draft continued. Here are the rest of the Rockets selections:
- Remy Koch - defence - Calgary, Alta. - second round (26th overall) from Edge School U15 Prep;
- Joel Ngandu - forward - Edmonton, Alta. - second round (34th overall) from Northern Alberta Xtreme U15 Prep;
- Grayson Bauer - forward - Calgary, Alta. - fourth round (82nd overall) from Edge School U15 Prep;
- Channon Fummerton - defence - Whitehorse, YK. - fifth round (95th overall) from Rink H.A. Kelowna U15 Prep;
- Logan German - goaltender - Winnipeg, MB. - sixth round (121st overall) from Winnipeg Bruins U15 AAA Gold;
- Khalil Haji - defence - Edmonton, Alta. - seventh round (142nd overall) from Edmonton CAC U15 AAA;
- Bronson Lamontagne - forward - Lake Country, B.C. - seventh round (149th overall) from Rink H.A. Kelowna U15 Prep;
- Dylan Veroba - defence -Yorklon, SK. - eighth round (165th overall) from Sask East Oilers U15 AA.
