The ice is back in at Assiniboine Credit Union Place, players have arrived in Brandon, and the time to training camp can now be measured in days (or hours, if you’re especially eager). It’s nearly time to answer a long list of burning questions we’ve had about the Brandon Wheat Kings all offseason long.
The team has released their training camp roster and, in doing so, answered at least some of the questions I know our readers have had over the course of the summer. Among the familiar names are new ones that should generate plenty of excitement and, more importantly, fierce competition. Both Director of Hockey Operations Chris Moulton and Head Coach and GM Marty Murray have said they expect a competitive camp. The rosters give me no reason whatsoever to doubt that.
Competition doesn’t just mean for available roster spots either. With three 20-year-olds graduating and three other players leaving early for the NCAA, power play and penalty kill minutes are up for grabs. Key spots up and down the lineup are up for contention. And if you’ve been keeping up with our player features through the offseason, you’ll know a lot of players are coming into camp with the idea of seizing those spots and minutes for themselves.
We won’t answer many of the really burning questions, of course, until the Wheat Kings start playing some actual opponents. But that’s now less than two weeks away. It may still be August, but as far as Wheat Kings fans are concerned, it’s hockey season.
- For the first time in my tenure in Brandon, the team has put together four full rosters of players for the training camp games. It might mean slightly fewer looks at individual players, but it may also mean players aren’t as tired by the time camp ends because they won’t have played as many games in as short of a span. Yet despite the increased numbers, every single team has both new and returning players I’m excited to watch. The list of free agent invitees is impressive (we’ll have more on them with Chris Moulton later) and they’re not here as filler either. The older players on the list are here with the idea of making the team, and there are spots open for them.
- When fans asked me over the offseason about invitees to this year’s camp, the names I was asked about by far the most were Axel and Gunnar Gleasman. The towering, hard-hitting American forwards are indeed back this year (on separate teams for the beginning of camp) and while their official team weigh ins haven’t been completed yet, Elite Prospects would indicate they’ve gotten even bigger. Gunnar, the older of the two, is also the smaller of the two at 6-foot-4 and 205 pounds. Axel is listed 6-foot-6. They threw some crushing body checks at last year’s camp and clearly made an impression not only on the fans who were so eager to see them back but on the Wheat Kings themselves, who listed both players.
- Several of Gunnar’s fellow forwards on Team Dietrich bear watching as well. We might get our first look at potential chemistry between Jaxon Jacobson and Luke Mistelbacher, but there are plenty of storylines among the younger, less experienced forwards. I can’t wait to see first overall U.S. pick Levi Ellingsen in action, especially after he and the Wheat Kings both described him as being a Sam Bennett type of player. Ryan Boyce, who played in the BCHL last season, is another intriguing young player who the Wheat Kings know well as he’s a draft pick of theirs from 2023. Kam Thomas is another free agent to watch, fresh off a productive rookie season with the MJHL’s Winkler Flyers. And last season, an injury prevented Mason Chubey from taking part in camp and he missed a good chunk of the first half of the season in the Winnipeg U17 ranks. When he got going, he ripped that circuit apart with 45 points in 28 games, and scored in his only game when he was called up to the U18 Winnipeg Bruins. A couple of the Wheat Kings later picks from the 2009 birth year are looking like they’ll outperform their draft slot.
- Team McCrimmon is going to be fascinating to watch on several fronts. The Wheat Kings have said it’s been a big summer for Dylan McFadyen and now we get to see for ourselves. I’ve also bumped into a lot of people, both trainers and players, at the gym who have raved to me about the kind of work Easten Turko has put in over the summer. Up front, Will Whitter is a name I know a bit from the SJHL and he played in that mature circuit as a 17-year-old, putting up points and throwing his weight around. It’s also the first Wheat Kings’ camp for highly touted American forward Jimmy Egan, and he’s got plenty of talent to work with as Caleb Hadland, Brady Turko, Chase Surkan, and 2025 second-round pick Ahmad Fayad are all on his squad. It almost feels like Surkan isn’t being talked about enough ahead of this camp, especially after his performance at Canada’s summer camp for the U17s. I expect he’ll remind Wheat Kings fans pretty quickly of why they liked him so much in the first place.
- Team Johnston might have the smartest blueline of any in camp. Import selection Adam Hlinsky and returning veteran Dylan Ronald join first-round pick Cruz Jim, who the team was absolutely ecstatic to get on draft day. Also, I like that the Wheat Kings have put new netminder Jayden Kraus with 2010-born Joffrey Chan as a sort of mentor for the young goalie. Up front, speaking of chemistry, it will be nice to see more of that potentially form between Joby Baumuller and Jordan Gavin, who showed the makings of it last season. They also both had big summers, motivated by NHL draft snubs, so it’ll be fascinating to see how much work they’ve put in. Axel Gleasman is on this roster as well, and so is one of the biggest surprises of last year’s camp, Carson Park. Park ripped up not only the intrasquad scrimmages but the rookie game as well, and put up some points in the camp ending Black and Gold game. He’s not yet signed, so we’ll see what he can do for an encore.
- Rounding out the camp teams, Team MacPherson brings a roster full of players I’ll be keen to watch at all positions. The team is still jumping through some hoops to get Filip Ruzicka on the ice, but if he does get there the towering Czech goaltender will immediately have a lot of attention by his sheer size alone. Speaking of size, the blueline is flush with it, and Giorgos Pantelas’s offseason development will be fun to see firsthand. I’m also keen to get a look at Max Lavoie, all 6-foot-4 of him, who had a strong offensive season with the MJHL’s Winkler Flyers last season and who, by all accounts, brings a lot more than offense to the table. Up front, Easton Odut is fully healthy again and that alone is reason for excitement, but this team also gives us the first post-NHL camp look at Carter Klippenstein, another camp for Prabh Bhathal who already has his first WHL goal under his belt, and our first glimpse of a really interesting invitee in Asher Lucas. Lucas is a fascinating case. He’s played in leagues that can be a little harder to pin down, notably the KIJHL last year. Now, the KI recently became a “Junior A” league after the BCHL’s separation from Hockey Canada, and it’s always been one of the strongest Junior B circuits in the nation. Despite being one of the youngest players in the league, at just 16 Lucas was his team’s most reliable offensive player with 46 points in 33 games. How will that translate against WHL competition? Well, we’re about to find out.
- Is there anyone on the list that I think might be this year’s Carson Park, a young forward who comes in and punches above both his draft position and his age? My first guess on that front is Team MacPherson’s Taren Anderson. Both their stats and comments made by Chris Moulton about each player make me think there might end up being some similarities there. Anderson was a late round pick (268th overall) but he sure didn’t play like it last season for the Prairie Storm. In particular, his 10 goals and 21 points in 11 playoff games stood out to me, as did his goal and assist in a three-game recall to the U18 AAA league’s Yorkton Maulers. Call it a hunch (I fully admit I’ve not seen Anderson play in person yet) but something tells me he’s going to have people wondering how he was available in the 12th round.
- The team isn’t yet ready to release the list, but there will be far more Wheat King participation in NHL rookie camps than there was in NHL development camps over the summer. It’s already public knowledge that Jayden Kraus is headed back to the Colorado Avalanche’s rookie camp, and of course drafted Wheat Kings Carter Klippenstein and Brady Turko will be off to camp with the Minnesota Wild and Anaheim Ducks, but just know that those three will have company when NHL camps begin. I’m looking forward to being able to tell you a little more.
- One immediately noticeable difference in this year’s camp roster compared to last: a lot more Americans. In addition to U.S. draft picks Ellingsen, Egan, and Ayven Hontvent (2024 U.S. picks Colin Grubb and Ethan Sung are already starting their seasons at Shattuck St. Mary’s), and list players Gunnar and Axel Gleasmen, you can add goaltender Connor Dwyer, defenseman Paxton Packulak and Oliver Deschamp (both Minot products), and defenseman Hudson Welsome of Anchorage Alaska to the list. The NCAA rule change has changed things indeed.
The first of what will be several blog entries this week. I’ve been looking forward to training camp for a while. Speculation and hopeful optimism carried the day in the summer, and now we get to see what that speculation is worth. There are more storylines in camp than I could possibly cram into a blog post. But believe me, I’m going to spend the rest of the week doing my best.
It’s well past time to get back to hockey, if you ask me.
