With the fourth pick overall at next week’s Western Lacrosse Association’s junior draft, the Burnaby Lakers expect to get a game-changer.
But it all hinges on the whims of an Island rival as to which game-changer they get.
Burnaby has pinpointed defence and the right side as main areas
needing an infusion, but the unpredictable Nanaimo Timbermen will make decisions that impact the order of players picked after the Langley Thunder open the draft with the first overall selection.
“We have two things we are targeting and have three players we are focusing on,” Lakers president Ed Safarik said Thursday, prior to the Feb. 16 draft at the Vancouver Creekside Community Centre.
“Our needs are a righthander
and a big stay-at-home defender,
but we will take the best player available.”
Nanaimo, which owns the second and third picks, the latter part of the bounty when it dealt the first overall selection in 2015 to Coquitlam, is not known for following a specific script, however.
In recent years, the mid-Island team has not been shy to take Lower Mainland players, and
Safarik feels that trend will likely continue in a draft that has a limited crop of Island talent available.
Safarik said one scenario would see the Thunder draft Tyler Pace from the Minto Cup champion Adanacs first overall, with Nanaimo using the next two selections to grab skilled stickmen Evan Messenger and Chase Fraser, both from Delta.
“It could mean we get a choice of two very good defenders, or a good righthander,” said Safarik.
Among the defenders available this year are a pair from Coquitlam – righthanders Jordan Magnuson and Keegan Rittinger.
Other players considered possible first-round material are offensively gifted Jon Phillips from Delta, ex-junior Lakers forward Aidan Milburn, and a pair of New West junior products, Adam Dickson, a White Rock native, and Johnny Pearson, originally from Langley.
Both the senior Thunder and T-men hold the most cards when it comes to the first two rounds, with Langley holding five picks in the first 14 (No. 1, 5, 6, 8 and 13), while Nanaimo will draft three times (No. 2, 3 and 9).
Still, considering that there is no consensus franchise player in this year’s graduating class, the pre-draft predictions could all be tossed out early.
Safarik said the team’s pre-draft planning sessions, with the Lakers also picking 11th overall, has them ready in case either Langley or Nanaimo “go off the board.”
“It may not be the deepest of drafts, but there are lots of players who will play,” said the team president. “It’s deep in the sense that a lot of players will make (senior A) teams.”
Last year remains a sore point for management, as most saw the team ready to take the next step and challenge for a top-two spot. Instead, Burnaby hit a rough patch midway through the year and finished fourth with a 10-7-1 record. They lost the first three games in the semifinal series against Victoria, then rattled off three straight to force a seventh and deciding game – which the Shamrocks won handily.
“It was a big disappointment for us and we underachieved,” said Safarik. “We lost our focus.”
While the team is a very good mix of offence, defence and solid netminding, Safarik said general manager Paul Rowbotham is considering all options to get it over the hump, including a big trade.
“We have a good idea where our weaknesses are, and they are fixable.”
