Saskatoon Blades president and general manager Colin Priestner has expressed his excitement after securing key building blocks for the roster during the 2026 WHL Prospects Draft, held Wednesday in Calgary.
The Blades selected Delta, British Columbia-born winger Teagan Dernisky with the 15th overall pick in the first round. Priestner compared the 5-foot-7 speedster to Tampa Bay Lightning star Brandon Hagel. Dernisky recorded 98 points in 30 games in the Canadian Sport School Hockey League as a 15-year-old with Yale Hockey Academy.
Priestner praised Dernisky's impact, stating: “He’s just a guy that we feel is going to be an elite scorer at our level, but more than that, he’s going to have an impact on the game every shift when he’s not scoring. He’s small, but he gets his nose dirty and really just makes life miserable for everybody on the ice. He is a player who can score and play in the top six, and is also kind of a nuisance on the ice.”
In the second round, with the 32nd pick, the Blades selected 15-year-old defenceman Hayden Harvey, known for his physical play and heavy hitting. Priestner noted the importance of drafting players who will develop together: “I think if you look at some of our young guys and the impact they had on our team this year, they’re going have a chance to be in the lineup with these guys in a couple of years.”
Priestner also commented on the league's trend toward older players, saying it is becoming “a little rare” to see many 16-year-olds on the ice. “It’s one of those things that when a player’s ready to help us, he’s there, whether he’s 16 or 18, it doesn’t really matter for us anymore.”
He emphasized the importance of a balanced approach to drafting: “You don’t really want to be drafting for what your current team is maybe lacking or what you feel you need to add to your current team. The players on your current team are probably not going to be playing very long or at all with some of these players, because these guys are born in 2011 and some of our players are born in 2006.”
Other notable selections included American forward Mason West, American goalie Blake Pickens, and Saskatoon-born forward Joshua Koehler. Priestner is optimistic about the future: “We feel some of the really good players we took in last year’s draft will complement each other really well through those two age groups, and we are really excited to see what they can do in the future together.”
The Blades exceeded expectations last season, advancing to the second round of the Western Hockey League playoffs.
