I know Hepple said that all the Europeans picked was an accident, but does it feel to anybody else like they're just straight up avoiding the CHL lately? Since 2015, when they took Beaudin, Meloche, and Boikov from the Q, the last three drafts have seen just five CHL players taken: Travis Barron, Josh Anderson, Brandon Saigeon, Nick Henry, and Conor Timmins. A second, a third, a fourth, a fifth, and a seventh. Of those, the only pick we love is Timmins, and the consensus is generally that Barron, Anderson, and Saigeon were throwaway picks with the jury out on Henry.
That seems like a really low count for a team over three drafts.. Euro leagues, Junior A, and USHL picks seem to be the big theme with Hepple since 2015, his first year as head scout (and Roy's last draft where he had major influence). The few CHL picks have been mostly crap and feel like bones thrown to scouts more than a comprehensive strategy.
You have to wonder if Hepple and Sakic feel like the CHL is an overscouted league. Either that, or they don't trust their CHL scouts, but if that were the case why wouldn't they get new ones? They certainly are aggressively going after leagues that a lot of teams don't tend to dip into much, with a heavy focus on NCAA bound players (two first rounders in a row). It certainly seems like the strategy is paying off so far, it's just strange to me that they're paying so little attention to the world's largest development system, and even then it's mostly just lip service.
Here's the breakdown of picks laid out over the last 3 drafts.
USHL/Junior A/USHS - 8
SHL/Liiga/Czech/KHL/MHL - 8
WHL/OHL/QMJHL - 5