Photo by Brandi Crowe
He may be the most talked-about Brandon Wheat King ahead of next June’s NHL Entry Draft in Montreal, but defenseman Braden Schneider is going to do whatever he can to stay out of the discussion.
The Prince Albert, SK native will turn 18 this week as he readies himself for his 3rd home opener as a member of the Wheat Kings.
Coming into his draft year, there has already been plenty of media chatter about the budding rear-guard. He is ranked 19th by HockeyProspects.com and TSN’s Director of Scouting Craig Button has him pegged in the 17th spot in his pre-season rankings, making him the highest-ranked WHL defenseman on the list.
Despite the hullaballoo surrounding his draft potential, Schneider says he doesn’t want the distraction.
"I’m not thinking about the draft at all," he said. "My main goal is for this team to get as many wins as we can and improve on last year and make the playoffs."
Under the tutelage of Assistant Coach Don MacGillivray, Schneider and the rest of the young Wheat Kings defense corps took a huge step last year improving day in and day out.
For Schneider, it was a career year offensively, scoring eight times and adding 24 assists. He also finished the year with a +13 rating, an effort that earned him an invite to Hockey Canada’s World Junior Showcase tournament in Plymouth, Michigan.
At the end of the day, Schneider says he would trade in all the personal accolades to get this Wheat Kings team back into the playoffs.
"Playoffs are definitely more than a possibility this year," he added. It should be in everyone’s heads that it’s where we need to be at the end of the year. I have no doubt that we have the group of guys to get us there."
As he wraps up his 4th training camp and pre-season schedule with the Wheat Kings, he says its a tad surreal to think back to how far he has come since he arrived as a pimple-faced 14-year-old teenager back in 2016.
"I remember walking into the rink and seeing guys like Ivan Provorov, and now I’m the old guy that everyone is looking up to," said Schneider with a laugh. "I think I have grown as a person and as a player and it’s exciting to continue to be apart of this organization."
The Wheat Kings open up the regular season on Friday night vs the Winnipeg ICE. Puck drop is scheduled for just after 7:30 while our QCountry radio broadcast will go live at 7:00.
