The Red Deer Rebels added depth to the blue line on Wednesday.
With their two picks in the 2024 U.S. Priority Draft they selected defencemen Nikolas Ferry 15th overall in the first round and Bodi Anderson 37th overall.
Ferry, from Los Angeles, Calif., played last season with the 14U AAA Los Angeles Jr. Kings, scoring four goals and adding 16 assists for 20 points in 68 games.
Anderson's from Eagle River, Alaska, and suited up for 14U AAA Team Alaska for the 2023-24 season. In 48 games he notched six goals and eight assists for 14 points.
Rebels assistant general manager Shaun Sutter said both picks have an interest in signing with the team and will be at training camp in September.
"That's half the battle. It's one thing to pick good players and another thing to pick good players that have an interest in wearing our jersey," he said.
"We were looking at the defence market. You never know how the draft's going to go but we were hoping to get a defenceman in the first round and that's how it worked out."
Ferry is a right-shooting defenceman who weighs in at 179 pounds and is five feet nine inches tall. Sutter described him as a big defenceman who plays a shutdown style of game.
"We were lucky to get him there," he said. "He makes a good first pass and supports the play well... I think he's more of a two-way defenceman and is solid all around. That doesn't mean he can't develop more offence to his game because there are things there that suggest that could happen."
Anderson is a left-shooting defender who is listed as six feet one inch tall and 170 pounds. Sutter explained they were looking to take the best player available and were happy to get Anderson.
"He's a guy who plays on a little bit of a weaker team and a little bit off the grid in Alaska but we wanted to take a chance on him. We believe he has the potential to play for us," Sutter added.
"He skates well, strong, competitive, and is also a two-way defenceman. In some ways, both guys are rugged players who can skate and play a two-way game."
Sutter said in the U.S. Priority Draft some teams pick names who will never come to their program but the Rebels are actively trying to pick players who want to play in Red Deer.
Players eligible for the draft were 2009-born players from Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Kansas, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming.
Red Deer have two players on their current roster who were once selected in the U.S. Priority Draft, including forward Jeramiah Roberts (2022 14th overall) and defenceman Quentin Bourne (2021 8th overall).
Last year, the Rebels selected Cooper Soller from Los Angeles with the 18th pick and Kue-Gene Park from Meridian, Idaho with the 40th but have yet to sign them.
The Rebels will be back to work on Thursday for the 2024 WHL Prospects Draft where they'll select 15th overall in the first round. They'll also pick 37th overall in the second round and have two fourth-round selections at 77 and 84 among others.
"All you can do when you pick in those spots is sit back, wait, and let the draft fall to you. That's what we'll do and the goal is to take the best players possible."