Medicine Hat's Garin Bjorklund ranked fifth among North American goaltenders in NHL Central Scouting's final rankings (Photo courtesy of Randy Feere / Medicine Hat Tigers)

By Scott Roblin

Draft Eligible

Tigers’ Bjorklund, Svejkovsky crack NHL final draft rankings

Apr 8, 2020 | 3:04 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB – Two players who took big strides with the Medicine Hat Tigers this season have been given their final draft rankings by NHL Central Scouting.

Goaltender Garin Bjorklund and forward Lukas Svejkovsky have cracked the year-end rankings for both North American goaltenders and skaters, with Bjorklund ranking top-five in the former category.

Bjorklund heads into the draft ranked fifth among North American netminders after completing his rookie season with the Tigers, dressing in 28 games.

The 17-year-old Bjorklund recorded the third-most wins by a rookie goaltender in the WHL this year with a 20-5-1-0 record while also putting up a 2.91 goals against average and a .897 save percentage.

Bjorklund jumped up five spots from the midterm rankings and sits behind only Nico Daws, Drew Commesso, Samuel Hlavaj, and Will Cranley among North American goalies.

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His teammate Svejkovsky was one of the fastest risers in the final rankings, as he climbed 30 spots to sit 165^th among forwards from North America.

Acquired in December in a blockbuster trade from the Vancouver Giants, Svejkovsky ended his sophomore season in the WHL with 18 goals and 38 points in 52 games.

Svejkovsky spent much of his time in Medicine Hat this past season on the team’s top line, exploding for 13 goals and 28 points in just 34 games after being traded.

Presumptive number one pick Alexis Lafreniere was listed as the top skater from North America after an 112-point season with the QMJHL’s Rimouski Oceanic, while German league rookie of the year Tim Stuetzle was top ranked on the European skater side.

All-Star captain

Departing Tigers captain James Hamblin added to his resume with another honour from the WHL this week, being named to the Eastern Conference’s first all-star team.

Hamblin was one of three forwards to be named to squad alongside Lethbridge’s Dylan Cozens and Prince Albert’s Aliaksei Protas after leading all Eastern Conference players with 92 points in 63 games.

According to the Tigers, it’s the 37^th time in franchise history that a Medicine Hat player has been named to a first all-star team.

Joining Hamblin, Cozens and Protas on the Eastern Conference roster is Hurricanes defenceman Calen Addison, along blueliner Braden Schneider and goalie Jiri Patera from the Brandon Wheat Kings.

The Western Conference first all-star team meanwhile includes Spokane Chiefs’ Adam Beckman and Ty Smith, Seth Jarvis and Johnny Ludvig from the Portland Winterhawks, Kamloops forward Connor Zary, and Everett Silvertips star netminder Dustin Wolf.