Pair of Warriors Picked in NHL Entry Draft

Nick Murray

A pair of your Moose Jaw Warriors were selected in the NHL Entry draft, which took place on June 22-23 in Dallas, Texas.

6'0 205" Defenceman Jett Woo was selected by the Vancouver Canucks, with the 37th pick.
Woo was solid in the 2016-2017 season. He started 17-18 out hot as well, but ended up only seeing limited action; thanks to a separated AC joint. 

Jett Woo was drafted by the Vancouver Canucks with the 37th overall pick

Woo moves the puck well and projects to be the Warriors top power play D man this season. He scored 25 points last season before cooling off completely in the playoffs; only scoring 3 points in 14 games.

Woo was raised in Winnipeg. Likely the only kid at his high school named after Jet Li. He is officially the second of player of Chinese descent to be drafted into the NHL. The first was Andong Song; who was drafted in 2015 by the New York Islanders. Song has yet to play a game in the NHL.

Also drafted was the speedy sniper, Justin Almeida, who surprised everybody this year, becoming one of the key components in Moose Jaw's successes during their tremendous 2017-18 season.

He was rewarded for that play with the opportunity to play alongside Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, as he went to the Pittsburgh Penguins with the 129th pick. That was in the fifth round.
Almeida is small. That certainly won't work in his favour. But he is quick and his wrist shot is on par with the best in the game. And he will undoubtedly front the Warriors top scoring line in 2019-19.

After playing a relatively inconsequential role for the Prince George Cougars, Almeida was sent to Moose Jaw, where he thrived. In 2017-18, Almeida scored 43 goals and 98 points. He was a top ten scorer in the WHL. That success carried over into the playoffs as well, where he scored 13 points in 14 games.

Justin Almeida was drafted by the Pittsburgh Penguins in the 5th round

Other notes of interest from the draft:

Buffalo Sabres took top tier Swedish Defenceman, Rasmus Dahlin, first overall.

With the second pick, Carolina Hurricanes selected 18 year old winger, Andrei Svechnikov and Montreal nabbed 17 year old Finnish prospect, Jesperi Kotkaniemi.

The 12th overall pick went to the New York Islanders. They used that pick on Defenceman Noah Dobson. Dobson was on the Acadie-Bathurst Titan, when they won the Memorial Cup this year.