The Leader-Post from Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada • AS11

FRID AY JUL 30 2021 REGINA LE ADER -POS A 11 SPORTS ROB VANSTONE Ryker Evans is an all-time sleeper pick in the NHL entry draft. was obviously uncertainty going into the draft about where I was going to said the Regina Pats defenceman, who was selected in the second round (35th overall) by the expansion Seattle Kraken on Saturday. was thinking I was going to go in the third or fourth round, so I had my alarm set for 9:30. Then I got a wake-up call from (Kraken general manager) Ron Francis saying they had drafted me a little earlier. de nitely caught me by Those sentiments were widely shared in the hockey universe, considering the meteoric ascent he enjoyed on Saturday.

Evans, who turns 20 on Dec. 13, was 192nd overall in NHL Central nal ranking of North American-based prospects for the 2021 draft. He had been bypassed completely in 2020 his rst year of eligibility after being rated 178th. That was immaterial to the Kraken, which was impressed with production three goals and 25 assists in 24 WHL games in his third major-junior season. excited to have Francis told Evans during the draft-day phone call.

scouts saw you a lot this year a lot of live viewings and they think the world of you. excited to add you to our organization and we look forward to meeting you in The Western Canada scouts, Je Crisp and Darren Yopyk, did not require any introduction to Evans. They watched him extensively, especially this past spring when Brandt Centre was the East hub facility. the hub opened up, they were able to go watch him live and, from Day 1, it was pretty obvious to them that Ryker was an excellent hockey said Kraken director of amateur scouting Robert Kron, noting the team had also been impressed with Evans during the 2019-20 season. watched a lot of video on him and we had other scouts from Canada watch him live and we overlook what he has to er.

He had a monster year and played over 30 minutes a game. Every discussion came back to him, so we decided that he was an early guy that we really wanted. really pay attention to the market and all the experts out there. We feel this is a great player, a great kid. Je Crisp knows him a lot.

from Calgary, so we know everything about Ryker. We interviewed him and the character and everything about him was just screaming out that this is a player with a great So great, in fact, that the Kraken want to run any risk of Evans not being available later in the draft. was a big Kron said. felt that if we waited for our third-round pick, he might not be there. we said, is a guy that the whole group really, really It was a very unanimous feeling.

never seen anything like it. maybe could have played the draft a little later and all that. The probabilities were there. But we said, we have a kid here who we really and we want to take any The Pats had gambled on Evans in the 2016 bantam draft, selecting him in the 10th round (209th overall) even though he was only 5-foot-3 and 115 pounds at the time. took a chance on, he grows, a Pats GM John Paddock recalled.

did grow. got to give him credit. It was a matter of growing, but it was also a matter of working out and training to get to a certain Part of growth had been impeded by celiac disease, with which he was diagnosed while in Grade 5. Dietary adjustments were made to add nutrients and, not long after being drafted by the Pats, he experienced a growth spurt. de nitely crazy to look back and see where you started and what become entering the WHL as this small kid and becoming this bigger, more mature, the 6-foot, 191-pound Evans said from his home in Calgary.

something that you always chase and to nally get to this mo ment, Having reached that point, Evans is quick to underline his appreciation for everyone who has supported him along the way, such as his parents (Mike and Lisa) and sister (Payten), everyone in the organization, and former Pats scout Campbell Elynuik. was one of the rst guys who took a chance on Evans said of Elynuik. thank him any Elyniuk, for his part, is thankful he went to bat for Evans in discussions with the brass principally Paddock and director of scouting Dale McMullin leading up to the 2016 bantam draft. knew how special of a hockey player he was and had no problem putting my reputation on the line for said the Calgary-based Elynuik, who scouted for the Pats from 2015 to 2019. was a risk I was willing to take to prove to the organization and myself that talent would bring that next-level skill been looking Paddock and McMullin were in agreement, having scouted Evans as well, so the choice was made.

this kid gets to be 5-10, he could be McMullin told the Regina Greg Harder, quite presciently, after Evans was chosen on May 5, 2016. have to look at three years McMullin added. have to play Five years later, the Kraken validated the opinions of the brass and the methodology of the coaching sta which is led by bench boss Dave Struch. very excited, McMullin said after Seattle selected Evans. great for the franchise.

speaks volumes for our coaching sta and the way they develop players with the speed, the pace, and everything we try and practise and play Now the question is: Will he return to the Pats, whose roster already includes another marquee player in 16-year-old wunderkind Connor Bedard, for one more season? see what he looks like (in training camp) and everything, but I suspect or I think that one more year of junior and then be ready to step right into the American said Kron, noting that a rm decision will be made in the fall after consultations with Francis, assistant GM Jason Botterill, director of player personnel Norm Maciver and associates. too early to say, but I would suspect that one more year would be good for him to dominate as he did. He can play with Bedard again and he can really run this team and get solid minutes again every game over the whole season, and not just in a 20- or 25-game A complete regular season would be rst in the WHL. He played in 45 games as a rookie in 2018-19, another 63 before the 2019-20 season abruptly ended due to COVID-19, and another 24 in the hub. So there is certainly something to be said for allowing him to re ne his considerable skills over a 68-game stretch, with the likelihood of playo s.

Kron said. can just blossom. no Except, of course, when he has the puck. twitter.com/robvanstone Kraken take no chances, grab Evans in Round 2 Regina Pats defenceman Ryker Evans was selected by the Seattle Kraken in the second round 35th overall during the NHL entry draft on Saturday. KEITH HERSHMILLER PHOTOGR A PHY Pats defenceman sur prised to be ta ke so high in National Hockey League draft we have a kid here who we really and we want to take any chance.

Cody Fajardo get cut, but he was still bleeding. The year was 2016. July 7, to be precise. Fajardo, then a CFL neophyte with the Toronto Argonauts, appeared in a regular-season road game against the B.C. Lions on special teams! Toronto, I got a phone call on cutdown day and they asked me if I was willing to play on the punt the Saskatchewan franchise quarterback recalled Thursday, one day before the nal cutdown deadline.

feel like if I would have said no, they would have been like, rst ight So I said, going to play on the punt so they were like, right. on the that was an interesting one, because you see the ensive co-ordinator and the quarterbacks coach and the head coach call you on cutdown day and like, about to get and then they say, you willing to play on special I said, do anything to make the and that was kind of my experience in my rst year in It was an experience, all right. had two punts blocked in the rst two Fajardo continued. I came in and I played the third week. My rst game was against (then-Lions linebacker) Adam Bighill and it go very well for me.

I remember I came away with a bloody mouth. punts blocked for the rest of the year, though, so what I hang my hat on. tackles, Fajardo can chuckle about it now, especially since he is the last member of the Roughriders who has to worry about being cut. His job security rivals that of Queen Elizabeth II. think be looking at my phone as much as in the past, or tell my mom or my wife Laura not to call me during cutdown said Fajardo, who had nine NFL after being released by the Oakland Raiders in 2015.

is a tough time and lived it where gotten the call and I gotten the call. a very stressful time to be one of those bubble guys and I wish that on my worst This from an a able soul who have an enemy in the world. But you get the idea. Cutdown day was once a special occasion for Fajardo ROB VANSTONE Saskatchewan Roughriders Dan Clark, left, and quarterback Cody Fajardo walk off the field after training camp on Thursday in Regina. TROY FLEECE.