Saskatoon’s Roger McQueen living up to high expectations in draft year

For Saskatoon’s Roger McQueen, the most important season of his young and promising hockey career couldn’t have had a better start.

The 18-year-old Brandon Wheat Kings centre leads the Western Hockey League in goals, with six, and points, with nine, through the first couple games of the season.

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He said he can’t complain about how his season has started.

“Obviously it’s a big season for me, and our team especially has been building for these next few years for a long time now,” McQueen explained.

“The start has been awesome for me, and I had a really good off-season in the gym with Kelly Riou here, and he really helped out my back and helped get my lower frame a little stronger.”

Last season, McQueen missed 15 games because of a back injury. During the off-season he said he and Riou worked hard to help strengthen his back and give him more mobility as he continues to grow into his body and get stronger.

“I injured my back last year, and had like a bulging disc midway through the season and had to take some games off, and then I came back for playoffs,” McQueen said.

“The biggest thing is probably helping my body and back get more flexible so that I’m able to play an entire 68-game season this year,” he added.

“That was kind of my biggest focus. Another thing was (working) on my lower body, trying to get a little stronger since I’m a pretty innocent build for a tall guy – I’m only like 195 pounds.”

McQueen, who stands six-foot-five, said tall genetics run in his family. On his mom’s side he has uncles who are all above six-foot-five, and he has a couple of very tall relatives on his dad’s side as well.

He said he wants to keep growing, but also wouldn’t be opposed if the growth spurt slowed down a little bit.

“Hopefully it’s not a crazy amount, but I think I might be at the tail end of it here, but I guess you never know,” he said. “I don’t think I’ve grown (in) a couple months, so we’ll have to see.”

The sky is the limit for McQueen. Before the start of this season, he was ranked sixth on TSN hockey insider Bob Mckenzie’s NHL draft rankings.

Some NHL draft rankings suggest McQueen can jump into the top three of this year’s draft if he continues to fill out this season.

While there are some high expectations surrounding him, McQueen said he’s just focusing on the job ahead for the Wheat Kings.

“You kind of try to blind that stuff out,” he said.

But McQueen said he has poked the brains of his teammates about what to expect heading into this season.

“My billet brother Charlie Elick got drafted 36th overall last year and guys like Nate Danielson who I played with last year just kind of say ‘Stick to the process,’” he explained.

“Don’t look at all the numbers and the rankings and stuff. You just want to keep to yourself and try to just play your game. At the end of the day, it’s still a hockey game whether it’s your draft year or not, so you’ve just got to play that way.”

In the Wheat Kings locker room, they have high expectations. The team wants to be competing for a championship this year and hopes to host the Memorial Cup in 2026.

Last year, the Wheat Kings were the sixth seed and were swept by the eventual WHL champions, the Moose Jaw Warriors.

While losing in a sweep is never ideal, McQueen and the Wheat Kings are hoping to use that experience to make themselves better, come playoff time.

“It was awesome to play them in the first round. Obviously such a great team, and they have so many big factors, and it’s good for them to move on to the Memorial Cup there,” he said.

“It’s a huge thing for us to get into a team like that, and just see how fast their pace of play is and what it takes to play in the Memorial Cup. And honestly, I think it was good for us – not that we lost, but it was (a) good wakeup call to show some of our guys, and even me, just like the pace of play that you need to play at to be a championship team.”

McQueen said he can’t wait to see what this season holds for his group.

“Our team’s been phenomenal so far, and all the guys are glued together,” he said. “The thing about our team is, everyone in our lineup can play anywhere. Totally excited.”