Brandon looks to be Kings of WHL Extra buzz abounds as puck set to drop on season where Kelowna hosts Memorial Cup By: Ken Wiebe Posted: 5:11 PM CDT Wednesday, Sep. 17, 2025

Marty Murray intentionally used the words “cautiously optimistic.”

Now into his fourth season as the head coach and general manager of the Brandon Wheat Kings, Murray is eager for the Western Hockey League season to get going after building a foundation for his team during training camp but recognizes it’s going to take some time for things to fully come into focus.

“Obviously, it’s a new look with the league with a bunch of players that would have been here every other year, but aren’t,” Murray said in a telephone interview from Brandon on Wednesday morning.

“Everybody is trying to figure out what we have and what the opposing teams have moving forward here. We feel pretty good about where we’re at.”

As the Wheat Kings open up the new season on Friday at Assiniboine Credit Union Place against the Moose Jaw Warriors, they do so with the belief they can be one of the contenders in what figures to be an interesting campaign after the exodus of many key players around the WHL after the new agreement between the Canadian Hockey League and NCAA was put in place.

It meant the departure of projected 2026 first overall pick Gavin McKenna to Penn State and fellow Medicine Hat Tigers forward Cayden Lindstrom to Michigan State, among others.

The Wheat Kings were impacted by the rule changes as well, with defenceman and captain Quinn Mantei committing to Providence College in May and top centre — and 2025 10th overall pick to the Anaheim Ducks — Roger McQueen announcing he was joining Providence College in early August.

Murray had time to try and fill some of Mantei’s minutes with a trade for Winnipegger Grayson Burzynski with the Swift Current Broncos, but losing someone with the potential to be one of the most impactful forwards in the league, like McQueen, that late in the off-season was less than optimal.

“A player like Roger doesn’t come around every day. He was going to be our first-line centre and that was publicly talked about, that he was coming back,” said Murray.

“We wanted him to lead the way. The timing stings a little bit. You probably don’t replace those guys until the deadline anyway, if he’s not here, but you have a plan in place and that plan changes. But we’ll march on here and we feel good about what we have as a group and are excited to get the season going.”

A departure like this one creates plenty of opportunity for more ice time and enhanced roles throughout the forward group, Murray stressed.

One of those players is Brandon product Jaxon Jacobson, who had 15 goals and 44 points in 51 games in his first full WHL season and slides into the first-line centre role in what will be his NHL draft year.

“Jaxon has been really good in his pre-season games. He was all over the scoresheet,” said Murray, whose team finished fifth in the Eastern Conference last season with a record of 38-23-4-3 before losing to the Lethbridge Hurricanes in five games during the first round of the playoffs.

“That’s a lot to ask of a 17-year-old, to be your first-line centre. But he has the ability and the hockey IQ to do it night in and night out. We’re going to continue to work with him to strengthen the other areas of his game as well.”

That trade with the Broncos in May also brought in proven sniper Luke Mistelbacher, a Steinbach product that produced 42 goals and 93 points last season to finish eighth in WHL scoring.

Mistelbacher, who attended Winnipeg Jets development camp as a free agent invitee in 2024, is someone who could challenge for the scoring title this season as a 20-year-old — especially if Spokane Chiefs forward Berkly Catton sticks with the Seattle Kraken.

“Just his shot and his release is quite impressive. I don’t think (Mistelbacher) needs much time to get his shot off — and he’s one of those game-changers that can score at any given time,” said Murray.

“He’s a top point guy returning to our league this year. That’s a big thing for us to start with and hopefully he can even increase the numbers he put up last year.”

Two players projected to return to the Wheat Kings remain in NHL camps and aren’t expected to be available for the season opener: forwards Wade Klippenstein (Minnesota Wild) and McCreary product Brady Turko (Anaheim Ducks).

The return of Klippenstein and Turko will only enhance a forward group that features a nice blend of skill and sandpaper.

“We have a lot of depth up front,” said Murray. “We’re going to have three lines that can contribute offensively and potentially be interchangeable, top-producing lines. We feel comfortable being able to roll four lines night in and night out, which you need in our league.”

Burzynski, 20, is an offensive blue-liner who had 47 points last season and will provide experience to a defence corps that is well-rounded.

One of those additions on the back end is Max Lavoie, a hard-nosed player who skated with the Winkler Flyers of the Manitoba Junior Hockey League last season and made an impression during training camp.

“It’s not like we have a pair that is going to completely carry us and that was maybe the case a little bit with Mantei and Luke Shipley,” said Murray. “With both of those guys gone and a lot of returning guys, we’re looking for guys to take steps. It will need to be a group effort in order to be solid on the back end.”

The Wheat Kings will feature a new goalie tandem this season as well, as Carberry product Carson Bjarnason begins his professional career in the Philadelphia Flyers organization — most likely with Lehigh Valley of the American Hockey League.

“When you get to this point now, this is the fun part. Where you get to drop the puck.”

Jayden Kraus, who recently attended Colorado Avalanche rookie camp, was acquired in a trade with the Victoria Royals and is expected to carry the load, with Hudson Perry serving as the backup.

“When Jayden became available here a couple of months ago, he’s a guy that we looked at very seriously,” said Murray. “He started 46 games last year with Victoria, so he’s a proven No. 1. He’s been everything as advertised since his arrival in Brandon.”

With the Kelowna Rockets serving as host for the 2026 Memorial Cup, there’s an extra buzz around the league to be the team that represents the WHL this spring.

“This is why we do it,” said Murray. “There’s a lot of stuff behind the scenes in the summer, a lot of decisions on personnel. When you get to this point now, this is the fun part. Where you get to drop the puck. This is a year that we’ve been talking about for a while, where our 2006s are 19 years old.

“Our conference and our entire league is kind of wide open right now. We feel we’re in that group of teams that need to be in the conversation and we have to go out and prove it. Starting Day 1 of the season, we should be able to make some noise and hopefully our kids can grow. We’ll see what we need to do for roster adjustments to hopefully get to that level.”

ken.wiebe@freepress.mb.ca

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