Bombers started the draft with barely any picks, as the team pushed for a cup last season. Unfortunately, the BFHL created a hostile environment where goalies automatically die after playing 1 minute of overtime, leading to Helleybyuck not playing most of the 2025/2026 playoffs, and resulted in a quick exit by the team. To rub salt into the wounds, Bombers lost to Gunners, a team managed by someone with a similar skillset as Jim Benning.
Extremely disappointed, Bombers GM retooled on the fly, trading away some quality younger players to reload junior talent. As part of the retool, Bombers fired their existing scouting staff and hired Claude as its assistant GM to help speed up prescreening.
Fans are livid, after this draft. Bombers stretched badly compared to where these players were picked in the NHL (Nordmark 0 as picked at the same spot as Anaheim, Villeneuve 6 picks earlier than Chicago, Shilov 14 picks, Borichev 19, Galvas -9, Valentini 21, Plumins 15, and Fetterolf 21). In total, Bombers GM wasted 87 draft slots worth of capital, or the equivalent of almost three rounds of the draft.
Marcus Nordmark (28th pick, LW, ANA) - Marcus didn't care who picked him in the BFHL. All he knows, is Pat Verbeek's just given Marcus' future line mate Leo $18m bags of Benjamins a year. While Pat's going to get his ass fired very soon, Marcus knows damn well that Leo's comp will get Marcus paaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaid. Mintyukov just got a "we're sorry we dicked you around so long, here's way more money than you're worth" contract, and while Cutter Gauthier isn't eligible for RFA, he's just licking his chops expecting a $15m bag; afterall, it's not like he himself will play hardball when he was in Philadelphia!
Xavier Villeneuve (29th pick, D, CHI) - Bombers explicitly traded to make this pick, after taking Nordmark. Xavier has a busted hip. We all know defensemen don't need their hips to be elite puck movers, because AI and robotics will allow him to replace his entire mid-body in a few years - think of the old Atari robot football game, Cyberball, just he'll be Cyberpuck. We all know QMJHL sucks now, so his inflated point totals mean absolute jack all, even if his PPG is above Thomas Chabot's (the last actually impactful puck moving D playing in the NHL from the QMJHL). Bombers GM is naturally stupid, by giving up a more seasoned puck-moving D in Adam Engstrom (who is already generating similar PPG in the AHL at only 22), to make this pick.
Yegor Shilov (30th pick, C, COL) - Bombers started getting a gambling addiction after the last two picks, and wanted to keep the endorphins flowing so traded yet again to make this pick. Bombers swings for the fences (and given past precedents, will likely cause a triple play, with no outs in the inning, and bases loaded). Skills of a Kucherov. Efforts of an Elias Pettersson when JT Miller was on the team, his wife is having a miscarriage, AND he was defrauded by a Swedish real estate agent all at the same time. He can't skate. He's slow. He's super lazy. His decision making is also suspect - after committing to Boston U, he goes to a laughingstock NCAA Penn State instead, as he feared the strong competition he'll face at HockeyEast would make him look stupid. However there is light at the end of the tunnel - Colorado is capped out and dumped another lazy player in Nichushkin (whom Bombers is very familiar with) and there is room eventually for Shilov. If he can turn out to be a Mogilny, who plays maybe 2-3 mins of real hockey a game and gets a few points during those 2-3 mins, while coasting the other 16 mins hovering near the opponent's blue line, Bombers will be fine with the pick. Besides, given how punitive BFHL's engine is against Bomber players, you almost need to coast for 16 mins so that your CD doesn't drop to 90 for playing 18.1 mins.
Dmitri Borichev (52nd pick, G, NAS) - Bombers finally picked a goalie earlier in the draft; the last goalie picked by the team was also a NAS prospect in 2024, Jakub Milota, who another GM wanted to pry away from this team. Like Shilov, Borichev is at risk being fed to the meat grinder, given the Russians are running low on able bodied men for Ukraine to use for target practice, but that has never stopped Bombers from drafting Russians - since the war started in 2022, Bombers have selected Danila Yurov, Gleb Trikozov, Dmitri Simashev, Alexander Rykov, Yegor Zavragin, Yegor Shilov, and Dmitri Borichev (technically also drafted Matvei Gridin, Kirill Zarubin, and Dmitri Gamzin as well). Borichev is one of the top rated goaltenders in this draft, and while goalies are voodoo, so is everybody else available at this range. Bombers did not consider picking any other player at this draft position.
Tomas Galvas (62nd pick, D, PIT) - You know Bombers is desperate when they pick a player that was passed over in the entry draft 2 years in a row (the last overager picked by Bombers was Dmitri Voronkov). Tomas was named 2026 WJC All Star, and has developed extremely well for a D+2 player. Bombers expects Galvas will take over alternate capital duties on the Penguins from a certain individual called Kristopher Joseph Pierre Irwin Letang....or, (more likely) potentially bust like most players picked around this range. Since 2010, the Bombers have drafted the various WJC All Star players: 2012 Max Friberg, 2013 Jacob Trouba, 2017 Thomas Chabot, 2021 Trevor Zegras, and of course, 2026 Tomas Galvas. Seeing how amazing a stud he is, the Penguins have already signed Tomas to an ELC; he will play next year in Czech but will likely come to the AHL after the season is over. Bombers did not consider picking any other player at this draft position.
Adam Valentini (76th pick, F, UTA) - As one of the youngest players in the NCAA, Adam managed to get 27 points (21 of it 5v5, with only 6 pts on the PP), predominantly in the bottom 6 role. He's listed at only 5'10" which means in reality, he's closer to 5'9" or even smaller. Bombers having drafted all sorts of lazy players earlier (Nordmark, Villeneuve, and Shilov), the team decided to diversify their risk to get someone who actually gives a flying F about playing, rather than padding their point totals. Unfortunately, this shorty also can't skate, which means he is unlikely to make the big show.
Patriks Plumins (100th pick, G, TOR) - With the final pick, Bombers select Patriks Plumins. The last time the team selected two goaltenders, they got the Berlin Wall, in Mikhail Berdin, and Joseph Woll. Unfortunately, the team cannot make any witty marketing sell-job with Borichev Plumins, unless the team gets sponsored by a Roto-Rooter franchise. The team really struggled with this pick and had two other candidates that they were deciding on, but the mere potential to drive synergies by getting plumbing businesses to advertise with the team led Bombers GM to pick Plumins over the other two candidates. Clearly, the Toronto Maple Leafs scout found him less attractive than Juuso Ainiastro, and Ottawa scouts thought a high schooler (Elliot Lennon) stopping pucks shot at 5mph by lil kids was more attractive. Whatever, picking goalies is like playing the lotto - you never know what you're going to get anyways. Besides, at least Plumins is good at fixing leaky holes.
We lied. Bomber's drafting addiction meant he was willing to do whatever it takes for the next hit, and ended up trading for more picks.
Ryder Fetterolf (104th pick, G, CAR) - Bombers was PISSED when Dustin Wolf, Jack Ivankovic, and Scott Ratzlaff were picked in previous drafts - the team was purposely looking for a short goaltender to allow the team's other prospects to score at will to give those other players a confidence boost. With Fetterolf, the team gets their 5'11.5 inch midget, who won't make the NHL. Size is important, and the team purposely sought a lowly ranked goaltender instead of more sure bets available on the board.
Cooper Williams (118th pick, F, TOR) - Bombers ships Brent Solomon away to grab Cooper Williams, David Lewandowski's teammate on Saskatoon Blades. Cooper's stats have remained flat since last year, but the team allegedly was making him work on playing a 200 ft game and learning how to play defense. He's got big shoes to fill, as Brent Solomon was invited to the US Summer Showcase and already has a huge goal in that series. Bombers effectively traded one high risk late round pick for another high risk late round pick, and if any of them ends up doing well, can point to the team drafting these hidden gems...just that we may not still own the rights to them!!!!