It looks like the New Westminster Salmonbellies will be a silent partner at the Western Lacrosse Association annual junior entry draft on Feb. 6.
With the first and second overall picks in the 2012 draft, all but locked up, Salmonbellie brass appears to be content to let Coquitlam and Burnaby dicker over the opportunity of selecting either former Burnaby junior Jackson Decker or all-rounder Travis Cornwall from Coquitlam one and two.
Recent rumours circulating around the league have suggested that Decker would be the first overall pick of the Coquitlam Adanacs.
Those whispers were as close to being confirmed as could be by the Adanacs head coach Randy Delmonico in last weekend's Coquitlam NOW newspaper. "Our biggest need is righthanded offensive players. . We're fairly happy with the rest of where our lineup is," said Delmonico.
That would seem to point directly at Decker, who is a righty and tallied 28 goals in just 12 league games after returning from his junior season of NCAA Division II field lacrosse at Limestone College. In the playoffs, Decker was equally productive, contributing just short of four points per game for the A's.
Contrastingly, Cornwall is a lefthander, a spot that the Lakers desperately have needed filling over the last two seasons.
"We're definitely short lefthanders," said Burnaby head coach Bob Johnston. "When we look at our weaknesses last year, we needed to get the ball up the floor quickly. We really want to play a transition game."
Cornwall, who is equally adept at playing both ends of the floor, also possesses just the sort of wheels that Johnston desires.
Cornwall finished third in overall league scoring last season with 106 points, including a junior career-high 42 goals.
In his five-year career as an Adanac junior, Cornwall garnered 126 goals and 310 total points.
New Westminster is without a draft pick in the first two rounds, and makes its first selection with the 21st overall pick in the third round.
"It will be other teams' opportunities to make a splash, but not the 'Bellies," said New Westminster president and general manager Dan Richardson. "We're interested in moving up, but we'll make do with the picks we have. But we always find something."
Johnston believes that the bulk of the first round will likely be mined from the Adanacs' lineup of graduates.
That could be construed as a sign that Burnaby might be leaning toward playmakers like Adanacs Tor Reinholdt or Casey Jackson with the third overall pick.
Johnston might even be tempted to take 6-6 and 215-pound righthanded defender David Joyce at No. 3.
Cody Bremner from Nanaimo is also a talented lefty that Johnston might not be able to overlook in the first round.
In 2010, Bremner came to the Lower Mainland in a trade with Colton Clark to help New West with a late playoff run. Clark was later drafted third overall by the Lakers and went on to have a sterling rookie season in Burnaby last year, scoring 21 goals and 58 points.
Another possible talent that could further fill the Lakers' needs is lefty Michael Berekoff from Delta - a third-year junior with 81 league goals on his resume.
Burnaby appears set on the right side with Clark, Scott Jones, Trevor Moore and Calvin Craig all expected to return to the lineup.
With a healthy Matt Beers and transition specialist Pete McFetridge expected to solidify an already sound, young defence, Burnaby is in a position to cherry pick what it feels are the team's deeper needs in the later rounds.
New Westminster's 64 defender Travis Irving from Maple Ridge might make a good fit for the Burrards at No. 4.
Langley, Victoria and Nanaimo, finish off the first-round order, with the fifth through seventh picks.
Burnaby has three picks in the second round at 10, 12 and 13.
In the second round, the Lakers may have the choice of selecting through a long list of available junior Salmonbellies.
The list could read as follows - lefthanded transition player T.J. Cowx, 6-2 left-side shooter Justin Salt, right-side transition Jeff Sproule or playmaker and sniper Daniel McQuade.
Also on Burnaby's wishlist could be a goalie to backup Dan Lewis, possibly Delta's Blake Duncan.
Mark Negrin, with back-to-back 34-goal seasons from the left side, and Kyle Robinson, a crafty ballmoving defender, will also draw some attention in early-round selections.
With three picks in the third and fourth rounds, Richardson is confident the talent pool is deep enough to benefit the club.
"We've been fortunate with our third-, fourth-and fifth-round picks
in the past and made them into WLA ballplayers," said Richardson. "But we're not going to see any major changes this year."
The WLA draft will be held Monday, Feb. 6 at the Firefighters' Club in Metrotown.
Doors open at 6 p.m., with the draft beginning at 7 p.m.
