Home grown talent has taken the Estevan Bruins to new heights over the past several seasons, and a wave of new young players made their presence felt during the 2018-19 season. Now the team will pursue the next promising young star during the SJHL's bantam draft.

The draft, held during the league's annual meeting in Nipawin, will be for players born in 2004. Most of them will have played bantam AA the year before. All will be from Saskatchewan. This list will be updated as the draft continues.

With their first pick, 10th overall, the Bruins selected defenseman McKale Paul from the bantam AA Swift Current Broncos. The sturdy defender posted an impressive 27 points in 31 games from the blue line, while also amassing 102 penalty minutes.

The Bruins ended up with the sixth pick of the second round, 18th overall. They used the pick on Parker Lalonde, a forward for the Warman Wildcats. In 31 games with the Wildcats, the Aberdeen native posted 24 goals and 50 points. 

With no pick in the third round, the Bruins sat tight until round four, where they had two selections. Their first pick came 38th overall, where they nabbed Carter Dereniwsky. Unlike most of his fellow draftees, Derinewsky played Midget AAA in 2018-19, putting up 25 points in 41 games for the Yorkton Maulers. He was also taken in the WHL bantam draft, 39th overall by the Victoria Royals.   

Estevan was up to the podium again just three picks later, 41st overall, and they chose Seth Dragan from the Saskatoon Generals. Born and raised in Saskatoon, the right-shooting forward posted 31 points in 31 games over the bantam AA season.  

Turning their attention to the fifth round, the Bruins scooped up Ben Schmidt at 51st overall from the Prairie Storm. Schmidt, who posted 14 points in 26 games during the season, hails from Southey, Saskatchewan, the same hometown as current Bruins forwards Tanner and Tyson Manz.

The Bruins were busiest in round six with three selections. First up was Nolan Flamand at 62nd. Flamand also spent the past year in Midget AAA with the Saskatoon blazers, tallying 27 points in 41 games. He was a second round pick of the Kelowna Rockets in the WHL draft as well.

With their second pick of round six, just one pick later at 63, the Bruins chose a goalie. James Venne started 18 games for the Saskatoon Outlaws in bantam AA this season, posting a 3.33 GAA and a .880 save percentage. 

The final pick of the day for the Bruins was Brady Bye at 66th overall. A defenseman from White City, Bye played the past season with the Prairie Storm as well, putting up 11 points and 59 PIMs in 30 games.