Trying to further build their future, the Swift Current Broncos, and the rest of the WHL are in Calgary Thursday for the 2017 WHL Bantam Draft.

This year, the Broncos have two first round selections.

They enter the draft holding the 9th and 13th overall picks.

The past two seasons, Swift Current has selected forwards with their first round choice (Logan Barlage in 2016 and Riley Stotts in 2015) but Broncos Director of Hockey Operations Jamie Porter says they feel they are in a position so select the best player available.

"These are pretty good players that fit different roles," he said.

"I don't think that we need to specifically look for one thing. It is always a little dangerous when you are drafting for a positional need within the organization, you tned to sometimes overlook an impact player, or a player that may fit better. At the same time, the list of players we are looking at in our two spots will fill needs no matter what."

Following their two first round picks, the Broncos do not currently own a second round selection, as it was sent to Saskatoon in the Ryan Graham deal.

Swift Current does have a third round pick, but not a fourth round (traded to Red Deer in Scott Feser deal) or fifth round (traded to Seattle in Calvin Spencer deal).

The Broncos will return to the podium in the sixth round with two selections, 117th and 123rd overall, and two more in the seventh, 145th and 154th overall.

"We've had a reputation for being able to find those guys in those later rounds, the 6th through 10th," Porter said.

"We have a number of them that have played on the team, are on the team, or are in the organization. That is how it starts, our staff go to bat for a guy like that and are aware that he doesn't fit in until a certain point in the draft but there are some intangibles that we have interested in."

The 2017 WHL Bantam Draft will begin at 8:30am.

Follow Swift Current Online for updates as the day progresses.