Carson Bjarnason is a dime in a dozen out in Brandon with the Wheat Kings. With a depleted and not very strong lineup in front of the young netminder, he was still able to put up improve numbers and climb the draft rankings.
Across just two seasons with the Brandon Wheat Kings of the Western Hockey League (WHL), the 18-year-old has an even 29-29-6 record with a 3.35 GAA and .894 SV%. His first year in Brandon at just 16-17 years old wasn’t very strong, having a losing record and goals against average above 3.85.
In his draft year it was a different story, having more quality starts well also playing in more games because of it. Becoming main starter, playing in more then half of the Wheat Kings regular season contests. Carson lowered his GAA this past season to just 3.08, despite facing more than double the shots he did in his 2021-22 campaign.
The Philadelphia Flyers were so intrigued with Carson Bjarnason, his style of play actually made Danny Briere trad up into the second round in order to acquire the goaltender. The Flyers traded their second round pick in 2024 to the Chicago Blackhawks for No. 51.
Now after being drafted the question remains, what’s next for the Carberry, Manitoba native? It is very unlikely for Carson to be making the Lehigh Valley Phantoms straight out of camp this fall but it doesn’t mean he won’t attend and compete at his very best. However, it’s anticipated that he will be returning to the Brandon Wheat Kings at least for this upcoming season. Which is not a problem what so ever — it just means he will get more time to develop and grow as a goaltender in the Western Hockey League. Carson and other young players/goalies coming out of any junior league have until they’re 20-year-old before they can enter the AHL. The cutoff for that falls on the first of every year, January 1.
If Carson Bjarnason where to end up staying for another two-years in the Western Hockey League, it just means the Flyers have more time to build their prospect pool and be closer to competing. Especially when players like Aleksei Kolosov (G), Oliver Bonk (D), Cutter Gauthier (F), Matvei Michkov (F) and others either have already arrived or are NHL ready.
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