Thunder continue roster re-tooling with draft picks, trades

The Langley Thunder continue shaping their roster for the upcoming season.

At the Western Lacrosse Association Graduating Player Draft held on January 29, the Thunder chose Bailey Vanichuk, Hudson Zazelenchuk, Keegan Okino, and Kaymen Diabo in the second through fifth rounds, respectively.

Prior to the draft, Langley used both of its Territorial Protection picks, selecting to keep Temeke7 Gottfriedsen (Kamloops) and Ben Gagnon (Maple Ridge) from their Junior program. Vanichuk and Zazelenchuk also played for Langley’s junior team while Okino comes from the Nanaimo organization and Diabo played for Coquitlam in 2025 but is from Ontario.

Langley was also active on the trade front, sending a 2028 first-round pick to the New Westminster Salmonbellies in exchange for Ryan Martel. Martel is from Aldergrove and played his junior lacrosse with the Thunder organization, winning a pair of awards during his time in the BC Junior A Lacrosse League: Rookie of the Year (2017) and the Bob Reid Memorial Award for Outstanding Achievement (2019).

While that trade happened on January 23, the Thunder also pulled off a draft-day trade, acquiring Tyrell Hamer-Jackson and Zac Masson from the Salmonbellies for Toru Morimatsu, Warren Jeffrey and future considerations.

It is one of three trades the team has made as they sent their first-round pick in this draft to Nanaimo for another homegrown talent in Chase Fraser.

“We’re excited to add these players to our organization,” said Thunder GM Remo Spagnuolo. “They’ve all earned this opportunity, and we’re looking forward to getting them into our program, seeing how they adapt to the senior level, and continuing their development within our system.”

The WLA season gets underway on May 20 with the full schedule being released on February 10.

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