The Moose Jaw Warriors will be looking to unearth some hidden gems next week at the 2019 WHL Bantam Draft.

After trades over the past few seasons to help to solidify the team for playoff runs, the Warriors won’t be selecting until the fourth round next Thursday in Red Deer, barring a trade before this year's draft.

"I've never been in this position before," said Jason Ripplinger, the Warriors' assistant general manager. "If we do our homework -- and we have and we've watched a lot of games this year -- we can find some good players."

The Warriors have used a smaller scouting staff this season with just five bantam scouts. Mark Blair and Todd Ripplinger are serving as Senior Regional Scouts, West and East, respectively, and Tanner McCall, Brendan Wust and Zenon Herasymiuk are working as Regional Scouts and Justin Rayner as a WHL scout.

"When you have a smaller staff, everyone is included and all give their opinions," said Ripplinger. "When you have too many scouts, there are too many opinions and therefore, you start to question yourself, so when you have a smaller staff, you get everybody on the same page of what we're looking for."

The winter is busy, but the action has really picked up over the past month for the Warriors' scouting staff as they attempt to see as many prospective selections as possible heading into the draft.

Every week has brought a new destination.

"It's been pretty hectic, it started with the Director's Cup in Manitoba; from there went to B.C; went to Irvine, California for the U.S. Prospect Camp and Saskatchewan['s tournament] was in February this year, so that gave us the open weekend to go down to the States," said Ripplinger.

St. Albert, AB product Matthew Savoie is considered the top prospect in this year’s draft, but he committed to the University of Denver after being denied exceptional status to play in the Western Hockey League at 15 by Hockey Canada.

The fact that the Warriors don't select early and won't be in the running for Savoie isn't that big of a concern for Ripplinger who feels there isn't a large group of can't miss players in this year's draft.

"I don't think it's a deep draft, it's more spread out, there aren't that many high-end players, there's a lot of depth players this year but at the end of the day, we're all picking from the same talent pool, so as scouts, we've got to dig a little deeper and make sure we can find some players," said Ripplinger.

"When you're picking that late, you just want to pick the best player available and hopefully it turns out at the end of the day."

The WHL Bantam Draft will be held on next Thursday in Red Deer.