WHL veteran Mazden Leslie, a pro prospect and an NCAA commit from Lloydminster, has one more intriguing option for the coming hockey season.
The 20-year-old defenceman has been traded to the WHL’s Kelowna Rockets, who host the 2026 Memorial Cup championship next spring.
Read more: Tripp to Prince Albert for gifted Fischer
Leslie has played five seasons with the Vancouver Giants, who received two conditional draft selections — a first-round pick in 2028 and a third-round choice in 2026 — in the May 21 deal that sent their captain to Kelowna.
Leslie, who just turned 20 in April, still has one more year of major-junior eligibility. But he has indicated his preference is to take the next step in his hockey career, whether that’s at the pro or collegiate levels. Already committed to play NCAA Division 1 at Bowling Green State University in Ohio, he’s also a prospect for the NHL draft in late June. He was listed 133rd among draft-eligible North American skaters in the final NHL Central Scouting rankings.
Although he knew the trade to Kelowna was likely coming, Leslie is still not sure about his definitive plans for next season. And that’s not necessarily a bad position to be in, he says.
“I think it’s all good,” Leslie told the Meridian Source on May 23. “You have a lot of options, so I think that’s the main thing, to just have more options than not.
“I guess you just want to sign an NHL contract, and that would be the goal no matter where you were.”
Regardless of whether he’s drafted, Leslie likes his chances of getting an invite to an NHL team’s development camp. Most of those camps usually happen soon after the draft, which this year is set for June 27 and 28 in Los Angeles.
“Yeah, for sure, I think a camp would (still) be a good possibility, if not drafted,” Leslie said.
“Being one of the older players left eligible for the draft, you just don’t worry too much about it. Because if it doesn’t happen, you’ll get chances as a free agent, just go to camps and stuff like that. I think that’s the main thing. It doesn’t really worry me too much, with getting picked or not, because you’ll get your opportunity at some point.”
After he was passed over in the previous two NHL drafts, Leslie received invitations to multiple camps with the Toronto Maple Leafs and Vegas Golden Knights, respectively.
The six-foot-one, 200-pound Leslie scored a whopping 72 points, including 21 goals, in 66 games with the Giants this past season. He has played his entire WHL career with Vancouver, which was permitted to play him as a 15-year-old during the COVID-19 bubble-format schedule in the shortened 2020-21 season.
“They drafted me when I was really young and I was able to stay there for five years,” said Leslie, whom the Giants chose 10th overall. “That obviously helped me a lot. I think we had some good teams. We didn’t get to where we wanted to in (terms of) winning a championship, but we did some good stuff in the right direction for the organization.”
Over those five seasons, he collected 190 points in 280 regular-season games and eight points in 21 playoff games. Two months ago, the Giants lost to the Spokane Chiefs in the first round of the WHL playoffs. Even before then, Leslie had decided he would not likely return to Vancouver next fall, especially because major-junior players now are permitted to play NCAA hockey.
“(The possibilities became greater) once the NCAA thing opened up and I was able to commit somewhere, because not many guys are in the league at 15 and able to play in the bubble like I was,” he said.
“I played pretty much what a normal person would, if there was no bubble, playing five years.
“So, I kind of was hoping to move on to pro hockey, or NCAA, whatever that may be. I think that was always the thought, is trying to play pro hockey next year.”
As next season transpires, he plans to monitor whether a return to junior would become a better route. With the Rockets hosting the four-team Canadian Hockey League championship next spring, playing in Kelowna is that much more of an attraction.
“Yeah, obviously, the option of that is definitely good to have,” he said. “If you do sign a (pro) contract, it’s a good option to maybe come back to if you’re not ready for pro hockey. So, I think the Memorial Cup (host) team having your (junior) rights is definitely a good thing.”
Leslie spoke with Rockets management after the trade and outlined his immediate intentions.
“They reached out and told me about the trade and that they’d wait to see what happens with the draft, and all that kind of stuff, to see what’s happening next,” he said.
Up next for Leslie is more off-season training. He works out and skates daily in Wainwright with an elite group of players that includes NHL defenceman Carson Soucy and AHL forward Jagger Firkus, both of Irma. Leslie and Firkus have built a close friendship that goes all the way back to their minor hockey days in Lloydminster. A year ago, Firkus helped the Moose Jaw Warriors win the WHL championship.
Another notable training with Leslie and company is Cole Reschny, the Victoria Royals’ forward from Macklin who’s a projected first-round choice for this year’s NHL draft.
HOCKEY FAMILY
Leslie is used to rubbing shoulders with hockey buddies year-round. His two brothers have also played elite hockey. Jantzen, now a 26-year-old accountant, is a former WHL defenceman who went on to play college hockey in Red Deer. Jayven, a forward who turns 22 in June, is the top scorer with the ACAC’s Augustana Vikings. He graduated from the junior A Lloydminster Bobcats in 2023.
Mazden is the youngest of four siblings, including 24-year-old sister Mackenna, a chiropractic student bound for Portland, Ore., collegiate studies.
Mazden shares the academic smarts of his siblings. Among his multiple awards with the Giants, he was named the team’s high school scholastic player of the year in the 2021-22 season, complementing top-defenceman and most-improved-player honours in other years.
In committing to Bowling Green, Mazden Leslie is on a scholarly path that he can trace to his major-junior roots. Dennis Williams, former coach of the WHL’s Everett Silvertips, now coaches at Bowling Green, and the new NCAA rules have enabled him to recruit widely from the three leagues that make up the umbrella Canadian Hockey League (CHL).
“He used to coach in the WHL, so I knew him quite a bit,” Leslie said. “Their coach being from the CHL two years ago, it definitely helps. A lot of the guys from the WHL and other CHL leagues, too, see a guy that was already coaching in the CHL and knows where you came from and is there to help you out.
“I just thought (Bowling Green) was obviously a good place. They have a lot of CHL guys coming in, so it’ll be a really good team.”
At least 10 major-junior players are among the Falcons’ commits, including one of Leslie’s Vancouver teammates, graduating forward Connor Levis.
Wherever he plays next season, Leslie will be counted on to continue to provide size, skill and leadership.
“If it’s pro hockey, or NCAA, or whatever it may be, you have an offensive defenceman, like you said, who can do a bit of everything, or at least try to,” he said with a chuckle.
“Try to be (effective) on both sides of the puck and be a factor. You want to be a factor in every game you play in.”
Read more: Chiefs select ‘speedy, tenacious’ Frazer
