Brendan Ranford felt the draft on Friday afternoon.

Ranford, a veteran of four seasons with the WHL's Kamloops Blazers, wasn't able to get a deal done with the NHL's Philadelphia Flyers by yesterday's deadline. Therefore, he is once again eligible for the NHL draft.

The Flyers selected Ranford in the seventh round of the NHL's 2010 draft; in fact, he was the second-last player taken. NHL teams had until yesterday at 5 p.m. ET to sign players taken in that draft. Those not signed are eligible for this year's draft that is scheduled for Pittsburgh, June 22 and 23.

Should Ranford not be selected in next month's draft, he will become a free agent, eligible to sign with any team.

"Nothing got done," Ranford said late yesterday afternoon. "There's nothing I can do. I just have got to work hard during the summer and move on."

The Blazers selected Ranford, who is from Edmonton, with the 15th overall selection in the WHL's 2007 bantam draft. He has 270 points, including 115 goals, in 278 regular-season games with the Blazers.

This season, he had career single-season highs in goals (40) and points (92).

The writing may have been on the wall for Ranford and his agent, Mark MacKay, about 10 days ago when the Flyers signed two other forwards - Derek Mathers, who had 17 points and 177 penalty minutes with the OHL's Peterborough Petes, and Andrew Johnston, an 81-point man with the SJHL's Humboldt Broncos. Mathers, 18, was a seventh-round pick in the 2011 draft; Johnston, 20, was an undrafted free agent.

Asked if he was disappointed not to get signed, Ranford replied: "No, not really. I wouldn't say disappointed. I've got to move on and just work harder."

Should Ranford, who turned 20 on May 3, be selected in this month's draft, he would be eligible to play anywhere in that team's organization should he sign an NHL contract. He also is eligible to return for a fifth season with the Blazers.

Ranford is one of a handful of WHLers who will be going back into the draft.

The list includes defenceman Troy Rutkowski of the Portland Winterhawks, who was a fifth-round pick by the Colorado Avalanche in 2010, and winger Josh Nicholls of the Saskatoon Blades, a seventh-round pick, who wasn't signed by the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Meanwhile, three WHL forwards who were selected in the 2011 draft signed NHL deals yesterday.

Ty Rattie of the Portland Winterhawks, a second-round pick, signed with the St. Louis Blues, while Dominik Uher of the Spokane Chiefs, a fifth-round pick, got a deal done with the Pittsburgh Penguins, and Brody Sutter, the captain of the Lethbridge Hurricanes, signed with the Carolina Hurricanes, who had taken him in the seventh round.

Rattie, 19, is eligible to return to Portland. Uher and Sutter both completed their major junior eligibility as 20-year-olds this season.

gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca

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