It’s the most wonderful time of the year! And with Draft Day 2015 now behind us, it’s time to look at the big winners of the day. Sure, this is the GWMHL – we’re all winners in our special way. Except not really. Not at all.

1) San Jose
More isn’t always better, and it might seem strange to call a team that jettisoned several key veterans a “winner”, but the San Jose Hosers needed a change and made it happen. The Hosers had nine picks in the draft, including five in the top two rounds, and made them count. Sure, the loss of Dion Phaneuf and Jay Bouwmeester will hurt, but San Jose reloaded with bluechippers like John Klingberg and Derrick Pouliot and could afford to take a chance on some long shots in the later rounds.

2) Salem
Stop winning already, Salem! Fresh off a Gump Cup threepeat, the Sabercats made a splash in the first round, picking up the 10th overall pick from Portland for pieces that were mostly redundant on its deep roster and using it to draft Andre Burakovsky. Then Bo Horvat fell all the way to Salem’s 17th pick. The rest of the draft? Doesn’t even matter. A strong team just grabbed two pieces that will be key as its veterans begin to retire.

3) Denver
Nope, not Delta! While the Sturgeon pretty much solved its defense problem in one go with the first-round acquisitions of Aaron Ekblad and Damon Severson, the Spurs didn’t have the benefit of the 1st overall pick and yet filled out its thin ranks with forwards like Curtis Lazar, Cedric Paquette, Josh Jooris, Jiri Sekac, and more. Time will tell if there are any world-beaters there, but for a team that could well be asking Joffrey Lupul to do first line duty, it was a big day.