That June, the Minnesota Wild selected him in the sixth round of the NHL Draft, and by early September, just a couple of games into the WHL season, Ripplinger was back with the Royals, negotiating a nine-player deal that included two first-round picks to get him.
Seven and a half months later, Ripplinger and Parker had won the WHL championship. Parker became the second defenseman on Moose Jaw’s first pairing, joining with Mateychuk to play significant minutes. “We’re talking 30-plus minutes,” Ripplinger told The Athletic.
Parker, a 6-foot, 192-pound, right-shot defenseman, registered 51 points in 83 combined regular-season and playoff games for Moose Jaw after the trade. Friday, though he and the Warriors lost in the semifinal at the Memorial Cup, his season finishing two wins shy of helping Moose Jaw to its first CHL title, he calls his post-draft season a whirlwind and a definite success.
