Friday 23 June 2017

Drafted And Ready

Tonight, it was all about the new kids. 31 players were selected in the televised first round of the NHL Entry Draft, and there was some anticipation on whether Switzerland's Nico Hischier or Winnipeg's Nolan Patrick would go first-overall. Would the Devils keep that pick? Was Dallas going to trade the third-overall pick as many had anticipated? Would we see any surprises in terms of where players were chosen? There were a ton of questions that needed to be answered, and the 31 general managers didn't disappoint when it came to finding guys who will be "the next one" in their franchises.

Here is how the opening round of the 2017 NHL Entry Draft from Chicago played out.

2017 NHL ENTRY DRAFT
# Name Country NHL Team Team
1 Nico Hischier
Switzerland
New Jersey Devils Halifax Mooseheads
2 Nolan Patrick
Canada
Philadelphia Flyers Brandon Wheat Kings
3 Miro Heiskanen
Finland
Dallas Stars HIFK
4 Cale Makar
Canada
Colorado Avalanche Brooks Bandits
5 Elias Pettersson
Sweden
Vancouver Canucks Timra IK
6 Cody Glass
Canada
Vegas Golden Knights Portland Winterhawks
7 Lias Andersson
Sweden
New York Rangers HV71
8 Casey Mittelstadt
United States
Buffalo Sabres Green Bay Gamblers
9 Michael Rasmussen
Canada
Detroit Red Wings Tri-City Americans
10 Owen Tippett
Canada
Florida Panthers Mississauga Steelheads
11 Gabriel Vilardi
Canada
Los Angeles Kings Windsor Spitfires
12 Martin Necas
Czech Republic
Carolina Hurricanes HC Kometa Brno
13 Nick Suzuki
Canada
Vegas Golden Knights Owen Sound Attack
14 Callan Foote
Canada
Tampa Bay Lightning Kelowna Rockets
15 Erik Brannstrom
Sweden
Vegas Golden Knights HV71
16 Juuso Valimaki
Finland
Calgary Flames Tri-City Americans
17 Timothy Liljegren
Sweden
Toronto Maple Leafs Rogle BK
18 Urho Vaakanainen
Finland
Boston Bruins JYP
19 Josh Norris
United States
San Jose Sharks US Nat'l Team Dev. Prog.
20 Robert Thomas
Canada
St. Louis Blues London Knights
21 Filip Chytil
Czech Republic
New York Rangers PSG Zlin
22 Kailer Yamamoto
United States
Edmonton Oilers Spokane Chiefs
23 Pierre-Olivier Joseph
Canada
Arizona Coyotes Charlottetown Islanders
24 Kristian Vesalainen
Finland
Winnipeg Jets Frolunda HC
25 Ryan Poehling
United States
Montreal Canadiens St. Cloud State
26 Jake Oettinger
United States
Dallas Stars Boston University
27 Morgan Frost
Canada
Philadelphia Flyers Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds
28 Shane Bowers
Canada
Ottawa Senators Waterloo Black Hawks
29 Henri Jokiharju
Finland
Chicago Blackhawks Portland Winterhawks
30 Eeli Tolvanen
Finland
Nashville Predators Sioux City Musketeers
31 Klim Kostin
Russia
St. Louis Blues Dynamo Moscow
There are all the picks. As you can see, there were a few teams who didn't have an opening round pick, so they'll continue to wait their turn during Saturday's drafting as Rounds Two through Seven go tomorrow. There were some trades made that should be noted.
  • The seventh-overall pick was traded by the Arizona Coyotes to the New York Rangers as part of the deal that sent Derek Stepan and Antti Raanta from the Rangers to the Coyotes for Anthony DeAngelo.
  • The 13th-overall pick was traded by the Winnipeg Jets to the Vegas Golden Knights as part of the deal for the Golden Knights selecting Chris Thorburn in the expansion draft.
  • The 15th-overall pick was traded by the New York Islanders to the Vegas Golden Knights as part of the deal that saw the Golden Knights choose J-F Berube in the expansion draft.
  • The 23rd-overall pick was traded by the Minnesota Wild to the Arizona Coyotes as part of the deal that sent Martin Hanzal and Ryan White to the Wild in exchange for Grayson Downing at the NHL trade deadline this past season.
  • The 24th-overall pick was traded by the Columbus Blue Jackets to the Vegas Golden Knights to ensure they selected William Karlsson in the expansion draft. Vegas then flipped the pick to Winnipeg as part of the deal to select Chris Thorburn in the expansion draft.
  • The 26th-overall pick was traded by the Chicago Blackhawks to the Dallas Stars for the 29th-overall pick plus an additional third-round pick.
  • The 27th-overall pick was dealt by the Washington Capitals to the St. Louis Blus as part of the trade that sent Zach Sanford and Brad Malone to the Blues for Kevin Shattenkirk and Pheonix Copley at the trade deadline this past season. St. Louis then dealt this pick with Jori Lehtera to Philadelphia for Brayden Schenn.
  • The 29th-overall pick was acquired by the Blackhawks from Dallas for the 26th-overall pick as stated above. Dallas originally acquired the pick from Anaheim in exchange for Patrick Eaves at the trade deadline this past season.
  • The 31st-overall pick was traded by the Pittsburgh Penguins to the St. Louis Blues as part of the deal to acquire Ryan Reaves for Oskar Sundqvist.
With that, you now know how the 31 players selected in the first round of the NHL Entry Draft were acquired by their respective teams. For the first time in NHL history, 31 players were selected in the first round thanks to the addition of the Vegas Golden Knights, and their three picks were pretty solid for the expansion franchise in terms of getting them off on the right foot.

Welcome to the NHL, lads. Now the real work begins!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

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