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		New Jersey Devils	Halifax Mooseheads
2	Nolan Patrick		Philadelphia Flyers	Brandon Wheat Kings
3	Miro Heiskanen		Dallas Stars	HIFK
4	Cale Makar		Colorado Avalanche	Brooks Bandits
5	Elias Pettersson		Vancouver Canucks	Timra IK
6	Cody Glass		Vegas Golden Knights	Portland Winterhawks
7	Lias Andersson		New York Rangers	HV71
8	Casey Mittelstadt		Buffalo Sabres	Green Bay Gamblers
9	Michael Rasmussen		Detroit Red Wings	Tri-City Americans
10	Owen Tippett		Florida Panthers	Mississauga Steelheads
11	Gabriel Vilardi		Los Angeles Kings	Windsor Spitfires
12	Martin Necas		Carolina Hurricanes	HC Kometa Brno
13	Nick Suzuki		Vegas Golden Knights	Owen Sound Attack
14	Callan Foote		Tampa Bay Lightning	Kelowna Rockets
15	Erik Brannstrom		Vegas Golden Knights	HV71
16	Juuso Valimaki		Calgary Flames	Tri-City Americans
17	Timothy Liljegren		Toronto Maple Leafs	Rogle BK
18	Urho Vaakanainen		Boston Bruins	JYP
19	Josh Norris		San Jose Sharks	US Nat'l Team Dev. Prog.
20	Robert Thomas		St. Louis Blues	London Knights
21	Filip Chytil		New York Rangers	PSG Zlin
22	Kailer Yamamoto		Edmonton Oilers	Spokane Chiefs
23	Pierre-Olivier Joseph		Arizona Coyotes	Charlottetown Islanders
24	Kristian Vesalainen		Winnipeg Jets	Frolunda HC
25	Ryan Poehling		Montreal Canadiens	St. Cloud State
26	Jake Oettinger		Dallas Stars	Boston University
27	Morgan Frost		Philadelphia Flyers	Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds
28	Shane Bowers		Ottawa Senators	Waterloo Black Hawks
29	Henri Jokiharju		Chicago Blackhawks	Portland Winterhawks
30	Eeli Tolvanen		Nashville Predators	Sioux City Musketeers
31	Klim Kostin		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!