It felt like the first round of the NHL Entry Draft was over for by 8:20pm. That’s when Kaapo Kakko put on his New York Rangers jersey and kicked off what will be known as the Kakko era. However, there were picks made by the other 30 teams.
Once the New York Rangers had selected Kakko second overall, the only question was whether Jeff Gorton had another trade up his sleeve. It was not to be as it was a quiet night for trades.
The only deal of the night was when Arizona sent their first round pick (#14) and a second round pick (#45) to the Flyers in exchange for Philadelphia’s 11th overall pick. They used it to grab Swedish defenseman Victor Soderstrom, ranked the best European defenseman by Central Scouting.
The rest of the first round was slightly unpredictable. A draft that was rich in forwards saw a number of European defensemen move up. Some high end prospects lasted much longer than expected and would have been available if the Rangers had kept the 20th overall pick they sent to Winnipeg for Jacob Trouba.
It was an amazing night for the U.S. Developmental team that saw eight players drafted in the first round alone. As far as nationalities go,12 Canadians were picked, 10 from the United States, four Swedes, three Finns and one each from Russia and Germany.
The biggest surprise of the draft was German defenseman Moritz Seider going sixth overall to Detroit. In the pre-draft rankings, his highest projection had been 13th and most had him as a mid to late first round pick.
Peyton Krebs had been projected to be a top ten pick, but lasted until the 17th pick when he was grabbed by Vegas. He just had surgery on a partially torn achilles tendon, probably the biggest reason he didn’t go in the top ten.
The best pure scorer in the draft, Cole Caufield, last until he was taken 15th by the Montreal Canadiens. Only 5’7″ tall, he could be a victim of the copy cat nature of the NHL as big forwards were at a premium as teams followed the St. Louis Blues model.
One player who was projected as a first rounder who was not selected was Arthur Kaliyev, touted as the second best natural goal scorer in the draft. Born on Staten Island, you could see the anguish on his face as he was passed over again and again.
Left winger Raphael Lavoie is another presumed first rounder who was not picked. Both Kaliyev and Lavoie should be long gone when the Rangers pick 49th overall in the second round.
The first round
- New Jersey Devils: Jack Hughes, C
- New York Rangers: Kaapo Kakko, RW
- Chicago Blackhawks: Kirby Dach, C
- Colorado Avalanche: Bowen Byram, D
- Los Angeles Kings: Alex Turcotte, C
- Detroit Red Wings: Moritz Seider, D
- Buffalo Sabres: Dylan Cozens, C
- Edmonton Oilers: Philip Broberg, D
- Anaheim Ducks: Trevor Zegras, C
- Vancouver Canucks: Vasily Podkolzin, RW
- Arizona Coyotes: Victor Soderstrom, D
- Minnesota Wild: Matthew Boldy, LW
- Florida Panthers: Spencer Knight, G
- Philadelphia Flyers: Cam York, D
- Montreal Canadiens: Cole Caufield, R
- Colorado Avalanche: Alex Newhook, C
- Vegas Golden Knights: Peyton Krebs, C
- Dallas Stars: Thomas Harley, D
- Ottawa Senators: Lassi Thomson, D
- 20. Winnipeg Jets: Ville Heinola, D
- Pittsburgh Penguins: Samuel Poulin, RW
- Los Angeles Kings: Tobias Bjornfot, D
- New York Islanders: Simon Holmstrom, RW
- Nashville Predators: Philip Thomasino, C
- Washington Capitals: Connor McMichael, C
- Calgary Flames: Jakob Pelletier, LW
- Tampa Bay Lightning: Nolan Foote, LW
- Carolina Hurricanes: Ryan Suzuki, C
- Anaheim Ducks: Brayden Tracey, LW
- Boston Bruins: John Beecher, C
- Buffalo Sabres: Ryan Johnson, D
The second round of the NHL Entry gets underway on Saturday at 1pm and will be televised on the NHL Network. The Rangers have two picks in the second round (#49 and #58), one in the third round (#68), one each in the later fourth through seventh rounds (#112, #130, #161, #205).
There has still been a lot of chatter about possible trades and they are far more likely on the second day of the draft when teams will be trying to move up.
Despite all of the surprises in the first round, the Rangers selection was the least surprising of all. Jeff Gorton and his scouting staff will start earning their salaries on Saturday.