Quick Hits from the NHL Entry Draft
6 years ago
With the NHL Draft over for another year, we thought we’d offer a few quick notes from this past weekend.
TRADES ON TRADES
The NHL was abuzz with trade activity leading up to the ceremony with some moves carrying a level of significance that wasn’t necessarily expected. Here’s a breakdown of Friday’s trade activity.
- Arizona traded defenceman Connor Murphy and centreman Laurent Dauphin to Chicago for defenceman Niklas Hjalmarsson.
- Arizona then traded defenceman Anthony DeAngelo and the 7th overall pick in this year’s draft to NY Rangers for Derek Stepan and Antti Raanta.
- Chicago traded former Calder winner Artemi Panarin, winger Tyler Motte and NY Islanders’ 6th-round pick in Friday’s NHL Draft (170th overall) to Columbus for returnee Brandon Saad, goaltending prospect Anton Forsberg and Columbus’ 5th round pick in 2018.
- Chicago then traded its 1st-round pick (26th overall) to Dallas for Anaheim’s 1st-round pick in 2017 (previously acquired, 29th overall) and Dallas’ 3rd-round pick in 2017 (70th overall).
- Columbus remained active as they sent winger Dante Salituro to Minnesota for centreman Jordan Schroeder.
- Philadelphia moved Brayden Schenn to St. Louis for Jori Lehtera, St. Louis’ 1st-round pick in the draft (27th overall) and a conditional 1st round pick in 2018.
- Pittsburgh moved Oskar Sundqvist and its 1st round pick in the Draft (31st overall) to St. Louis for tough guy Ryan Reaves and St. Louis’ 2nd-round pick (51st overall).
NICO HISCHIER MAKES HISTORY
By going first overall, Nico Hischier becomes the highest drafted Swiss player in the league’s history. Hischier was also the highest drafted player that was not born in North America since the Oilers took Nail Yakupov first overall in 2012.
The Swiss list:
- 1st overall – Nico Hischier NJD (2017)
- 5th overall – Nino Niederreiter NYI (2010)
- 9th overall – Timo Meier SJS (2015)
- 11th overall – Kevin Fiala NSH (2014)
- 13th overall – Sven Baertschi CGY (2011)
RECORD NUMBER OF FINNS SELECTED IN FIRST ROUND
Six Finnish-born prospects were chosen on Friday night – Miro Heiskanen (#3, Dallas), Juuso Valimaki (#16, Calgary), Urho Vaakanainen (#18, Boston), Kristian Vesalainen (#24, Winnipeg), Henri Jokiharju (#29, Chicago) and Eeli Tolvanen (#30, Nashville) – which is a new record for Finns in the first round of the NHL Draft. The previous mark of five was set in 2002.
The breakdown of the first round by birthplace:
- Canada (11)
- Finland (6)
- USA (6)
- Sweden (4)
- Czech Republic (2)
- Russia (1)
- Switzerland (1)
WHERE DID THEY COME FROM?
In total, 14 different leagues were represented in the first round of the 2017 NHL Draft with the 31 selections coming from:
- WHL: 7
- OHL: 5
- SWEDEN: 4
- CZREP, FINLAND, QMJHL, USHL: 2
- AJHL, H-EAST, HIGH-MN, NCHC, NTDP, RUSSIA, SWEDEN-2: 1
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