No. 1 pick Hischier is the Devils’ own
Maybe it was destiny. Maybe it was fate. Maybe it was just meant to be.
“Maybe it’s all those things,” Nico Hischier said. “It’s pretty special how it worked out, isn’t it?”
Here he was, the kid from Naters, Switzerland, grinning from ear to ear in front of dozens of cameras and microphones and reporters.
Just minutes earlier, he’d been standing on the stage of the United Center, overwhelmed at being the first player from his country to be selected No. 1 in the National Hockey League draft.
As New Jersey Devils general manager Ray Shero handed him his new bright red jersey, it just felt right as he pulled it over his head and proudly showed it off to the cheering throng on hand.
Maybe that’s because this wasn’t the first time he’d worn a Devils jersey.
Eight years earlier, as a young lad of 10, he was playing in a minor hockey tournament back in Switzerland. As part of the event, each team was presented with a set of NHL-replica jerseys to wear in the competition.
The uniforms handed out to Hischier and his teammates: the New Jersey Devils. Now, almost a decade later, he was exactly that: a New Jersey Devil.
Even he agreed you can’t make that stuff up. Indeed, no sooner had the pick been announced when a photo of young Nico donning that Devils sweater as a boy began flooding the Internet.
“There’s no words,” Hischier said. “So much emotion. I’m really happy.”
In the days, weeks, even months leading up to the 2017 draft, the jockeying to be selected in the top spot was between two centres: Hischier, the flashy offensive threat of the Halifax Mooseheads, and Nolan Patrick, the injury-prone star of the Brandon Wheat Kings.
Patrick, 18, was long considered the top prospect in the draft despite playing just 33 games in 2016-17 due to sports hernia surgery. He was examined by doctors of both the Devils and the Philadelphia Flyers, who had no issues snapping him up once Hischier was off the board.
“If a team doesn’t want me, they don’t want me,” Patrick said. “I’m not looking at this as any kind of revenge thing. Nico and I are two different players. He has a little more offensive flair. I think I do a lot of things well.”
The first real surprise of the draft came after the Dallas Stars and Colorado Avalanche selected defencemen Miro Heiskanen and Cale Makar, respectively — and it came via the first Canadian team to pick in the draft, the Vancouver Canucks.
With most prognosticators figuring the obvious selection would be centre Cody Glass of the Portland Winterhawks, Canucks GM Jim Benning opted instead for centre Elias Pettersson, a six-foot-two, 165-pound beanpole from Timra IK.
“His offensive skill and his playmaking abilities are his best assets,” Benning said earlier in the week.
“It’s his vision on the ice and how he can anticipate plays. He’s a tall, thin kid and will have to put on some weight and strength before he’s ready to play, but he’s a smart player.”
With Glass still on the board, the expansion Vegas Golden Knights were quick to make him their first draft pick in franchise history.
The next Canadian team on the board was Calgary, which took defenceman Juuso Valimaki at No. 16. Valimaki put up 19 goals and 42 assists in the WHL with the Tri-City Americans.
One pick later, the Toronto Maple Leafs got what a number of scouts thought was a steal by selecting Swedish defenceman Timothy Liljegren.
At No. 22, the Edmonton Oilers took speedy forward Kailer Yamamoto. Three picks later, the Montreal Canadiens addressed a need at centre by taking Ryan Poehling.
The Ottawa Senators rounded out the night for Canadian clubs by snapping up USHL centre Shane Bowers at 28.
Windsor Spitfires centre Gabe Vilardi, meanwhile, went 11th to the Los Angeles Kings.