Parade of forwards at top of round one
Golden Knights pick Glass at No. 6 with first pick in NHL draft
Cody Glass played in a youth hockey tournament in Las Vegas when he was 10. His Junior Steelers team finished a disappointing second.
He is looking forward to many more games in Sin City.
Glass was selected by the expansion Vegas Golden Knights with their first-ever pick Friday night, going No. 6 overall as part of a parade of forwards at the top of the NHL draft. The 18-year-old Canadian center had 32 goals and 62 assists in 69 games last season for the Portland Winterhawks of the Western Hockey League.
“I didn’t really see that as a hockey place when I went there, but now, with the new team and the fans and season tickets sold out, I think hockey will be unbelievable,” Glass said. “Just being there and walking down the Strip, it’s something that’s really nice. You don’t see too much of that in Winnipeg.”
The first NHL draft in Chicago began with another 18-year-old forward, with Swiss center Nico Hischier going No. 1 overall to the New Jersey Devils. The Philadelphia Flyers then grabbed Nolan Patrick at No. 2.
Ten of the top 13 picks were listed as centers. Defensemen Miro Heiskanen (No. 3 overall to Dallas) and Cale Makar (No. 4 to Colorado) and right wing Owen Tippett (No. 10 to Florida) were the lone exceptions. Vegas also opted for another forward prospect with its second of three picks in the first round, taking Nick Suzuki at No. 12 before selecting Swedish defenseman Erik Brannstrom with the 15th pick.
“The forward group is real strong,” New Jersey general manager Ray Shero said.
After a symphony of boos for NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman and most of Chicago’s rivals across the league, the crowd cheered when the Blackhawks finally got on the clock at No. 26. But they promptly moved back three spots in a deal with Dallas in the first of three trades announced during the first round.
The St. Louis Blues sent forward Jori Lehtera and two draft picks to Philadelphia for Brayden Schenn, and also traded physical forward Ryan Reaves to the Stanley Cup champion Penguins.
The crowd at the United Center cheered again when the Blackhawks got back on the clock, and general manager Stan Bowman played to the roaring fans when he brought out captain Jonathan Toews and star winger Patrick Kane to announce their selection of Finnish defenseman Henri Jokiharu.
The 18-year-old Hischier is the highest drafted Swiss player in the NHL history. He had 38 goals and 86 points in 57 games with the Halifax Mooseheads of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League this past season. He spent the previous two seasons in the Swiss pro league, where he was coached by current Ottawa Senators coach Guy Boucher.
The 18-year-old Patrick, a Winnipeg, Manitoba, native whose father Steve and uncle James played in the NHL, held the top spot in the NHL Central Scouting Department’s final rankings in April. He sustained a sport hernia last summer that hampered him during his season with Brandon of the Western Hockey League, but he finished with 20 goals and 46 points in 33 games.
The New York Rangers and Tampa Bay Lightning also opted for players with family ties to the NHL. New York got the No. 7 pick in a trade with Arizona and selected center Lias Andersson, whose father Niklas played in the league. Callan Foote, who went to Tampa Bay at No. 14, is the son of two-time Stanley Cup champion Adam Foote. Coyotes-Rangers trade: Arizona acquired center Derek Stepan and goalie Antti Raanta from New York for defenseman Anthony DeAngelo and the seventh overall pick in the draft.
The Coyotes have made massive changes since Andrew Barroway became sole owner earlier this month, trading away No. 1 goalie Mike Smith, parting ways with coach Dave Tippett and opting not to offer captain Shane Doan a contract. Arizona also acquired defenseman Niklas Hjalmarsson from Chicago earlier Friday.
The 27-year-old Stepan had 17 goals and 38 assists in 81 games with the Rangers last season. Arizona has lacked a true top-line center for years and is hoping Stepan can fill that void. Raanta went 16-8-2 with four shutouts and a 2.26 goals-against average in 30 games as Henrik Lundqvist’s backup. He will get a chance to be Arizona’s No. 1 goalie after Smith was traded to Calgary last weekend.
Blues-Flyers trade: St. Louis acquired center Brayden Schenn from the Philadelphia Flyers in completing two trades during the first round of the NHL draft.
In exchange for the three-time 20-goal-scorer, the Flyers got the Blues’ first-round pick this year, a conditional first-round pick in next year’s draft and third-year forward Jori Lehtera.
The Blues weren’t done dealing. They traded back into the first round by acquiring the No. 31 pick from the Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins. St. Louis also acquired rookie forward Oskar Sundqvist.
Capitals: Washington resigned right winger T.J. Oshie to a $46 million, eightyear contract. Oshie will count $5.75 million against the salary cap through the 2024-25 season.