NHL: No surprises with top two NHL picks – STLtoday.com
SUNRISE, Fla. • Connor McDavid’s favorite hockey player is Sidney Crosby. His favorite non-skating athlete is LeBron James.
He’s now in their club, forever to be known as a No. 1 pick.
McDavid’s journey toward widely expected NHL superstardom officially began Friday night when the Edmonton Oilers grabbed him with the top overall selection in the draft. No player has entered the league with such hype since Crosby a decade ago, and McDavid’s level of celebrity within the game already may rival what James was dealing with when he joined the NBA in 2003.
“It was even better than I expected,” McDavid said. “It’s so exciting to hear your name called. It was unbelievable.
“The Edmonton Oilers have such a historic history,” McDavid said.
“We’re lucky to have him,” Oilers GM Peter Chiarelli said.
Buffalo took Hobey Baker winner Jack Eichel of Boston University with the No. 2 pick, another no-surprise move. Eichel had 26 goals and 45 assists in 40 games this past season.
“I think Buffalo is heading in the right direction, as a team and as a city,” Eichel said. “There’s a lot of positives and I want to be a piece of the puzzle. Buffalo wants success and they want success soon and it’s going to happen.”
After the first two choices, the rest of the evening was a guessing game.
Arizona used the No. 3 pick on center Dylan Strome — McDavid’s teammate with the Ontario Hockey League’s Erie Otters, finishing this season with nine more points but in 21 more games. Toronto took Mitch Marner at No. 4, making it four straight centers to lead off.
Defenseman Noah Hanifin went No. 5 to Carolina, so with Eichel that meant two U.S. players were top-five picks for the first time since 2007. Center Pavel Zacha went sixth to New Jersey, defenseman Ivan Provorov seventh to Philadelphia and Columbus grabbed defenseman Jack Werenski with the eighth pick.
Dallas went with another right wing, taking Russian prospect Denis Gurianov at No. 12. And then the next 15 minutes or so belonged to Boston.
The Bruins had the No. 14 pick starting the day — then got the No. 13 and No. 15 selections in a pair of trades Friday. They sent left wing Milan Lucic to Los Angeles for defenseman Colin Miller, goalie Martin Jones and the 13th pick, then got No. 15, No. 45 and No. 52 from Calgary for defenseman Dougie Hamilton.
The Bruins took defenseman Jakub Zboril, left wing Jake DeBrusk and right wing Zachary Senyshyn.
The New York Islanders weren’t scheduled to pick until No. 72, but swung two deals to land first-round talent. They got the 16th pick from Edmonton and took center Mathew Barzal, then made another swap with Stanley Cup finalist Tampa Bay for No. 28 and snared forward Anthony Beauvillier.
For the first time since 2012, a goalie went in the first round when Washington took Russia’s Ilya Samsonov at No. 22.
Besides the Lucic deal, there were other trades on Friday.
• Colorado acquired defenseman Nikita Zadorov, forwards Mikhail Grigorenko and J.T. Compher and a 2015 second-round (No. 31) draft pick from Buffalo for forwards Jamie McGinn and Ryan O’Reilly.
• The New York Islanders dealt defenseman Griffin Reinhart to Edmonton for the 2015 first-round pick at No. 16 and a second-round pick.
• Ottawa sent goaltender Robin Lehner and forward David Legwand to Buffalo for a 2015 first-round draft pick.
• Tampa Bay traded its 2015 first-round choice to the New York Islanders for their 2015 second-round and third-round picks.
• Toronto sent their 2015 first-round pick to Philadelphia for the Flyers’ 2015 first-round and second-round choices and the Maple Leafs dealt their 2015 first-round draft pick to Columbus for the Blue Jackets’ 2015 second-round and third-round choices.
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