Devils on the clock with No. 1 pick in NHL draft

“We accomplished a lot of things in this draft”, he said. “This could not have gone better in my mind”.

Majority owner Bill Foley and general manager George McPhee of the Vegas Golden Knights. Even if Minnesota did have arrangements for them, it didn’t seem like enough to let all their defencemen and Staal go unpicked. It remains to be seen what happens with Washington’s Nate Schmidt, Ottawa’s Marc Methot, Chicago’s Trevor van Riemsdyk and San Jose’s David Schlemko, any of whom could be traded as soon as Thursday.

In the short term, although the free agency period will bolster their roster, Vegas will struggle to be competitive in a very strong Western Conference.

But right now, the team’s core remains a question mark.

“It’s still sinking in but I’m really excited”.

And making it even more hard is that some of the Golden Knights’ most-wanted assets, such as 21-year-olds Shea Theodore and Alex Tuch or Nate Schmidt, who is coming off his second full season in the National Hockey League, are off limits. Making those agreements got Vegas forward prospect Alex Tuch from the Wild, defenseman Shea Theodore from the Ducks, unsigned forward prospect Nikita Gusev from the Lightning and the 15th pick and defensive prospect Jake Bischoff from NY. They turned them into five centers, four wings, two defensemen and two goaltenders with a mix of skill and size.

Cody Glass played in a youth hockey tournament in Las Vegas when he was 10. Defensemen Matt Dumba and Marco Scandella plus centers Eric Staal and Erik Haula were all intriguing candidates, but Vegas settled for forward Erik Haula and a conditional 2017 or 2018 third-round pick, which probably won’t be almost as valuable.

The 18-year-old Hischier is the highest drafted Swiss player in the National Hockey League history.

Not only does Tolvanen have the smooth skating McPhee covets, but he may have the best pure shot in the draft. It also has two selections in the fifth and sixth. After being selected, he told the Tampa Bay Times, “I’ll miss Tampa”. Nowadays, I know mixed martial arts is quite popular among hockey fighters.

The results of the draft were… a little uninspiring to say the least, with a lot of good players left on the table without side deals. I’m going to make the most of it. “I’ll just use it as motivation”.

McPhee took advantage of wide-ranging reluctance among clubs to lose valued contributors, adding promising defenceman Shea Theodore from Anaheim and first and second round picks from Columbus. Nico could be the player the Devils need in order to get back into the playoffs.

And so by the time the draft ended, the Golden Knights had made their 30 picks, added a few additional players, and perhaps most importantly, obtained a bevy of extra draft picks. “It helps us fill in the middle”.

The expansion draft itself was mostly anticlimactic, as the names of numerous new Golden Knights had already leaked out. Arguably the most offensively-gifted player on the Golden Knights, he will be looked upon to provide the scoring punch the team needs.

“My dad and I talked about that”, said Leschyshyn, who played for the Regina Pats of the WHL. “I think it will go well”. He talked about the support they had there. “I’m not too sure”. In return, the Knights picked up a first-round pick (15th overall) from the Islanders, along with a second-round pick in 2019 and a prospect, Jake Bischoff. “We’re not going to fast-track anyone”. This is a very good trade by the Penguins considering they want someone to protect Sidney Crosby which is a role Reaves is very familiar with.

“Every day wherever you go you see Knights hats and shirts out there”, he said.

The league also had a special video tribute for Bryan Bickell after the Carolina Hurricanes forward was forced to retire at the end of the season after being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.