Forgoing junior hockey, Matthews spent his draft year in Switzlerand, ringing up 24 goals and 46 points in 36 games for Zurich SC, the Swiss league’s top regular season team. Datsyuk will return home to play in Russian Federation next season.
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Matthews was considered to be the consensus first overall pick heading into the entry draft, and he goes to a team that desperately needs a goal-scorer and a leader as the Leafs are suffering through one of the longest Stanley Cup droughts in the league. The 18-year-old was named MVP of the playoffs in Liiga, after scoring 10 goals and 15 points in 18 games to help Tappara Tampere win the Finnish championship. “Once they called my name, it was definitely a sigh of relief”.
“A big framed skater, standing 6’3” right now and weighing in just over 200lbs, Chebykin may be more of a project than other players selected by the Maple Leafs in this draft, especially if they can get him over and into their system.
NHL Central Scouting ranked Matthews its top draft-eligible prospect, ahead of Finnish-born forwards Patrik Laine and Jesse Puljujarvi.
After his selection, trades dominated the first day of drafting.
Seven first-rounders have fathers who played in the NHL – Bellows, Matthew Tkachuk (Keith), Alexander Nylander (Michael), Logan Brown (Jeff), Jakob Chychrun (Jeff), Max Jones (Brad) and Tage Thompson (Brent).
Lightning general manager Steve Yzerman provided few updates regarding contract talks Steve Stamkos.
In what was largely a salary dump, the Detroit Red Wings traded Pavel Datsyuk to the Arizona Coyotes.
The Chicago Blackhawks acquired two second-round picks (39th and 45th overall) from the Montreal Canadiens in exchange for gritty veteran forward Andrew Shaw.
Starting with Columbus selecting Pierre-Luc Dubois at No. 3, only three Canadian-born players were taken among the top 10 picks. That matches last year’s total, which was the fewest for Canada in the draft. Kekalainen, who is from Finland, also noted he wouldn’t take a player based on his nationality. “I hope that I can maybe do the same some day”, Laine said of the Teemu Selanne connection to the city of Winnipeg.
Montreal traded forward Lars Eller to Washington for the Capitals” second-round draft picks in 2017 and “18.
The loudest cheers were reserved for the Sabres, and began when owner Terry Pegula took the stage to welcome everyone to Buffalo. Buffalo used the 86th pick to select defenseman Casey Fitzgerald, whose father Tom played 1,097 National Hockey League games.
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Rounds 2-7 will be held Saturday.
