After a quiet first day at the NHL Entry Draft, the Vegas Golden Knights got busy on day two.
On Friday, rumors were going around that the Vegas Golden Knights and Ottawa Senators were talking about a potential Erik Karlsson deal again. And as a matter of fact, both general managers from each squad spoke to each other before the draft began. However, it appears that talks have died down in the past 24 hours.
On the flip side, the Golden Knights have selected eight new players to give their system much-needed depth. Cody Glass, Nick Suzuki, Erik Brannstrom and Nicolas Hague all have bright futures ahead of them. But whether we see these players from the 2018 draft in the future remains to be seen.
In a draft where Vegas didn’t hold a first-round pick, the team decided to take an aggressive approach. The Golden Knights picked a lot of players with high ceilings, and I like that a lot. So without further ado, here’s who the Golden Knights picked on day two of the entry draft.
In the second round at pick number 61 overall, the Golden Knights took Ivan Morozov. Morozov is a forward and models his game after Evgeny Kuznetsov of the Washington Capitals. He scored 11 goals and notched 12 assists in 30 games for Mamonty Yugry of the Russian Junior league before joining Khanty Mansiysk.
The Verkhnyaya Salda, Russia native plays a two-way style much to the delight of head coach Gerard Gallant. Golden Knights general manager George McPhee was shocked to see him slip to 61. The Golden Knights front office listed him at number 30 in their draft rankings.
In round four at pick number 99, Vegas selected Stanislav Demin. Demin is a defenseman out of Cyprus, California and is a left-handed shot. He scored nine goals and dished out 36 assists for 45 points in 57 games with the Wenatchee Wild in 2017-18.
He has fully committed to playing for the University of Denver, one of the best college hockey programs out there. Demin models his game after Roman Josi of the Nashville Predators. His primary strength is his skating game and can play in all situations.