Vegas Golden Knights 2019 NHL Draft: Big shocks galore in First Round

Have you recovered from all of the excitement yet? It was a crazy night for the Vegas Golden Knights and the rest of the league on Friday as the 2019 NHL Entry Draft got underway.

The Vegas Golden Knights enjoyed a slice of lady luck as they were able to grab elite playmaker Peyton Krebs off the board with the No.17 pick and significantly bolster their firepower in the process.

That was just one shock on a night of many and there were a plethora of storylines to digest from the first round, which we will try and recap here.

It all went to plan as far as the first two picks however, with the New Jersey Devils selecting their franchise center in Jack Hughes and the New York Rangers taking Finnish sensation Kaapo Kakko at No.2.

Hughes was long projected as the first overall pick in this year’s draft and the Devils are getting themselves a generational talent who boasts a wealth of talent, skill, high hockey IQ, elite skating and the ability to both score and create chances.

The Rangers, meanwhile, are in the process of accelerating their rebuild after trading for offensive defenseman, Jacob Trouba earlier in the week, and they added another key piece to the franchise after selecting Kakko with the No.2 overall pick.

Kakko burst onto the world stage at the IIHF World Championships with a flurry of jaw-dropping performances, leading to many experts wondering if the right-wing had overtaken Hughes as the first overall pick.

However, New Jersey stuck to the script and the New York Rangers have now ushered in a new and exciting era of hockey at Madison Square Garden with Kakko set to be both the centrepiece of this rebuild and the Stanley Cup contender they hope to build.

Many stated before Friday that the draft would really begin at No.3 and that’s exactly how it panned out with the Chicago Blackhawks setting the tone for the rest of the evening.

Expected to select elite center Alex Turcotte as the long-term heir to the throne to Jonathan Toews, the Hawks instead opted to select power forward Kirby Dach with the No.3 pick.

And cue the mayhem as a number of defensemen unexpectedly moved up the board, leaving a slew of high-end offensive talent to slip down to destroy a whole host of draft boards and mock drafts.

The Detroit Red Wings pulled off arguably the biggest shock of the night after spending their No.6 pick on German blueliner Moritz Seider, who was projected to be a mid-to-late first rounder. The meme of the 18-year-old’s reaction to being taken off the board that early was superb and without doubt a highlight of the night.

The Colorado Avalanche extended their Stanley Cup window by taking the highest rated defenseman in the draft in Bowen Byram with the fourth overall pick. They also took center Alex Newhook later on to cap off a dream first round for the franchise.

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It was also a good night for the LA Kings who added a much-needed fresh-faced prospect to their ranks after finally taking Turcotte off the board at No.5. Could he be the long-term replacement for Anze Kopitar?

Back to the shocks where Cole Caufield, the best pure scorer in this year’s draft, was left languishing on the board all the way until the No.15 pick when the Montreal Canadiens came to his rescue. You have a feeling that Caufield will enter 2019-20 with a very large chip on his shoulder now, which could be dangerous for the rest of the NHL.

Russian forward Vasili Podkolzin was ranked third on some teams’ draft boards, but he too slipped and wasn’t taken until the No.10 pick by the Vancouver Canucks.

And there are still a slew of high-end forwards left on the board heading into the second round today, which gets underway at 10 am PT / 1 pm ET.

Raphael Lavoie was a left wing who was projected to go in the early stages of the first round, while Bobby Brink and Arthur Kaliyev also remained on the board.

Another rare occurrence took place also when the Florida Panthers took a goalie in the first round after selecting American-born Spencer Knight with the No.13 pick.

Knight has been touted as the best goalie prospect to emerge from America since Jonathan Quick and was the highest netminder drafted since Jack Campbell in 2010 (11th overall). Is Knight the future franchise goalie for the Panthers? Only time will tell.

Another notable surprise was the lack of trade action. Heading into Friday there were a flurry of rumors suggesting that it could have been an extremely busy night in terms of player movement.

Tyson Barrie, P.K. Subban and Kris Letang all saw their names crop up in trade talk but, for the first time since Sidney Crosby was drafted in 2005, there wasn’t a single player trade.

In-fact, there was only one trade all night when the Philadelphia Flyers sent their 11th overall pick to the Arizona Coyotes in exchange for picks #14 and #45, with the Coyotes going on to select Swedish defenseman Victor Soderstrom just outside of the top 10.

We will be putting together a full list of winners and losers from the first round shortly, but you have to applaud the USA Hockey National Team Development Program who smashed the previous record of three players taken from the same team in the first round.

The NTDP had eight players taken in the first round overall, including Jack Hughes (No.1, Devils), Alex Turcotte (No.5, Kings), Trevor Zegras (No.9, Ducks), Matthew Boldy (No.12, Wild), Spencer Knight (No.13, Panthers), Cam York (No.14, Flyers), Cole Caufield (No.15, Canadiens) and John Beecher (No.30, Bruins).

In all, 12 Canadians, 10 players from the United States, four Swedes, three Finns, and one player each from Germany and Russia were taken in the first round.

The 2019 NHL Entry Draft First Round in full:

1. New Jersey Devils: Jack Hughes, C
2. New York Rangers: Kaapo Kakko, RW
3. Chicago Blackhawks: Kirby Dach, C
4. Colorado Avalanche: Bowen Byram, D
5. LA Kings: Alex Turcotte, C
6. Detroit Red Wings: Moritz Seider, D
7. Buffalo Sabres: Dylan Cozens, C
8. Edmonton Oilers: Philip Broberg, D
9. Anaheim Ducks: Trevor Zegras, C
10. Vancouver Canucks: Vasily Podkolzin, RW
11. Arizona Coyotes: Victor Soderstrom, D
12. Minnesota Wild: Matthew Boldy, LW
13. Florida Panthers: Spencer Knight, G
14. Philadelphia Flyers: Cameron York, D
15. Montreal Canadiens: Cole Caufield, RW
16. Colorado Avalanche: Alex Newhook, C
17. Vegas Golden Knights: Peyton Krebs, C
18. Dallas Stars: Thomas Harley, D
19. Ottawa Senators: Lassi Thomson, D
20. Winnipeg Jets: Ville Heinola, D
21. Pittsburgh Penguins: Samuel Poulin, RW
22. LA Kings: Tobias Bjornfot, D
23. New York Islanders: Simon Holmstrom, RW
24. Nashville Predators: Philip Tomasino, C
25. Washington Capitals: Connor McMichael, C
26. Calgary Flames: Jakob Pelletier, LW
27. Tampa Bay Lightning: Nolan Foote, LW
28. Carolina Hurricanes: Ryan Suzuki, C
29. Anaheim Ducks: Brayden Tracey, LW
30. Boston Bruins: John Beecher, C
31. Buffalo Sabres: Ryan Johnson, D

The action continues today when Rounds two through seven get underway from 10 am PT / 1 pm ET and the Vegas Golden Knights will have eight picks in total. We’ll look at those picks in more depth shortly.

After failing to get off the ground last night, there could also be a flurry of trades today and the Knights could be active with both Colin Miller and Cody Eakin thought to be on the trade block.

Stick with us today for more analysis from the first round in addition to coverage of rounds two, three, four, five, six and seven.