By Anthony Sevilla
EBC British Columbia Bureau
VANCOUVER, Canada (Eagle News) — At the 2019 NHL Draft at Rogers Arena in Vancouver Canada, as expected Jack Hughes from the US Development Program went number one overall to the New Jersey Devils, while Kaapo Kakko the forward from Finland went second to the New York Rangers and potentially igniting a new rivalry in the Big Apple.
The New Jersey Devils held the number one pick in this year’s NHL Draft, and it was by no surprise that they went with the dynamic playmaker, Jack Hughes. Highly regarded as the best skater in this year’s class, the American forward who played for the U.S U18 National Development program is the fourth NDTP alum to go number 1 in the draft.
“It’s a surreal feeling. It’s unbelievable, said Hughes. “Everything we’ve worked for. I’m really just blessed to be around the people that I am with. I’m really thankful for the people that have gotten me to where I am today.
“I think there’s a lot of great players on the Devils. It’s very thorough. I’m blessed to be a part of the organization and I’m really excited,” Hughes said. “I’m pretty confident. Obviously, Kaapo Kakko had a great year. There’s a lot of great players in this draft, but I was pretty confident. I was pretty cool, calm, and collected.”
The second overall pick in this year’s draft, the New York Rangers selected the right winger from the Finnish elite league, Kaapo Kakko. The Rangers will be getting a play-making forward, able to play both on the wing and at centre. He scored 22 goals in 45 games in Finland’s top pro league as an 18-year-old.
A notable draftee was Bowen Byram. The high scoring two-way defenceman from this city’s junior team, Vancouver Giants who was selected 4th overall by the Colorado Avalanche. Byram led all defenceman in the Western Hockey League with 26 goals and was third in points with 71. Bowen talks about what he needs to work and thanks the fans in Vancouver for their support in his hockey career.
“I think I need to get bigger and stronger, faster. The way I look at it, everyone’s got to get better. Everyone’s got to fix things. So, like I said I have to work extremely hard and put myself in a good spot,” Byram said. “I just want to thank them for supporting me here and through the year in the playoffs and the regular season. It was awesome. I’m really glad that we got on a run for them, like we did.”
The host city for this year’s NHL Draft was the Vancouver Canucks who took Russian right winger Vasily Podkolzln. Despite having a limited role with his club in Russia, he talked about his KHL experience and how playing against grown men and what he’ll do to get better.
“He hopes that in his two years in Russia, that he will get stronger and hopefully be more of a man,” Podkolzln said through a translatior. “He said that it was a good experience to play against men because they are stronger than his age group. So, this managed to be be a huge help.”
The dream of being drafted and hearing their names called marks the beginning of these young players’ careers. The journey starts here with the draft, as 31 franchises are hopeful they found the right pieces to win the ultimate goal of the Stanley Cup.
(Eagle News Service)