Jonathan Huberdeau, Nathan Beaulieu, and Zack Phillips made up the trio of Saint John Sea Dogs who were picked on Friday night at the Xcel Energy Center. Huberdeau was the highest of the three taken, going third overall to the Florida Panthers. Beaulieu was next, going 17th to the Montreal Canadiens. Phillips closed it out by going 28th to the hometown team of the draft – the Minnesota Wild.
Friday’s first round was the icing on the cake of the Sea Dogs’ remarkable season. Winning the Memorial Cup and then having three players selected in the top 28 of the NHL Draft is definitely going to help your team’s reputation.
It was a good draft for Saint John, but it was also a good draft for the QMJHL in general. Along with Huberdeau, Beaulieu, and Jurco, Drummondville’s Sean Couturier was taken eighth overall by the Philadelphia Flyers and Victoriaville’s Phillip Danault was selected 26th overall by the Chicago Blackhawks.
As expected, the Edmonton Oilers took Red Deer Rebel Ryan Nugent-Hopkins first overall. Gabriel Landeskog of the Kitchener Rangers was selected second overall by the Colorado Avalanche.
The list of all 30 first round picks can be found here.
Some notes from the first round:
- Before the draft kicked off, there was a tribute for EJ McGuire who passed away a few months ago. McGuire was the director of NHL Central Scouting.
- All three leagues were represented in the top three as Nugent-Hopkins of the WHL went first overall, Landeskog of the OHL second overall, and Huberdeau of the QMJHL went third.
- The Jets are back, baby.
- There were plenty of New Brunswick connections in the first round. Landeskog is a graduate of the UNB Varsity Reds Prospects Program, Couturier and Phillips are both New Brunswick natives, and Huberdeau and Beaulieu both player junior hockey in the province.
- The Panthers just recently redesigned their jersey, making Huberdeau their first pick to wear it.
- The Panthers misspelled Saint John on their Facebook page when announcing the pick.
- Before the pick was announced, TSN showed Nathan Beaulieu taking some gum out of his month.
- Shortly after being selected, Nathan Beaulieu was the No. 1 trending topic on Twitter in Canada. Welcome to the show Mr. Beaulieu.
- Montreal’s PK Subban tweeted: “Congrats Nathan! Welcome to habsland!”
- The Montreal Gazette has some Beaulieu audio.
- From Hockey Canada’s Twitter: “First round selections from Canada at NHL Draft included 13 players who will be at NJT camp in Edmonton from August 3-8.”
- Entering the draft, Simon Despres was the highest ever drafted Sea Dog after he went 30th overall to the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2009. That record was broken three times Friday.
- Beaulieu tweeted: “Thanks MTL best fans in the world, can't wait to get this thing started” and “To all MTL fans, my name in Beaulieu, but I can't speak french, but my plan is to learn asap”
BIG TRADE
It was a big trade that allowed the Wild to select Phillips.
A trade sent Devin Setoguchi, Boston University’s Charley Coyle and the 28th overall pick from San Jose to Minnesota in exchange for Brent Burns and a 2012 second-round draft pick.
Here is video of the selection from NHL.com:
ON THE TUBE
About 90 minutes prior to the draft beginning, Jonathan Huberdeau and Nathan Beaulieu were guests with Gino Reda on TSN’s ‘That’s Hockey.’ Beaulieu thanked his family and teammates for getting him to this point in his career.
TOMORROW
Tomas Jurco wasn’t lucky enough to be selected in the first round but he will be taken early tomorrow as rounds two through seven take place. Coverage begins at noon AST on NHL Network.
Other Saint John players that could hear their name called tomorrow include Ryan Tesink, Scott Oke, Jason Cameron, and Aidan Kelly.
Photo Credits: AP, Twitter
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