Despite all the rumors of the Golden Knights moving up in the Entry Draft, they decided to stand pat and make picks at #6, #13, and #15.
Their first pick was Cody Glass. Glass is a center from the Portland Winter Hawks of the WHL.
Glass is one of the premiere playmakers in this draft thanks to his puck-protection skills, elite vision and soft hands. What makes him even more valuable is his great all-around game at such a tender age – he anticipates and reads the play well at both ends and does a tremendous job cutting o the middle of the ice. -DraftRecrutes.ca
No surprise the first pick in team history is from the WHL, the league assistant GM Kelly McCrimmon has been a coach, owner, and GM in for the last decade or so. Most mock drafts had Glass going in the top five, before Vegas, so this certainly appeared to be a steal for McPhee and Co.
Next up they selected center Nick Suzuki from Owen Sound of the OHL. Suzuki is a bit undersized, it’s overly fast, or strong, but he has a knack for making plays on the ice, and his teammates always seem to play better when he’s out than then when he is not. Suzuki played wing for most of his last season in juniors, but he is projected to be a center at the NHL level.
Definitely getting a skilled player, I love to play a two way game, and I’m really good at making plays and creating scoring chances. -Nick Suzuki
The final player selected was Erik Brannstom, defenseman from Sweden. The big knock on Brannstrom is his size, and it’s a huge knock. He’s tiny for a defenseman in the NHL. Listed at 5’9″ 179, the 17-year-old has a lot of growing to do if he’s going to make the impact the Golden Knights hope. He’s a fantastic skater, is incredibly quick, and has a tremendous shot however. McPhee has been saying that he values speed and skill over size, the selections of Suzuki and especially Brannstrom prove it.
Vegas has three selections in the second round and another in the top three of the third.
RJ
I like our selections, but I’m still shocked we passed on Liljegren 3 times. He is one of the highest ceilings in the draft and it would have been so easy to roll the dice one him. I wonder if McPhee and McCrimmon don’t believe we have a system that can develop players?
Ken Boehlke
They REALLY like Brannstrom and were very confident he would be there at 15. Glass was a no brainer at 6 when he fell, and Suzuki was ranked in their top 10. They believe Brannstrom is going to be a Ryan Ellis type player. They thought he would have fallen about another 5-10, but didn’t want to risk it.
James
@RJ
From what I gather Liljegren was projected to go between 15-20, but there wasn’t much difference between a cluster of draft picks. He could have gone earlier. The fans were clamoring for Liljegren because he was highly rated by the media … It wouldn’t shock me if he’s the next Jakob Chychrun who dropped to 16. Too bad we couldn’t take him by getting more draft picks …
James
I love the types of players we have drafted. They fit the description of modern day hockey players … Some of the expansion draftees, to be frank, were archaic. Better suited for a bygone era.
I wonder if the Los Angeles Kings were willing to give up their first round pick to get rid of Dustin Brown’s egregious contract before the draft. I would have loved Gabriel Vilardi based purely on reputation