Lightning’s Nikita Kucherov goes No. 1 in All-Star player draft
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Nikita Kucherov goes first overall to Team Hughes in the NHL All-Star player draft. (0:29)
TORONTO — Tampa Bay Lightning star Nikita Kucherov went No. 1 overall when the NHL staged its first player draft in nearly a decade Thursday night to kick off All-Star Weekend.
The league convened four teams — made up of one captain, co-captain and celebrity captain — to select from the remaining pool of 44 selected All-Star players that will make up groupings for Saturday’s three-on-three All-Star Game.
Vancouver Canucks captain Quinn Hughes and New Jersey Devils forward Jack Hughes co-captained their squad, along with Canucks forward Elias Pettersson and singer Michael Buble; Toronto Maple Leafs forward Auston Matthews captained his trio with Leafs defenseman Morgan Rielly and singer Justin Bieber; Colorado Avalanche star Nathan MacKinnon partnered with teammate Cale Makar and singer Tate McRae; and Edmonton Oilers captain Connor McDavid was joined by Oilers’ forward Leon Draisaitl and actor Will Arnett.
It was a throwback theme for the NHL, which had previously staged player drafts in 2011, 2012 and 2015 before abandoning the format. The league added a whole additional night to the All-Star festivities highlighted by a return to the event, incorporating celebrity captains as a bonus this year.
Wielding their No. 1 pick, it was Team Hughes (which still included Jack Hughes, despite his being injured and unable to participate in Friday’s skills competition or Saturday’s game) grabbing the NHL’s points leader in Kucherov. Quinn Hughes and Pettersson didn’t hesitate after that to add another teammate to the mix with Canuck’s goalie Thatcher Demko coming on board.
When it was Matthews’ turn to pick, he opted to keep it in the family too, taking Leafs’ forward William Nylander and then Toronto forward Mitch Marner with his first two selections.
MacKinnon’s trio were strategic in their choices, swiping Washington Capitals tough guy Tom Wilson with their seventh pick because, as McRae noted, “we need some grit.” It was MacKinnon who also selected Elias Lindholm, the newest Canucks forward just traded to Vancouver from Calgary on Wednesday night, and Sidney Crosby, the only player not in attendance for the draft (but who will be present later in the weekend). A youth hockey player represented Crosby instead.
McDavid was the only captain to select a goaltender with his first selection when he tapped Winnipeg netminder Connor Hellebuyck. And, as the only squad without a defenseman among its captain group, McDavid also quickly took Buffalo’s Rasmus Dahlin to balance things out.
There was an aesthetic component involved for some picks, too. Matthews admitted to being a little jealous when taking Nashville Predators forward Filip Forsberg because he said his new teammate has “the best moustache in the league; I quite envy it.”
When four players remained, the NHL brought out Leafs legend and Hockey Hall of Fame inductee Dave Keon to do the honors. He presented each of the remaining skaters — San Jose’s Tomas Hertl, Anaheim Ducks’ Frank Vatrano, New York Rangers’ Vincent Trocheck and Seattle Kraken’s Oliver Bjorkstrand — with a randomly assigned, concealed photo of one team’s celebrity captain to indicate which group they’d be joining. That’s a departure from how the NHL previously handled the situation of a so-called Last Man Standing, who had in previous iterations of the draft been gifted a new car.
Now that everyone’s sorted, the NHL is ready to stage its revamped skills competition Friday before the newly constructed lineups get to work Saturday. Rather than a wide array of players taking part in Friday’s festivities, it’ll be just 12 All-Stars in eight skills competition events vying for a $1 million prize. The signature showcase will feature a melding of classic fare, like fastest skater and hardest shot, with new ideas, including an obstacle course and a one-timers challenge.