Two Greyhounds selected in NHL draft

The Arizona Coyotes surprised a few people on Friday night.

Selecting fifth overall in the 2018 NHL Entry Draft in Dallas, the Coyotes used the pick to select Soo Greyhounds forward Barrett Hayton.

Coming off his sophomore season with the Greyhounds, Hayton scored 21 goals and 60 points in 63 games in the 2017-18 season. He added eight goals and 21 points in 24 playoff games

In meeting with the media following his selection, Hayton called the Coyotes “the organization I wanted to go to most.”

In an interview with Arizona sports radio station 98.7 FM, Hayton spoke of wanting to become more explosive.

“I’m just continuing to get more explosive, that’s a big thing for me,” Hayton said. “Playing with that higher pace. You see the way the NHL is going to now, especially in the playoffs, the pace is extremely high.”

Greyhounds defenceman Rasmus Sandin would also find himself selected in round one on Friday night as the Toronto Maple Leafs selected the Swedish blueliner with the 29th pick.

“He just got better every time we watched him,” Maple Leafs General Manager Kyle Dubas told Sportsnet following the pick. “He plays the game on defence that we want to play. He moves the puck but he also plays defence very well.”

The Maple Leafs moved down in the round and acquired the pick used to select Sandin from the St. Louis Blues.

The Los Angeles Kings selected Finnish forward Rasmus Kupari 20th overall. Kupari was selected by the Greyhounds in the 2017 Canadian Hockey League Import Draft but chose to stay in Finland.

The Buffalo Sabres surprised nobody by selecting Swedish defenceman Rasmus Dahlin.

Dahlin played the 2017-18 season with Frolunda of Sweden’s top pro league where he scores seven goals and 20 points in 41 games. He also had six assists in seven games for Sweden at the 2018 World Juniors.

Selected second overall was Barrie Colts forward Andrei Svechnikov, drafted by the Carolina Hurricanes.

In 44 games in 2017-18 with the Colts, Svechnikov had 40 goals and 72 points in 44 games.

The Montreal Canadiens used the third pick to take Finnish centre Jesperi Kotkaniemi, who posted 10 goals and 29 points with Assat of the Finnish Elite League in 2017-18.

Winger Brady Tkachuk of Boston University was selected fourth overall by the Ottawa Senators.

In 40 games with BU, Tkachuk, the son of former NHL’er Keith Thachuk, had eight goals and 31 points. He also had three goals and nine points in seven games with Team USA at the 2018 World Juniors.

Originally planning to draft a defenceman at sixth overall, the Detroit Red Wings plans changed on the draft floor as the team would ultimately draft Halifax Mooseheads forward Filip Zadina.

The Czech forward scored 44 goals and 82 points in 57 games with the Mooseheads in 2017-18.

The Vancouver Canucks selected University of Michigan defenceman Quinn Hughes at seventh overall.

Hughes had five goals and 29 points in 37 games with Michigan. He had three assists in seven games with Team USA at the World Juniors. The 18-year-old also played with Team USA at the 2018 World Championships and had two assists in 10 games.

At eighth overall, the Chicago Blackhawks also selected a defenceman by taking Adam Boqvist of Sweden.

Boqvist, one of the youngest players eligible for the draft, had 14 goals and 24 points in 25 games with Brynas in Sweden’s junior league.

With the first of three picks in the opening round, the New York Rangers used the ninth overall pick to take Russian winger Vitali Kravtsov.

With Chelyabinsk of the Kontinental Hockey League, Kravtsov had four goals and seven points in 35 regular season games before adding six goals and 11 points in 16 playoff games.

Rounding out the top 10, the Edmonton Oilers selected London Knights defenceman Evan Bouchard.

In 67 games with the Knights in 2017-18, Bouchard had 25 goals and 87 points