I always forget how long the first day of the NHL Entry Draft is. Given five minutes instead of three to make a decision and the built-in lag of a virtual draft and we were in for a long night.
On the other side of it now, 31 prospects are going to bed tonight with an NHL team they’ll be hoping to call home soon. It was a wild first round: Quinton Byfield became the first Black player to be drafted at second overall. Jeopardy host Alex Trebek made the Ottawa Senator’s third overall selection for them in an adorably Alex Trebek way (and no, I will not be thinking about the fact that Tim Stutzle was drafted with the Sharks’ original pick ever again). The Calgary Flames traded back not once, but twice and the Sharks made their pick in American Sign Language.
Related
2020 NHL Draft: Full draft order for all 31 teams
Here’s how the round played out:
2020 NHL Draft: Round 1
1. New York Rangers — Alexis Lafreniere
2. Los Angeles Kings — Quinton Byfield
3. Ottawa Senators (from SJS) — Tim Stützle
4. Detroit Red Wings — Lucas Raymond
5. Ottawa Senators — Jake Sanderson
6. Anaheim Ducks — Jamie Drysdale
7. New Jersey Devils — Alexander Holtz
8. Buffalo Sabres — Jack Quinn
9. Minnesota Wild — Marco Rossi
10. Winnipeg Jets — Cole Perfetti
11. Nashville Predators — Yaroslav Askarov
12. Florida Panthers — Anton Lundell
13. Carolina Hurricanes (from TOR) — Seth Jarvis
14. Edmonton Oilers — Dylan Holloway
15. Toronto Maple Leafs (from PIT) — Rodion Amirov
16. Montreal Canadiens — Kaiden Guhle
17. Chicago Blackhawks — Lukas Reichel
18. New Jersey Devils (from ARI) — Dawson Mercer
19. New York Rangers (from CGY) — Braden Schneider
20. New Jersey Devils (from VAN-TBL) — Shakir Mukhamadullin
Columbus Blue Jackets — Yegor Chinakhov
21. 22. 22. Washington Capitals (from CGY-NYR-CAR) — Hendrix Lapierre
23. Philadelphia Flyers — Tyson Foerster
24. Calgary Flames (from WSH) — Connor Zary
25. Colorado Avalanche — Justin Barron
26. St. Louis Blues — Jake Neighbours
27. Anaheim Ducks — Jacob Perreault
28. Ottawa Senators — Ridly Greig
29. Vegas Golden Knights — Brendan Brisson
30. Dallas Stars — Mavrik Bourque
31. San Jose Sharks — Ozzy Wiesblatt
What do you think? What were the biggest surprises of the first round? There are still several players projected to go in the first round that are available — which teams should’ve drafted them instead?
The whole crew will be back at it tomorrow morning, ready for rounds two through seven at 8:30 a.m. PT/11:30 a.m. ET on NHL Network.
As many of you know, Fear the Fin is an independent site run by Sharks fans for Sharks fans. Help keep Fear the Fin independent by contributing to our