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Pittsburgh uses first selection on forward
The Associated Press
The Stanley Cup champion Vegas Golden Knights are already preparing to try to repeat, trading a longtime franchise cornerstone and keeping their best trade deadline pickup.
Vegas on Wednesday traded Reilly Smith to the Pittsburgh Penguins and re-signed fellow forward Ivan Barbashev to a five-year contract worth $25 million. The moves came hours before the start of NHL draft.
Barbashev, a key contributor on the Golden Knights' title run with 18 points in 22 games, was expected to be one of the top players available in free agency. Instead, the 27-year-old Russian power forward will count $5 million against the salary cap through 2028.
That was exactly Smith's cap hit, making this another set of bold moves by Vegas general manager Kelly McCrimmon, who has shown a willingness to take risks in the name of getting younger and winning championships -- and not worrying about sentimentality.
Smith, 32, was one of six original Vegas players left from the team's inaugural season that included a trip to the final. He was the first player captain Mark Stone handed the Cup after the Golden Knights won it earlier this month.
Vegas recouped the third-round pick it sent to Pittsburgh for forward Teddy Blueger prior to the trade deadline.
The deal is the first big roster splash for new Penguins president of hockey operations Kyle Dubas, who is tasked with getting the team back into the playoffs and continuing to contend with Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang still around.
Neither team is likely done dealing.
Vegas still needs to finalize a new contract for Cup-winning goaltender Adin Hill and could soon start working on an extension for playoff MVP Jonathan Marchessault, who has a year left on his contract.
Pittsburgh is in the market for a starting goalie, with Tristan Jarry expected to hit free agency.
Pens selection
PITTSBURGH -- With the No. 14 overall pick in Wednesday night 2023 NHL Draft, the Penguins took forward Brayden Yager.
The 18-year-old played for the Western Hockey League's Moose Jaw Warriors this past season.
The 5-11, 170-pound forward played in 67 games during the 2022-23 season, scoring 28 goals and tallying 50 assists. The right-hander is from Saskatchewan, Canada.
Yager was the first selection of President of Hockey Operations Kyle Dubas' tenure.
The last time the Penguins had the 14th pick in the NHL Draft was 1968 when the team took forward Ron Snell.
NHL analyst Chris Bengel of CBS Sports called Yager "an elite playmaker that uses his quickness to chase down loose pucks. He is a versatile playmaker that can play up the middle or on the wing. Yager is coming off of a 78-point season (28 goals & 50 assists) in 67 games for the Western Hockey League's Moose Jaw Warriors, while also winning the Brad Hornung Memorial Trophy as the WHL's Most Sportsmans-like Player in 2022-23. His 78 points were second on the Warriors behind only Seattle Kraken 2022 second-round pick Jagger Firkus. The Penguins added another electric forward that can learn under one of the all-time greats in Sidney Crosby. "
No. 1 in Chicago
NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Connor Bedard can finally appreciate looking forward to playing for the Chicago Blackhawks after spending the past few months avoiding the subject.
And the Blackhawks -- and their fans who began chanting "Let's go, Hawks!" in Music City after Bedard was selected with the first pick in the NHL draft on Wednesday night -- can begin looking forward to a new era with a highly skilled offensive forward who's drawn comparisons to Connor McDavid and Sidney Crosby.
Bedard became the second No. 1 pick in Blackhawks history, joining Patrick Kane, who went first overall in 2007 and helped form the core of a team that won three Stanley Cups from 2010 to 2015. Kane's tenure in Chicago ended in February when he was traded to the New York Rangers.
"I can't put into words growing up and obviously, that's when they were going on their runs winning Cups," said Bedard, who turns 18 on July 17. "You watched a lot of them and you see the United Center going crazy and all of Chicago getting behind them and you know (the) Original Six and so much history here."
As for why he spent the past two months deflecting questions about the Blackhawks? Bedard smiled and said: "I didn't want to jinx myself."
Impressive as Bedard's resume has been, Blackhawks GM Kyle Davidson was careful not to put too much on his new player's shoulders right away.
"We'll see. We'll let him figure that out," Davidson said when asked about his expectations for Bedard. "He's a pretty special player, a very special person. We'll let him determine how special that first season is."
While Bedard's selection by Chicago was a near certainty, the first round of the draft featured several twists.
Sweden's Leo Carlsson went second overall, chosen by the Anaheim Ducks over Michigan freshman Adam Fantilli. Ducks general manager Pat Verbeek had declined to speak to reporters in the weeks leading up to the draft but believes the sturdy, 6-foot-3 forward can become a dominant two-way player.
"There was a lot of really healthy debate on which player to take," Verbeek said.
Carlsson got an inkling of the Ducks' interest after a follow-up meeting with team officials on Tuesday. That was a day after he and his family had to rent a van to drive from Newark, New Jersey, to Music City because their flight was canceled.
Fantilli, the third freshman to win college hockey's top award, the Hobey Baker Trophy, went third to Columbus.
The first American player off the board went fourth when the San Jose Sharks selected USA Hockey Development Program forward Will Smith, who is from Boston and has committed to playing at Boston College next season.
Defenseman David Reinbacher, from Austria, went to Montreal at No. 5, but had to wait a few extra seconds to hear his name called. Announcing the pick, Canadiens goalie Carey Price stopped after saying "David," apparently forgetting the player's last name. General manager Kent Hughes came to the rescue and said: "We planned it that way. It's David Reinbacher."
The Arizona Coyotes went with what was considered an off-the-board pick by selecting Russian defenseman Dmitriy Simashev a year after drafting five defensemen. They passed over forward Matvei Michkov, who has captivated draft watchers because the offensively skilled player is under contract to play in his native Russia through the 2025-26 season.
The Philadelphia Flyers ended Michkov's wait with the seventh pick. The Flyers are undergoing a major overhaul by first-time general manager Danny Briere, putting them in position to be patient while the 18-year-old Michkov finishes out his contract in Russia.
A translator spoke to reporters about Michkov and said the player is motivated
Speaking through a translator, Michkov said he's motivated after falling to seventh.
"He'll do his best to play against them, win against them, so he will have double motivation to prove that he's the best player," the translator said. "The ice will show everything. So maybe everyone has to wait a bit, but when Matvei comes to the ice, everyone will see the wait was worth it."
As for Bedard, he has been envisioning this moment since he was a child spending hours in his driveway and backyard in North Vancouver, British Columbia, where he took between 500 to 1,000 shots a day.
In his first season with the Regina Pats two years ago, he scored 51 goals to become the Western Hockey League's youngest player to reach 50. Last year, his 71 goals in 57 games last season were the most by a WHL player in 24 years, and his 143 points were the most since 1995-96.
At just under 5-foot-10 and 185 pounds, Bedard is regarded a generational prospect, much like McDavid, who was selected first in 2015 and this week was named the league's MVP for the third time.
The Blackhawks have already begun refitting their roster to help Bedard's development by acquiring veterans Taylor Hall (the first pick in the 2010 draft) and Nick Foligno in a trade with Boston this week.
"Those two guys have been through everything in the National Hockey League," Bedard said. "So for me to learn from them, obviously, they're unbelievable players."