Friday, July 23, 2021

Nine Selected in NHL Draft First Round

Michigan have five players or recruits selected, the most ever for an NCAA team

Nine Selected in NHL Draft First Round
Owen Power was a member of the Big Ten All-Freshman Team in 2020-21.

Michigan rising sophomore defenseman Owen Power (Mississauga, Ont./Chicago-USHL), at No. 1 overall, led a parade of nine NCAA players and recruits selected in the first round of the 2021 NHL Draft, held virtually Friday night.

All-Time First-Round Draft Picks

More than half of the NCAA selections represented Michigan, as Power and his teammates made up four of the top five selections and five total in the first round.

Those were both firsts, as the draft saw:

  • A college player selected No. 1 overall for just the fourth time, and first in 15 years
  • College players selected No. 1 and 2 for just the second time, and the first when the two were teammates
  • College players made up five of the top 10 picks for the first time
  • Michigan have three current players selected, the most ever for an NCAA team
  • Michigan have five players or recruits selected, the most ever for an NCAA team
  • Three Canadian NCAA players selected in the first round for just the second time
  • At least one Canadian NCAA player selected in the first round for the sixth straight year

Power’s selection at No. 1 was followed by Matty Beniers (Hingham, Mass./U.S. NTDP), taken by Seattle at No. 2. Incoming Michigan freshman Luke Hughes went No. 4 to New Jersey, while Kent Johnson (Port Moody, B.C./Trail-BCHL) went to Columbus at No. 5.

Power and Johnson were joined by fellow Canadian Corson Ceulemans in the first round; Ceulemans, an incoming Wisconsin freshman, was selected by Columbus at No. 25. All three Canadian picks attended College Hockey Inc. Summits in their home cities as younger players.

A total of 185 NCAA players have been selected in the first round in the history of the NHL Draft.

Rounds two through seven of the 2021 NHL Draft will be held Saturday beginning at 11 a.m. ET. Television coverage will be provided by the NHL Network in the U.S. and Sportsnet in Canada.

NCAA Selections in the First Round
No. First Name Last Name Pos. NHL Team NCAA Team 2020-21 Team
1 Owen Power D BUF Michigan
2 Matty Beniers F SEA Michigan
4 Luke Hughes D NJD Michigan U.S. NTDP
5 Kent Johnson F CBJ Michigan
10 Tyler Boucher F OTT Boston University U.S. NTDP
13 Matthew Coronato F CGY Harvard Chicago (USHL)
18 Chaz Lucius F WPG Minnesota U.S. NTDP
24 Mackie Samoskevich F FLA Michigan Chicago (USHL)
25 Corson Ceulemans D CBJ Wisconsin Brooks (AJHL)