College hockey fans have plenty to look forward to with next year’s Frozen Four heading to Pittsburgh and the Consol Energy Center. The building is considered one of the nicest in the NHL with incredibly steep angles for the seating, making it much easier for fans to watch the game.<\/p>\n
As well, the city certainly embraces hockey well. Massive crowds were waiting outside the building on Friday, hoping to catch a glimpse of the top prospects as they walked the red carpet.<\/p>\n
Similar to the 2012 Frozen Four in Tampa, the NHL draft is well branded all over the city and there seemingly are few locals who don’t know this event is happening.<\/p>\n
Despite significant buzz on Friday that Edmonton would either trade the top pick or grab defenseman Ryan Murray, the Oilers instead went with the logical thinking and grabbed top-ranked prospect Nail Yakupov from the Sarnia Sting.<\/p>\n
The Oilers, who have had the top overall pick for three straight years, could put together a line next year of three No. 1 picks — Yakupov, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Taylor Hall.<\/p>\n
Hours before Friday’s opening round began, there already was a trade made as Philadelphia shipped talented backup goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky to Columbus for three draft picks, the Blue Jackets’ second- and fourth-round picks this year and their fourth-round selection in 2013.<\/p>\n
Shortly after the start of the draft, the Washington Capitals acquired Mike Ribeiro from Dallas for Cody Eakin and a second-round pick. The Anaheim Ducks then moved Lubomir Visnovsky to the New York Islanders for a second-rounder next year.<\/p>\n
The biggest trade, though, belonged to the host Penguins, who shipped Jordan Staal to Carolina in exchange for the Hurricanes’ first-round pick (eighth overall) along with Brandon Sutter and former Boston College defenseman Brian Dumoulin. The Pens used the eighth pick to select Derrick Pouliot from Portland in the WHL.<\/p>\n
If history repeats itself, those players drafted in Friday’s opening round have a bright future.<\/p>\n
The last and only other time the NHL draft was held in Pittsburgh in 1997, 23 of the 26 players selected in the opening round reached the NHL. Eleven of those picks went on to play 700 or more NHL games, the third highest percentage of any past draft.<\/p>\n
In that draft, the Boston Bruins had the No. 1 pick and selected Joe Thornton. He is the lone player from his draft class to surpass the 1,000-point mark.<\/p>\n
The host Penguins, though, didn’t do too well with their first round pick that year. They selected Robert Dome 17th overall, and he played just 52 NHL games.<\/p>\n
The biggest surprise of Friday’s opening round may have been how the stock of Filip Forsberg, who came into the day as the top-ranked European skater, fell.<\/p>\n