NHL Draft 2022 highlights, picks and analysis from all 7 rounds

The Blue Jackets came into this year’s NHL Draft with high expectations, not just with the new crop of prospects they’d select, but in the bold trades that GM Jarmo Kekalainen wanted to make.

The only trade Kekalainen made during the two days occurred mid-way through the day on Friday, and it wasn’t exactly a blockbuster: The Jackets traded a fifth-round pick in 2023 to San Jose in exchange for a fifth-round pick in this year’s draft, No. 138 overall.

Kekalainen’s “restart” felt more like a “rebuild” this week in Bell Centre, as none of the players added to the organization are expected to make an impact anytime soon. It wasn’t for a lack of trying, though.

(Photo: Eric Bolte / USA Today)

Shane Wright had barely been a Seattle Kraken prospect for all of five minutes when Troy Bodie felt his iPhone buzzing.

He checked his phone and saw he had a text message. The message itself was a request from someone asking Bodie, the Kraken’s director of hockey and business operations, if he could possibly pass along Wright’s number when he got the chance.

That someone who made the request? It was Kraken center Matty Beniers, and all he wanted was to be among the first in the organization to start building a relationship with Wright.

(Photo: Eric Bolte / USA Today)

The Lightning accomplished what they wanted to during the two-day NHL Draft, which was to add some skilled offensive players to their prospect pool.

Colorful first-round pick Isaac Hudson, third-rounder Lucas Edmonds and sixth-rounder Connor Kurth are interesting in their own way (more on that later).

But judging by how often GM Julien BriseBois was darting around the Bell Centre the last couple of days, he’s also been laying the groundwork for what could be a very busy week or two for his offseason.

“I didn’t necessarily see this coming. I know it was a possibility, but I think I was ready to be in Chicago for a long time,” DeBrincat told reporters during a Zoom media conference on Friday afternoon. “That was kind of the way I thought about it.”

In Juraj Slafkovsky, the Montreal Canadiens get the best player in the 2022 NHL Draft, and the player with the best chance to become a star. He showed this due to his unique skill set, being a high-end athlete with high-end offensive skills and showing unique flashes of elite play this season even if it wasn’t consistent. He becomes a key part of their rebuild, with at least a chance to become a 40-goal/40-assist winger in his prime.

(Photo: Eric Bolte / USA Today)

The Penguins are looking to make a trade to free up salary before the free-agency period begins.

(Photo: Eric Bolte / USA Today)

One last post for the road as the Draft comes to a close. A draft with drama, intrigue, and fun on Day 1. A bit more pace on Day 2. We don’t blame Canadiens head coach Martin St. Louis for huffing down a bag of chips to pass the time.

Seeing the NHL Draft unfold is a little like watching a magic show. It’s easy to get distracted by the smoke and mirrors and the noise and lose sight of what’s actually important. At a time when all 32 teams are beginning their resets for next season, what’s important is winning and adding the type of players that will contribute to winning.

Goaltenders contribute to winning.

Difference makers contribute to winning.

And so, when the dust settled after two days at the Bell Centre in Montreal, if you compared the rosters of teams before they came to town to what they had when they left for home, who is closer to winning?

(Photo: Joe Nicholson / USA Today)

And we’re done. An underrated fun thing about the NHL Draft is that when it ends, it ends immediately. For all the rambling speeches and time-wasting at the start, the ending is brutally efficient. They announce the last pick and then go “OK thanks for coming, leave now bye” and everyone sprints for the exits. Serious “high school party and the cops just showed up” energy every time.