The Buffalo Sabres, selecting second overall for the second consecutive year, claimed Boston University center Jack Eichel. The North Chelmsford, Mass., native is the highest-draft U.S.-born player since Patrick Kane (Buffalo, N.Y.) and James van Riemsdyk (Middletown, N.J.) went 1-2 to Chicago and Philadelphia, respectively, in 2007.

COYOTES SELECT STROME THIRD OVERALL

The Coyotes, selecting as high as third overall for the first time since 2007 (Kyle Turris at #3), picked Erie Otters forward Dylan Strome. Dylan's older brother, Ryan, also was a top first-round pick, taken fifth overall by the Islanders in 2011. With Dylan's Erie teammate, Connor McDavid, going first overall, it marked the third time in four years that a pair of teammates were selected with the first and third overall picks in the Draft.

Year Team Players
2012 Sarnia, OHL Nail Yakupov (EDM, 1st overall) and Alex Galchenyuk
(MTL, 3rd)
2013 Halifax, QMJHL Nathan MacKinnon (COL, 1st overall) and Jonathan
Drouin (TBL, 3rd)
2015 Erie, OHL Connor McDavid (EDM, 1st overall) and Dylan Strome
(ARI, 3rd)

FIRST-ROUND PICKS BY BIRTHPLACE

The 30 players selected in the first round were born in seven different countries: Canada (12), United States (seven), Russia (four), Sweden (three), Czech Republic (two), Finland (one) and Switzerland (one).

TRENDS

* For the first time, three of the top eight picks in the NHL Draft came from the college hockey ranks. The Buffalo Sabres selected C Jack Eichel (Boston University) second overall, the Carolina Hurricanes took D Noah Hanifin (Boston College) at #5 and the Columbus Blue Jackets picked D Zach Werenski (University of Michigan) at #8.

* Seven of the first 10 picks in this year's Draft were forwards. Last year, a record 25 forwards were selected in the opening round, including 11 of the first 13 picks (D Aaron Ekblad at No. 1 and D Haydn Fleury at No. 7 were the only non-forwards selected in that span).

* For the first time since the NHL instituted the universal draft (in 1969), a team made three consecutive selections in the first round. The Boston Bruins claimed D Jakub Zboril (Saint John, QMJHL), LW Jake DeBrusk (Swift Current, WHL) and RW Zachary Senyshyn (Sault Ste. Marie, OHL) with the 13th, 14th and 15th overall picks, respectively.

* Four players born in Russia were selected tonight (D Ivan Provorov, #7 to Philadelphia; RW Denis Gurianov, #12 to DAL; LW Evgeny Svechnikov, #19 to DET and G Ilya Samsonov, #22 to WSH). That's the most in the first round since the same number were picked in the 2001 NHL Draft, also held in South Florida (LW Ilya Kovalchuk, #1 to ATL; C Alexander Svitov, #3 to TBL; LW Stanislav Chistov, #5 to ANA and D Igor Knyazev, #15 to CAR).

FAMILY TIES

F Dylan Strome (selected 3rd overall by Arizona): His brother, Ryan, was drafted fifth overall by the New York Islanders in 2011 and finished third on the team with 17-33—50 in 2014-15.

F Jake DeBrusk (selected 14th overall by Boston): His father, Louie, played 401 regular-season NHL games with the Edmonton Oilers, Tampa Bay Lightning, Phoenix Coyotes and Chicago Blackhawks from 1991-03 and currently serves as a hockey analyst for Rogers Sportsnet.

TRADES ANNOUNCED

Ottawa traded G Robin Lehner and C David Legwand to Buffalo for NY Islanders' 1st-round pick in the 2015 NHL Draft (previously acquired, 21st overall).

Boston traded D Dougie Hamilton to Calgary for Calgary's 1st-round pick in the 2015 NHL Draft (15th overall), Calgary's 2nd-round pick in 2015 (45th overall) and Washington's 2nd-round pick in 2015 (previously acquired, 52nd overall).

Boston traded LW Milan Lucic to Los Angeles for G Martin Jones, D Colin Miller and Los Angeles' 1st-round pick in the 2015 NHL Draft (13th overall).

Colorado traded C Ryan O'Reilly and LW Jamie McGinn to Buffalo for D Nikita Zadorov, C Mikhail Grigorenko, LW J.T. Compher and Buffalo's 2nd-round pick in the 2015 NHL Draft (31st overall).

NY Islanders traded D Griffin Reinhart to Edmonton for Pittsburgh's 1st-round pick in the 2015 NHL Draft (previously acquired, 16th overall) and Edmonton's 2nd-round pick in 2015 (33rd overall). Toronto traded Nashville's 1st-round pick in the 2015 NHL Draft (previously acquired, 24th overall) to Philadelphia for Tampa Bay's 1st-round pick in 2015 (previously acquired, 29th overall) and Chicago's 2nd-round pick in 2015 (previously acquired, 61st overall).

Tampa Bay traded NY Rangers' 1st-round pick in the 2015 NHL Draft (previously acquired, 28th overall) to NY Islanders for Edmonton's 2nd-round pick in 2015 (previously acquired, 33rd overall) and Florida's 3rd-round pick in 2015 (previously acquired, 72nd overall).

Toronto traded Tampa Bay's 1st-round pick in the 2015 NHL Draft (previously acquired, 29th overall) to Columbus for Toronto's 2nd-round pick in 2015 (previously acquired, 34th overall) and Philadelphia's 3rd-round pick in 2015 (previously acquired, 68th overall).