2022 NHL Draft: First round schedule, order and live discussion

It’s that time of year again, folks!

The NHL Draft will kick off Thursday night in Montreal, as hockey’s best prospects find new homes and NHL teams find new prospects.

It’s a magical night for everyone involved, though Thursday’s first round won’t exactly be eventful for the Carolina Hurricanes. By virtue of the Jesperi Kotkaniemi offer sheet, the Hurricanes are without a first-round pick for the second year in a row.

Still, the Canes will be busy on Friday with eight picks overall. Here’s each of the picks the Canes currently own:

• Round 2, 60th overall
• Round 3, 71st overall
• Round 4, 121st overall
• Round 5, 156th overall
• Round 6, 171st overall
• Round 6, 188th overall
• Round 7, 205th overall
• Round 7, 220th overall

There’s a good chance that list changes for the Canes, who are never ones to sit quietly on draft day and just make their picks. But regardless, the Hurricanes won’t be on the clock Thursday night unless something drastic and very unlikely happens.

We’ve been ramping up our draft coverage here at Canes Country over the last couple weeks (overwhelming thanks to our Matthew Somma who you should follow on Twitter @CanesProspects).

Here’s all of our pre-draft coverage as we head into Thursday night:

• Prospect Profile: Alexander Pelevin
• Prospect Profile: Mats Lindgren
• Prospect Profile: Rieger Lorenz
• Prospects Mailbag: Draft Edition
• Canes’ positional needs heading into draft
• Matthew Somma’s mock draft(s)
• Alex Ohari’s mock draft

Follow along with us here at Canes Country, discuss picks in the comments and enjoy the draft!

Here’s the order of tonight’s first-round picks, which will be updated with some selections, any trades or other big news throughout the night:

Draft Order and Selections

1. Montreal Canadiens — Juraj Slafkovsky, Forward
2. New Jersey Devils — Simon Nemec, Defenseman
3. Arizona Coyotes — Logan Cooley, Center
4. Seattle Kraken — Shane Wright, Center
5. Philadelphia Flyers — Cutter Gauthier, Forward
6. Columbus Blue Jackets (from Chicago) — David Jiricek, Defenseman
7. Chicago Blackhawks (from Ottawa) — Kevin Korchinski, Defenseman
8. Detroit Red Wings — Marco Kasper, Center
9. Buffalo Sabres — Matthew Savoie, Center
10. Anaheim Ducks — Pavel Mintyukov, Defenseman
11. Arizona Coyotes (from San Jose) — Conor Geekie, Center
12. Columbus Blue Jackets — Denton Mateychuk, Defenseman
13. Chicago Blackhawks (from New York Islanders via Montreal) — Frank Nazar, Center
14. Winnipeg Jets — Rutger McGroarty, Forward
15. Vancouver Canucks — Jonathan Lekkerimaki, Forward
16. Buffalo Sabres (from Vegas) — Noah Ostlund, Center
17. Nashville Predators — Joakim Kemell, Forward
18. Dallas Stars — Lian Bichsel, Defenseman
19. Minnesota Wild (from Los Angeles) — Liam Ohgren, Forward
20. Washington Capitals — Ivan Miroshnichenko, Forward
21. Pittsburgh Penguins — Owen Pickering, Defenseman
22. Anaheim Ducks (from Boston) — Nathan Gaucher, Center
23. St. Louis Blues — Jimmy Snuggerud, Forward
24. Minnesota Wild — Danila Yurov, Forward
25. Chicago Blackhawks (from Toronto) — Sam Rinzel, Defenseman
26. Montreal Canadiens (from Calgary) — Filip Mesar, Forward
27. San Jose Sharks (from Carolina via Montreal and Arizona) — Filip Bystedt, Center
28. Buffalo Sabres (from Florida) — Jiri Kulich, Center
29. Arizona Coyotes (from Edmonton) — Maveric Lamoureux, Defenseman
30. Winnipeg Jets (from New York Rangers) — Brad Lambert, Center
31. Tampa Bay Lightning — Isaac Howard, Forward
32. Edmonton Oilers (from Colorado via Arizona) — Reid Schaefer, Forward

Draft day breaking news, trades, etc.

• Well, there’s already been a major draft day trade before the festivities have gotten underway, as Alex DeBrincat is headed from Chicago to Ottawa in exchange for three picks including No. 7 overall Thursday night.

• Not draft related, but the Minnesota Wild and Marc-Andre Fleury have reached an agreement on a two-year deal.

• Juraj Slafkovsky goes 1.1 to the Montreal Canadiens.

• TRADES! The Canadiens have traded away Alexander Romanov and the 98th pick to the New York Islanders in exchange for the 13th pick. Then, the Canadiens trade away the 13th pick and the 66th pick to Chicago in exchange for Kirby Dach.

• Another trade, as the Arizona Coyotes move up to pick 11 while giving San Jose picks 27, 34 and 45. Pick 27 was Carolina’s first-round pick, which went from Carolina to Montreal to Arizona and now to San Jose.

• The Jim Gregory General Manager of the Year Award has been won by Joe Sakic of the cup-champion Colorado Avalanche.

• Former Carolina Hurricane Petr Mrazek is on the move, as he’s headed from Toronto to Chicago along with the 25th pick Thursday. In exchange, Toronto will get the 38th overall pick (and some important cap relief as the Blackhawks pick up the entirety of Mrazek’s contract).

• Zack Kassian, the 29th pick, a future second-round pick and a future third-round pick are headed from Edmonton to Arizona in exchange for the 32nd pick. Arizona will obviously take on the contract.