Thirty-two National Hockey League teams are preparing to take part in this week’s 2022 NHL Draft, and their top affiliates are ready and waiting for the next wave of young American Hockey League stars to begin their professional careers.
In 2021-22, a total of 235 former first- and second-round draft picks played in the American Hockey League, including standout rookies Jakob Pelletier, Jack Quinn, JJ Peterka, Alexander Holtz, Lukas Reichel, Marco Rossi and Peyton Krebs.
The 2022 Calder Cup champion Chicago Wolves featured seven players who were first- or second-round picks, including Jack Drury (42nd overall in 2018), Pyotr Kochetkov (36th in 2019), Jamieson Rees (44th in 2019), Josh Jacobs (41st in 2014), Vasily Ponomarev (53rd in 2020), Noel Gunler (41st in 2020), and Stefan Noesen (21st in 2011), who won the Willie Marshall Award after scoring a league-high 48 goals in 2021-22.
Six first- and second-rounders from last summer’s NHL Draft skated in the AHL this past season: San Diego’s Mason McTavish (3rd overall), Abbotsford’s Danila Klimovich (41st), Lehigh Valley’s Samu Tuomaala (46th), Bridgeport’s Aatu Raty (52nd), Ontario’s Samuel Helenius (59th) and Tucson’s Janis Moser (60th).
Other first-round picks in the AHL in 2021-22 included 2020 selections Quinton Byfield (2nd overall), Alex Holtz (7th), Jack Quinn (8th), Marco Rossi (9th), Cole Perfetti (10th), Dylan Holloway (14th), Lukas Reichel (17th), Braden Schneider (19th), Shakir Mukhamadullin (20th), Yegor Chinakhov (21st), Tyson Foerster (23rd), Connor Zary (24th), Justin Barron (25th), Jacob Perreault (27th), Ridly Greig (28th) and Brendan Brisson (29th); 2019 picks Bowen Byram (4th overall), Alex Turcotte (5th), Philip Broberg (8th), Vasily Podkolzin (10th), Victor Soderstrom (11th), Matt Boldy (12th), Spencer Knight (13th), Cam York (14th), Cole Caufield (15th), Alex Newhook (16th), Peyton Krebs (17th), Thomas Harley (18th), Lassi Thomson (19th), Ville Heinola (20th), Sam Poulin (21st), Simon Holmstrom (23rd), Jakob Pelletier (26th), Nolan Foote (27th), Ryan Suzuki (28th), Brayden Tracey (29th) and John Beecher (30th); 2018 selections Barrett Hayton (5th overall), Ty Dellandrea (13th), Grigori Denisenko (15th), Martin Kaut (16th), Liam Foudy (18th), Rasmus Kupari (20th), Ryan Merkley (21st), Dominik Bokk (25th), Jacob Bernard-Docker (26th), Nicolas Beaudin (27th), Nils Lundkvist (28th), Joe Veleno (30th) and Alex Alexeyev (31st); and 2017 choices Cody Glass (6th overall), Lias Andersson (7th), Owen Tippett (10th), Gabriel Vilardi (11th), Cal Foote (14th), Erik Brannstrom (15th), Juuso Valimaki (16th), Urho Vaakanainen (18th), Pierre-Olivier Joseph (23rd), Kristian Vesalainen (24th), Ryan Poehling (25th), Jake Oettinger (26th), Morgan Frost (27th), Shane Bowers (28th) and Klim Kostin (31st).
The Montreal Canadiens, parent club of the AHL’s Laval Rocket, own the first pick in this year’s draft, which gets underway on Thursday night at Bell Centre in Montreal.
