Before Friday, the most memorable moment of past NHL All-Star drafts would have to be Phil Kessel picked last and Alex Ovechkin subsequently laughing at Kessel’s expense and taking photos of the lonely Leaf.
But Night 1 of this weekend’s festivities in Columbus had plenty of highlights. From Captain Serious cracking that he picked Kessel with his first choice because he was a highly coachable player, to Alex Ovechkin wanting to be picked last and more, this year’s draft wasn’t short on entertainment. Some are even saying it’s going to be more memorable than Sunday’s game.
And you can see all our favourite moments from the night here.
As for the draft, the lead up was one big guessing game. Who would get picked first? Who would get picked last? Here is the complete draft order from the 2015 process. Keep in mind Team Foligno has one extra player because Johnny Gaudreau won’t be replacing Sidney Crosby in the game.
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1. Ryan Johansen – Team Foligno
2. Phil Kessel – Team Toews
3. Duncan Keith – Team Foligno
4. Shea Weber – Team Toews
5. Anze Kopitar – Team Foligno
6. Jakub Voracek – Team Toews
7. Steven Stamkos – Team Foligno
8. Corey Crawford – Team Toews
9. Tyler Seguin – Team Foligno
10. John Tavares – Team Toews
11. Carey Price – Team Foligno
12. Roberto Luongo – Team Toews
13. Claude Giroux – Team Foligno
14. Brent Seabrook – Team Toews
15. Dustin Byfuglien – Team Foligno
16. Vladimir Tarasenko – Team Toews
17. Marc-Andre Fleury – Team Foligno
18. Patrice Bergeron – Team Toews
19. Brian Elliott – Team Foligno
20. Jaroslav Halak – Team Toews
At this point, the two teams made a classic trade: Phil Kessel for Tyler Seguin.
21. Brent Burns – Team Foligno
22. Johnny Gaudreau/Mike Hoffman – Team Toews (for the skills competition)
23. Jonathan Drouin/Jiri Sekac – Team Foligno (for the skills competition)
24. Aaron Ekblad – Team Toews
25. Kevin Shattenkirk – Nick Foligno
26. Patrik Elias – Team Toews
27. Bobby Ryan – Team Foligno
28. Ryan Suter – Team Toews
29. Radim Vrbata – Team Foligno
30. Mark Giordano – Team Toews
31. Oliver Ekman-Larsson – Team Foligno
32. Justin Faulk – Team Toews
33. Zemgus Girgensons – Team Foligno
34. Tyler Johnson – Team Toews
35. Alex Ovechkin – Team Foligno
36. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins – Team Foligno
37. Filip Forsberg – Team Toews
Note: There technically wasn’t a last overall pick. A fan vote conducted during the commercial break determined which of the final two youngsters went to Team Foligno and which went to Team Toews. Both Forsberg and Nugent-Hopkins received a new car.
