NHL Draft 2018: 15 first-hand takeaways from a weekend in Dallas
By Josh Clark
14. USA Hockey continues to impress
I watched Miracle the other day primarily because it’s my favorite movie and I needed to watch some competitive and thrilling hockey (the summer drought is really hitting me hard this year).
And while the movie is great for its own specific reasons, it once again made me appreciate USA Hockey; not just for what it was, but for how far it has come since then.
The 2018 NHL Draft was another terrific one for American hockey. A total of 52 American-born players were selected in the draft, including six in the first round (fourth, seventh, eleventh, fourteenth, nineteenth, twenty-second). After a slight dip in the numbers last season when 47 Americans were selected, it was nice to see a strong bounce back year.
Some of the top talent in this year’s draft turned out to be American-born players, and their development at the NHL level is just as impressive. Not only that, but the players seem to be coming from all across the country instead of only the hockey-heavy areas like Minnesota, Massachusetts, New York, and Michigan. After all, former No. 1 pick Auston Matthews was born in California and grew up in Arizona.
Players like Brady Tkachuk, Oliver Wahlstrom and Quinn Hughes could very well be the future of the NHL. That all starts with proper development in the USA.
The United States Hockey program continues to grow and develop into a top-notch group and consistently produces some of the best young talent in the NHL Draft class. Things only seem to continue going up, as well.