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No surprise as McDavid goes No. 1 in NHL draft

Boston College's Jack Eichel picked No. 2 by Sabres

The Columbian
Published: June 27, 2015, 12:00am

Connor McDavid’s favorite hockey player is Sidney Crosby. His favorite non-skating athlete is LeBron James.

He’s now in their club, forever to be known as a No. 1 pick.

McDavid’s journey toward widely expected NHL superstardom officially began Friday night when the Edmonton Oilers grabbed him with the top overall selection in the draft. No player has entered the league with such hype since Crosby a decade ago, and McDavid’s level of celebrity within the game already may rival what James was dealing with when he joined the NBA in 2003.

“It was even better than I expected,” McDavid said. “It’s so exciting to hear your name called. It was unbelievable.”

Crosby and James proved the buzz surrounding them was worthwhile, and now McDavid now gets his turn. The Oilers haven’t reached the playoffs since 2006, a far cry from when Wayne Gretzky dominated the NHL and Edmonton won five titles in a seven-year span from 1984 through 1990.

Buffalo took Hobey Baker winner Jack Eichel of Boston University with the No. 2 pick, another no-surprise move. Eichel had 26 goals and 45 assists in 40 games this past season.

“I think Buffalo is heading in the right direction, as a team and as a city,” Eichel said. “There’s a lot of positives and I want to be a piece of the puzzle. Buffalo wants success and they want success soon and it’s going to happen.”

Arizona used the No. 3 pick on center Dylan Strome — McDavid’s teammate with the Ontario Hockey League’s Erie Otters, finishing this season with nine more points but in 21 more games. Toronto took Mitch Marner at No. 4, making it four straight centers to lead off.

Defenseman Noah Hanifin went No. 5 to Carolina, so with Eichel that meant two U.S. players were top-five picks for the first time since 2007. Center Pavel Zacha went sixth to New Jersey, defenseman Ivan Provorov seventh to Philadelphia and Columbus grabbed defenseman Jack Werenski with the eighth pick.

Trades

Bruins send Lucic to Kings — Milan Lucic thought the Los Angeles Kings were going to draft him in 2006. A year later, he scored his first NHL goal at Staples Center for the Boston Bruins.

When Lucic joined the Kings in a trade Friday, he thought back to all of his prior connections with Southern California — and the fact that he had just been at Disneyland with his daughter earlier in the week before this deal sent him back to the Happiest Place on Earth.

“I guess I’ve got to get an annual pass now, she loves it so much,” Lucic said.

The Bruins traded their top-line left wing to the Kings for backup goalie Martin Jones, defenseman prospect Colin Miller and the 13th pick in the draft, which Boston used on defenseman Jakub Zboril.

Devils acquire Palmieri — The New Jersey Devils acquired forward Kyle Palmieri from the Anaheim Ducks for two draft picks. New Jersey shipped the 41st overall pick in the draft and a third-round choice next year to Anaheim for Palmieri. The Devils acquired the 41st pick earlier this year in a deal that sent Jaromir Jagr to Florida.

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