June 28 will kick off the 61st installment of the NHL Draft. The annual offseason event and spectacle will take place this year in Nashville, Tennessee.
The draft will consist of seven rounds and all 32 teams will have the chance to select a player in each round barring a trade.
For the Washington Capitals, their first round pick will be at eighth which will be the first time since 2007 that the team will be picking top 10 in the NHL Draft.
The Caps will also have picks in the second round, the fourth round, the fifth round, and the seventh round this year. They traded their third rounder for Johan Larsson last year and their sixth rounder for Marcus Johansson last year.
Now that the Stanley Cup has been awarded to the Vegas Golden Knights it is only a matter of time before the complete draft order will be determined.
To get a general idea it is based on how the team finished the season. So the Golden Knights basically have the last pick in the first round because they were the best team this season in winning the Cup.
The bottom half of the league’s fate was determined via the Draft Lottery. The Caps were projected to finish eighth and that’s exactly where they came out to be in the lottery. The Chicago Blackhawks won the first overall pick and the right to select young stud Connor Bedard.
Round 1 is on Wednesday June 28 at 7 p.m. on ESPN from Bridgestone Arena. Rounds 2-7 at Bridgestone Arena of the NHL Draft will continue at 11 a.m. on Thursday June 29 on NHL Network.
Recently Matt Weyrich of NBC Sports Washington wrote about who he believed were the top five European prospects the Capitals could take at number eight in the draft. I encourage you to check it out.