Elevating his game

From Shane Wright to Dyllan Gill, the 2022 NHL Draft was all about Canadian hockey.

In total, more than one-third of the players who had their names called in Montreal – 90 of 225 – hail from the true north strong and free.

Those players include representation from 11 Members, and 28 who have worn the Maple Leaf in international competition – including four gold medallists from the 2021 IIHF U18 World Championship.

The red-and-white run started early, with Shane Wright going No. 4 to the Seattle Kraken. The Burlington, Ont., native captained Canada Black at the 2019 World Under-17 Hockey Challenge and the gold medal-winning U18 team in 2021, and played for Canada’s National Junior Team at the cancelled 2022 IIHF World Junior Championship last winter.

Wright was the first of nine Canadians selected in the first round, including three from Manitoba – Conor Geekie (No. 11 to Arizona), Denton Mateychuk (No. 12 to Columbus) and Owen Pickering (No. 21 to Pittsburgh).

The Canadian Hockey League (CHL) was well represented among the Canadian contingent; 71 of the 90 players selected – including all nine of the first-round picks – were products of CHL programs, from 36 different teams. The Ontario Hockey League led the way with 29 picks, followed by the Western Hockey League with 27 and the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League with 15.

The North Bay Battalion (Arnsby, DiVincentiis, Jackson, Mathurin, Nelson) and Swift Current Broncos (Davies, Dyck, Filmon, Hvidston, Pickering) paced all club teams with five players selected, while the Guelph Storm (Buchinger, Karabela, Poitras, Zhilkin), Kamloops Blazers (Kuefler, Lindgren, Minten, Seminoff) and Seattle Thunderbirds (Davidson, Gustafson, Korchinski, Schaefer) had four apiece.

CANADIAN PLAYERS DRAFTED – BY MEMBER

Ontario Hockey Federation (30) – Liam Arnsby, Owen Beck, Michael Buchinger, Nolan Collins, Luca Del Bel Belluz, Domenic DiVincentiis, Lucas Edmonds, Jackson Edward, George Fegaras, Isaiah George, David Gucciardi, Hunter Haight, Stephen Halliday, Jake Karabela, Christian Kyrou, Amadeus Lombardi, Paul Ludwinski, Matthew Maggio, Tnias Mathurin, Bryce McConnell-Barker, Owen Mehlenbacher, Nick Moldenhauer, Matthew Morden, Ty Nelson, Cole O’Hara, Matthew Poitras, Tucker Robertson, Jack Sparkes, Shane Wright, Danny Zhilkin

BC Hockey (12) – Mason Beaupit, Parker Bell, Tyson Dyck, Tyson Jugnauth, Ben King, Mats Lindgren, Brandon Lisowsky, Michael Milne, Fraser Minten, Matthew Seminoff, Graham Sward, Abram Wiebe

Hockey Alberta (12) – Emmett Croteau, Jared Davidson, Josh Davies, Jagger Firkus, Jordan Gustafson, Ben Hemmerling, Dylan James, Daylan Kuefler, Rieger Lorenz, Matthew Savoie, Reid Schaefer, Ty Young

Hockey Quebec (11) – Angus Booth, Frédéric Brunet, Jordan Dumais, Nathan Gaucher, Alexis Gendron, Patrick Guay, Maveric Lamoureux, Jérémy Langlois, Tristan Luneau, Miguël Tourigny, Noah Warren

Hockey Manitoba (8) – Tyler Brennan, Reid Dyck, Josh Filmon, Conor Geekie, Ryan Hofer, Adam Ingram, Denton Mateychuk, Owen Pickering

Hockey Eastern Ontario (7) – Jorian Donovan, David Goyette, Cedrick Guindon, Kyle Jackson, Kaleb Lawrence, Gavin White, Cameron Whitehead

Hockey New Brunswick (4) – Eli Barnett, Marc-Andre Gaudet, Dyllan Gill, Samuel Savoie

Hockey Nova Scotia (2) – Jake Furlong, Landon Sim

Hockey Saskatchewan (2) – Connor Hvidston, Kevin Korchinski

Hockey Newfoundland & Labrador (1) – Ryan Greene

Hockey Northwestern Ontario (1) – Daimon Gardner

CANADIAN PLAYERS DRAFTED – BY PROGRAM OF EXCELLENCE EXPERIENCE

2022 National Men’s Under-18 Team Nolan Collins, Josh Davies, Reid Dyck, Josh Filmon, David Goyette, Connor Hvidston, Rieger Lorenz, Nick Moldenhauer, Matthew Morden, Owen Pickering

2022 National Junior Team Shane Wright

2021 National Men’s Under-18 Team Tyler Brennan, Denton Mateychuk, Shane Wright, Danny Zhilkin

2020 Youth Olympic Games Cedrick Guindon, Mats Lindgren, Paul Ludwinski, Tristan Luneau, Denton Mateychuk, Ty Nelson, Matthew Savoie, Noah Warren

2019 World Under-17 Hockey Challenge Black: Jérémy Langlois, Kaleb Lawrence, Shane Wright, Danny Zhilkin

Red: Nathan Gaucher

White: Liam Arnsby, Tyler Brennan, Matthew Savoie, Graham Sward

2018 World Under-17 Hockey Challenge Red: Stephan Halliday, Matthew Maggio