NHL draft blog

Oilers select Puljujarvi 4th overall at NHL Draft

BUFFALO -- The Blues traded goalie Brian Elliott to Calgary in exchange for the Flames second round pick, the 35th overall.

The Blues traded up to get the 26th pick in the draft from the 28th spot and took center Tage Thompson from the University of Connecticut. He"s 6-6, 194 pounds, who scored 14 goals as a freshman. The Blues also gave up a third-round pick along with the 28th pick.

Elliott was the Blues" goalie in the playoffs, but was the No. 2 goalie in the first half of the season when he and Jake Allen were both healthy. Elliott was going to be an unrestricted free agent after the 2016-17 season. Allen is now the clear No. 1 goalie for the Blues.

"I"m ready for it," Allen said Friday night. "I feel like I"ve had two really good years. I felt that this year I was a lot better than I was my first year. I just want to progress again. I"m looking forward to it. If I get the full opportunity, it"s going to be fun. I think that"s when I play my best, when I play all the time, and hopefully that can be the situation. The last three years with Brian I learned a lot. I couldn"t have asked for a better partner."

If Elliott re-signs with Calgary or is traded, the Blues will get a third-round draft pick in 2018 as well.

He had a 2.07 goals-against average and a .930 save percentage in the regular season. He had a 2.44 GAA and a .921 save percentage in the playoffs.

The Blues now need a No. 2 goalie. They can re-sign Anders Nilsson, a restricted free agent, give the job to minor-leaguers Pheonix Copley or Jordan Binnington or acquire another one elsewhere. The move potentially saves the Blues about $1.5 million against the cap, assuming his replacement makes about $1 million.

Elliott is the franchise leader in shutouts with 25, save percentage (.925) and GAA (2.01).

Matthew Tkachuk made St. Louis hockey history on Friday night, being taken by Calgary with the sixth pick, making him the first player from the region to be chosen in the first round of the NHL draft.

Tkachuk was projected to go fourth in most pre-draft projections, but two surprising picks ahead of him left him in position to be taken by Calgary.

"It was awesome, especially with my dad (former Blue Keith Tkachuk) and my mom and brother and sister ... it was so special," Matthew Tkachuk said. "I told my brother to get a picture of it, so hopefully he got that. My mom, she was starting to cry and my dad, he was just saying how proud he was and how much he loved me."

Tkachuk, the former Blue, was asked about his son, Matthew.

"He has some similarities," his father told NBCSN. "One thing he has is a good head on his shoulders. He makes good plays. It"s a proud moment for the whole family right now."

Keith was the 19th pick in the draft, so Matthew gets bragging rights. "He"s got bragging rights, he deserves it," Keith said. "He"s better. He always wanted to come to the rink. He put the work in. It"s paying off right now."

Another St. Louis player, Clayton Keller, was taken with the seventh pick by Arizona, one pick behind Tkachuk.

"I grew up playing on the same line and we had tons of success as younger kids, so it was awesome to see us picked back-to-back," Keller said. "He"s a great friend of mine and I"m just really happy for him. It"s just something that you dream about and work so hard for. It"s awesome to finally get this feeling."

Keller may still go to college at Boston University and delay going to juniors.

The third St. Louis player to get chosen was center Logan Brown, who was taken with the 11th pick by Ottawa, which traded up a spot to get him. Brown"s father, former Blue Jeff Brown, is coaching the junior team in Ottawa.

Then with the No. 15 overall pick, Minnesota selected forward Luke Kunin. At that point, six Americans had been taken, and four were from St. Louis and each had played for the AAA Blues. Kunin said he will play one more year at Wisconsin before starting his professional career.

"It"s a big moment for St. Louis and I hope a few more come," Tkachuk said. "It"s a huge day for St. Louis hockey. I hope they"re watching back home. I know they are."

Added Keller: "It"s unbelievable. I think four of us could be picked in the first round. So it"s awesome to see that."

St. Louis had a fifth player go in the first round when Boston took Trent Frederic with the 29th pick. A record 12 Americans went in the first round, with almost half of them from St. Louis.

With the first pick, Toronto, as expected, took center Auston Matthews, who"s from Arizona but has been playing in Switzerland. He"s the seventh American to go No. 1 in the draft. Last American to go No. 1 was Patrick Kane by Chicago in 2007. The year before that, the Blues took Erik Johnson.

There were two trades. Chicago sent Andrew Shaw to Montreal for two second round picks. Washington sent Lars Eller, once a Blue, to Montreal for two second-round picks, one in 2017 and one in 2018.

With the second pick, Winnipeg took right wing Patrik Laine from Finland. (He"s Finnish, so it"s pronounced Line-Ay, not Lane.) Columbus made a surprising move by taking left wing/center Pierre-Luc Dubois with the third pick. He was expected to go a few spots later. That let right wing Jesse Puljujarvi fall to Edmonton at No. 4, where many people thought Tkachuk might go. Vancouver then took Olli Juolevi, a defenseman with Tkachuk"s London Knights junior team.

Rutherford reported from Buffalo and Timmermann from St. Louis.

Source: http://www.stltoday.com/sports/hockey/professional/nhl-draft-blog/article_b1e0ff1c-e1e0-5804-92f7-2b831f74a3b8.html