Tonight was a historic night for the BC hockey program as three incoming freshmen were drafted in the first round of the 2023 NHL Draft. Will Smith became the highest drafted Eagle ever, going fourth to the San Jose Sharks. Smith's future will now be in the hands of two Boston University alums- Mike Grier and David Quinn. As an aside, it is pretty crazy that despite all of the good players BC has had in their 100 plus years of hockey, it wasn't until 2023 when they had a pick inside of the top five.
Four picks later, Smith's linemate, Ryan Leonard, went eighth overall to the Washington Capitals. Leonard is the first Eagle to be selected by Washington since Zach Sanford in 2013.
The third part of the "BC Three", Gabriel Perreault, dropped a few slots, going at 23 to the New York Rangers. Like Smith, Perreault was also picked by a BU guy- Rangers GM Chris Drury. Most of the mock drafts I read had Perreault going around 10th, so I was surprised to see him go in the later part of the round. Obviously, the Rangers have a pretty solid history when it comes to drafting BC guys in the first round, so they're hoping history repeats itself.
I expect that at least three Eagles- Aram Minnetian, Drew Fortescue and Jacob Fowler- will be picked in the early rounds tomorrow. I also think there is an outside chance you will see Will Vote get selected.
One last bit of news- I am hearing that BC will be hiring a third assistant within the next few days. Under a new NCAA rule, programs can have an additional paid assistant starting this fall. According to my sources, BC will be hiring Brent Darnell, who was most recently the NTDP assistant director of player personnel. Darnell recently selected the most recent crop of 2007 birthdates to the National Program and is a Michigan State alum. With Brendan Buckley staying put after going through the process at Bentley, BC now has their full coaching staff in place for the upcoming season.
Until next time. Go Eagles.
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