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Byram tabbed 4th, Newhook 16th in first round of NHL draft |
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Rick Sadowski
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Not sure what this means for Tyson Barrie’s future in Colorado, but the Avalanche used the first (No. 4) of their two first-round picks on stud Vancouver Giants defenseman Bowen Byram on Friday in the 2019 NHL draft at Rogers Arena in Vancouver.
They selected Victoria Grizzlies center Alex Newhook with the No. 16 pick. He’ll be entering his freshman year at Boston College.
The 6-foot-1, 192-pound Byram, 18, is a left-shooting defenseman who had a monster season with the Giants, collecting 71 points (26 goals, 45 assists) in 67 regular-season games with the Western Hockey League team.
The Cranbrook, British Columbia, native had 26 points (eight goals, 18 assists) in 22 playoff games.
Byram has 98 points (32 goals, 66 assists) in 138 career WHL games and 33 points (11 goals, 22 assists) in 29 playoff games.
“No. 1 defenseman,” Craig Button, NHL analyst and former Calgary Flames general manager said of Byram on NBCSN. “He checks every single category to be a No. 1 defenseman. Forget about the skills, there’s a requisite amount of skills, but he reminds me of (Chicago star) Duncan Keith.
“He does have an edge to his game; he will be physical, he will dial it up. He has that closing speed defensively. When you can skate like those players do and they have the calm defensively, now you get out of your zone, now you get into the offensive zone like Duncan Keith – eyes up all the time, the ability to break down opponents and put them into position where he can take advantage.
“To me, not only is this brilliant for the Colorado Avalanche, but if you’re Nathan MacKinnon and you’re Gabriel Landeskog and you’ve got Mikko Rantanen, you’ve got Cale Makar … that puck’s going to tip around pretty nicely.”
The Avalanche already have several young talented defensemen in Samuel Girard, 21, Makar, 20, and Conor Timmins, 20, who didn’t play last season while recovering from post-concussion symptoms.
Then there’s Barrie, who turns 28 next month. He’s entering the final year of his contract and could be included in a trade for a forward. Plenty of rumors were floating around Friday.
The 5-11, 192-pound Newhook, 18, was Victoria’s captain, had 102 points (38 goals, 64 assists) in 53 games and was MVP of the British Columbia Hockey League. He had 24 points (11 goals, 13 assists) in 15 playoff games.
The St. John’s, Newfoundland, native had 168 points (60 goals, 108 assists) in 98 regular-season games in two seasons with the Grizzlies, with 33 points (14 goals, 19 assists) in 27 playoff games.
TSN analyst Bob McKenzie said Newhook is “a really skilled offensive player, a really good skater.”
Said Button: “Very creative, a really good playmaker with sneaky good goal-scoring ability.”
The NHL draft resumes Saturday with rounds 2-7 beginning at 11 a.m. MT on the NHL Network.
The Avalanche have a second-round pick (No. 47), two third-round picks (Nos. 63 and 78), and one each in the fifth round (No. 140), sixth round (No. 171) and seventh round (No. 202).
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