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8 hours ago
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Victor Eklund's persistence won out, as he and Swedish teammate Anton Frondell enter NHL draft
FILE - Boston College forward James Hagens (10) reacts after scoring a goal during the third period of an NCAA hockey regionals game against Bentley on March 28, 2025, in Manchester, N.H. (AP Photo/Greg M. Cooper, file) Swedish teammates Victor Eklund, left, and Anton Frondell address reporters while attending the NHL pre-draft combine in Buffalo, N.Y., June 6, 2025. The two played together for Djurgarden, in Sweden Tier 2 pro league, and both projected to be first-round picks in the NHL draft this weekend. (AP Photo/John Wawrow) Swedish teammates Victor Eklund, left, and Anton Frondell address reporters while attending the NHL pre-draft combine in Buffalo, N.Y., June 6, 2025. The two played together for Djurgarden, in Sweden Tier 2 pro league, and both projected to be first-round picks in the NHL draft this weekend. (AP Photo/John Wawrow) FILE - Boston College forward James Hagens (10) reacts after scoring a goal during the third period of an NCAA hockey regionals game against Bentley on March 28, 2025, in Manchester, N.H. (AP Photo/Greg M. Cooper, file) Swedish teammates Victor Eklund, left, and Anton Frondell address reporters while attending the NHL pre-draft combine in Buffalo, N.Y., June 6, 2025. The two played together for Djurgarden, in Sweden Tier 2 pro league, and both projected to be first-round picks in the NHL draft this weekend. (AP Photo/John Wawrow) Victor Eklund refused to take no for an answer in badgering his Tier 2 Swedish league coach Robert Kimby to have him play on the same line as long-time friend Anton Frondell last season. 'Yeah, I think I told him 10 times,' Eklund recalled at the NHL pre-draft combine in Buffalo earlier this month. 'And he was like, `Yeah, yeah, yeah, I don't know.'' Advertisement And then, one day after the Christmas break the two got their wish in eventually helping Djurgarden win a championship, and propel the pair to the top of central scouting's rankings of international skaters. Frondell, a center, is ranked first and a candidate to be selected as high as No. 2 by San Jose at the NHL draft in Los Angeles on Friday. He's a powerful playmaking skater who had 11 goals and 25 points in 29 games last season, second among league players 18 or younger. Eklund prides himself as a pesky winger, and regarded as a top-10 selection after finishing ahead of Frondell with 19 goals and 31 points in 42 games last year. 'I just knew from the beginning that if we got the opportunity, we'd take it and be the best line,' said Eklund, whose older brother, William, was a 2021 first-round pick (No. 7), and completed his second full season with San Jose. 'The coach probably got sick of me asking.' Advertisement The two have known each other since playing on competing teams as 10-year-olds in Stockholm. And they've been teammates since 2021. 'I remember he actually made a move on me, like the puck between my legs,' Eklund said. 'He says he doesn't remember it, but I do.' Sitting next to Eklund, Frondell responded with a smile, saying: 'I actually do remember that move.' Pigskin to pucks Mason West was so pre-occupied juggling football and hockey as a high school junior, the 17-year-old didn't realize he was entering his NHL draft-eligible year. That's before the 6-foot-6, 215-pound hockey center/quarterback from Edina, Minnesota, got his invite to the NHL scouting combine. Advertisement 'I was just taking it one day at a time,' said West, who is committed to play at Michigan State, and had a goal and nine points in 10 games as a rookie with Fargo of the USHL this year. 'I didn't really know the NHL stuff was going to happen this year,' added West, ranked 27th on central scouting's list of North American skaters. 'I kind of just kept working hard and opportunities came my way. So I'm just going to keep the same mindset.' After splitting his time at football and hockey evenly, West went all-in on hockey following the opportunity to play in the USHL. He's not giving up entirely on football yet entering his senior high school season. 'I try to set goals for the football and hockey year to try to win a state championship in both,' said West, who describes himself as a pocket-passer in football. 'I've been able to do that in hockey, but not football yet. So that's kind of the reason I have to go back and maybe win one.' Advertisement West's idol is New York Islanders captain Anders Lee, who is from Medina, and also played quarterback in high school. Trading picks One draft pick has already changed hands this week, with No. 117 (a fourth-rounder) going from Vancouver to Edmonton for Evander Kane, and plenty more are expected to get traded through Saturday. Maybe even the 27th selection by the Washington Capitals. Just don't tell assistant GM Ross Mahoney. 'Any chance we trade the pick? What are you doing to me? I've been working all these months trying to -- yeah, there's always a chance that a pick could get moved,' Mahoney said. 'When you're on the amateur side, you love to make picks. That's your job. That's what you do as a group. But if you're making a trade to acquire an asset that you think is going to improve your team ... you go with that.' Advertisement Mathieu Darche said the Islanders aren't trading out of the top spot. San Jose and Chicago are next, and Utah's Bill Armstrong said he and counterparts around the league have had discussions about the No. 4 pick. 'It's very rare that it's done that you could move from four to two or two to one,' Armstrong said. 'But, do you have to explore it? Yes. That's part of my job every morning. I wake up and go to work and see if we can better the pick or if we can come up with different options to maximize where we are.' Ice chips Yes, Boston College center James Hagens has seen the 'Bring Hagens Home' bumper stickers when back home on Long Island. 'It was pretty funny, gives you a good smile,' said Hagens, who grew up an Islanders fan. As for whether he made eye contact with the person in the car with the sticker, central scouting's top-ranked U.S.-born prospect laughed and said: 'Nah, I just tried to put my head down as he drove by.' ... Since 2015, 11 U.S.-born players have been selected among the top-five picks, including Auston Matthews (2016) and Jack Hughes (2019) going No. 1. ... Among mother-son hockey connections, Arizona State forward Cullen Potter's mother Jenny was a four-time U.S. Olympian. She was a member of the 1998 gold medal-winning squad, and holds the U.S. record with 32 career points in Olympic competition — five more than Hilary Knight, who is set to make her fifth Olympic appearance in February. ___ AP Hockey Writer Stephen Whyno contributed to this report. ___ AP NHL:
Associated Press
8 hours ago
- Sport
- Associated Press
Victor Eklund's persistence won out, as he and Swedish teammate Anton Frondell enter NHL draft
Victor Eklund refused to take no for an answer in badgering his Tier 2 Swedish league coach Robert Kimby to have him play on the same line as long-time friend Anton Frondell last season. 'Yeah, I think I told him 10 times,' Eklund recalled at the NHL pre-draft combine in Buffalo earlier this month. 'And he was like, `Yeah, yeah, yeah, I don't know.'' And then, one day after the Christmas break the two got their wish in eventually helping Djurgarden win a championship, and propel the pair to the top of central scouting's rankings of international skaters. Frondell, a center, is ranked first and a candidate to be selected as high as No. 2 by San Jose at the NHL draft in Los Angeles on Friday. He's a powerful playmaking skater who had 11 goals and 25 points in 29 games last season, second among league players 18 or younger. Eklund prides himself as a pesky winger, and regarded as a top-10 selection after finishing ahead of Frondell with 19 goals and 31 points in 42 games last year. 'I just knew from the beginning that if we got the opportunity, we'd take it and be the best line,' said Eklund, whose older brother, William, was a 2021 first-round pick (No. 7), and completed his second full season with San Jose. 'The coach probably got sick of me asking.' The two have known each other since playing on competing teams as 10-year-olds in Stockholm. And they've been teammates since 2021. 'I remember he actually made a move on me, like the puck between my legs,' Eklund said. 'He says he doesn't remember it, but I do.' Sitting next to Eklund, Frondell responded with a smile, saying: 'I actually do remember that move.' Pigskin to pucks Mason West was so pre-occupied juggling football and hockey as a high school junior, the 17-year-old didn't realize he was entering his NHL draft-eligible year. That's before the 6-foot-6, 215-pound hockey center/quarterback from Edina, Minnesota, got his invite to the NHL scouting combine. 'I was just taking it one day at a time,' said West, who is committed to play at Michigan State, and had a goal and nine points in 10 games as a rookie with Fargo of the USHL this year. 'I didn't really know the NHL stuff was going to happen this year,' added West, ranked 27th on central scouting's list of North American skaters. 'I kind of just kept working hard and opportunities came my way. So I'm just going to keep the same mindset.' After splitting his time at football and hockey evenly, West went all-in on hockey following the opportunity to play in the USHL. He's not giving up entirely on football yet entering his senior high school season. 'I try to set goals for the football and hockey year to try to win a state championship in both,' said West, who describes himself as a pocket-passer in football. 'I've been able to do that in hockey, but not football yet. So that's kind of the reason I have to go back and maybe win one.' West's idol is New York Islanders captain Anders Lee, who is from Medina, and also played quarterback in high school. Trading picks One draft pick has already changed hands this week, with No. 117 (a fourth-rounder) going from Vancouver to Edmonton for Evander Kane, and plenty more are expected to get traded through Saturday. Maybe even the 27th selection by the Washington Capitals. Just don't tell assistant GM Ross Mahoney. 'Any chance we trade the pick? What are you doing to me? I've been working all these months trying to -- yeah, there's always a chance that a pick could get moved,' Mahoney said. 'When you're on the amateur side, you love to make picks. That's your job. That's what you do as a group. But if you're making a trade to acquire an asset that you think is going to improve your team ... you go with that.' Mathieu Darche said the Islanders aren't trading out of the top spot. San Jose and Chicago are next, and Utah's Bill Armstrong said he and counterparts around the league have had discussions about the No. 4 pick. 'It's very rare that it's done that you could move from four to two or two to one,' Armstrong said. 'But, do you have to explore it? Yes. That's part of my job every morning. I wake up and go to work and see if we can better the pick or if we can come up with different options to maximize where we are.' Ice chips Yes, Boston College center James Hagens has seen the 'Bring Hagens Home' bumper stickers when back home on Long Island. 'It was pretty funny, gives you a good smile,' said Hagens, who grew up an Islanders fan. As for whether he made eye contact with the person in the car with the sticker, central scouting's top-ranked U.S.-born prospect laughed and said: 'Nah, I just tried to put my head down as he drove by.' ... Since 2015, 11 U.S.-born players have been selected among the top-five picks, including Auston Matthews (2016) and Jack Hughes (2019) going No. 1. ... Among mother-son hockey connections, Arizona State forward Cullen Potter's mother Jenny was a four-time U.S. Olympian. She was a member of the 1998 gold medal-winning squad, and holds the U.S. record with 32 career points in Olympic competition — five more than Hilary Knight, who is set to make her fifth Olympic appearance in February. ___ AP Hockey Writer Stephen Whyno contributed to this report. ___ AP NHL:
Yahoo
11 hours ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
NHL's first decentralized draft is a logistical challenge to make the event fit for TV
Swedish teammates Victor Eklund, left, and Anton Frondell address reporters while attending the NHL pre-draft combine in Buffalo, N.Y., June 6, 2025. The two played together for Djurgarden, in Sweden Tier 2 pro league, and both projected to be first-round picks in the NHL draft this weekend. (AP Photo/John Wawrow) Swedish teammates Victor Eklund, left, and Anton Frondell address reporters while attending the NHL pre-draft combine in Buffalo, N.Y., June 6, 2025. The two played together for Djurgarden, in Sweden Tier 2 pro league, and both projected to be first-round picks in the NHL draft this weekend. (AP Photo/John Wawrow) NHL teams for the first time in a non-pandemic environment will not be gathering in one place for the draft, and the mind-boggling logistics of decentralizing the annual event are right up Steve Mayer's alley. The league's president of content and events has masterminded how to put on outdoor games, All-Star weekends, the Stanley Cup Final in a bubble and last year's draft at the Sphere. Holding a smaller get-together at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles with similar pageantry and coordination between 32 teams spread across North America has become his department's next big challenge. Advertisement 'We thought this would be simpler, and it's actually become way more complicated,' Mayer said Tuesday from LA. "Everything has to be spot on. It was so much easier when you can look at table No. 6 and they were making their pick and it was easy. I just think this is way more complicated than it had been in the past.' Commissioner Gary Bettman will be on site, along with nearly 100 of the top prospects, 32 of whom will be selected in the first round Friday night and the others expected to hear their names called Saturday when the draft resumes. Then there are 90-plus remote cameras for the draft rooms in the various markets — including the Philadelphia Flyers setup down the shore in Atlantic City — and the guest selectors who will be announcing the picks, such as Jeremy Jackson and Marguerite Moreau of "Mighty Ducks' movie fame for the Anaheim Ducks. There won't be a crowd of more than 100,000 fans in attendance like the NFL draft, though the NHL is hoping to put on a different kind of spectacle that translates well to TV. That includes a virtual environment a player will walk into and be able to interact with the staff of the team that just picked him. Advertisement 'They're going to have a back-and-forth interaction with the kid they just drafted (and) the kid will have an opportunity to say a few words back at this group, which will be captured for television and it will be quite unique,' Mayer said. 'That moment in that environment ... is what I think will set us apart from the NBA and Major League Baseball and the NFL, to an extent.' The NHL also gave itself a tough act to follow with the spectacle at the Sphere last year. That was a celebration of the last in-person draft (or so everyone thought) for a while, and the venue on the Las Vegas Strip stood out as the star. This is nothing like a sequel, but some of the graphics that debuted in the Sphere will be back. 'We're taking some of those same elements, as you'll see, to give our environment depth,' Mayer said. "On television, I think it'll look spectacular. Whether it's decentralized, centralized, we don't care. Just tell us what we need to do, and as an event team we're willing and ready to pull it off.' Advertisement Pull it off now. But for how long? Bettman has repeatedly said teams — not the league office — asked and then voted for the draft to be decentralized. There's some regret about that, so decentralizing may be a one-off, one-year thing. 'If after this experience the clubs say, 'You know what, on second thought let's go back to the old format,' we'll do that,' Bettman said in Edmonton at the final. 'What we do will be totally in response to what the clubs tell us they want.' Club officials aren't quite sure what they want. This will be Washington Capitals assistant general manager Ross Mahoney's 28th NHL draft, and he compares it to the virtual ones in 2020 and '21. Advertisement 'It gives you more freedom to talk," Mahoney said. "When you're on the draft floor, the next table's right here with scouts on other teams and that, so I guess it gives us a lot more freedom to speak freely and talk about things. But yeah we'll have a better idea after Saturday.' Mathieu Darche, GM of the New York Islanders who have the No. 1 pick, enjoys being on the draft floor with everyone in the same city. Maybe he'll get his wish next year, but he's fine with this as he runs a team for the first time. 'I'm comfortable with both situations,' Darche said. "Whatever the league decides, I'll be doing my job.' ___ AP NHL:
