2022 NHL Draft Preview
The Kelowna Rockets hope to have one of their players names called this weekend when the 2022 Upper Deck NHL Draft takes place on Thursday and Friday at the Bell Centre in Montreal, QC.
A pair of current Rockets are hopeful that they’ll join a long list of former Rockets who were drafted out of Kelowna, centremen Max Graham and Nolan Flamand ranked No. 156 and No. 218 among North American, respectively, on the NHL Central Scouting Bureau’s final rankings for the 2022 Upper Deck NHL Draft released back in May.
Where to watch
Round 1, July 7 @ 7PM ET
Watch on ESPN, ESPN+, SN, TVAS
Rounds 2-7, July 8 @11AM ET
Watch on NHLN, ESPN+, SN, TVAS
Graham posted 33 points (10G, 23A), 43 penalty minutes and a +10 plus/minus rating through 64 regular-season games this year. The 6’3, 180-pound Kelowna product added a goal and an assist in five playoff games.
Flamand missed nearly a month of action, sitting out of eight games due to a lower-body injury between January 5th and February 2nd. The Saskatoon, Sask. product appeared in 60 games for the Rockets this season, posting 40 points (10G, 30A), 8 penalty minutes and a +19 plus/minus rating.
Flamand was awarded the Rockets Hollis Pearce Award for Top Defensive Forward. He led all Rockets centremen with a winning faceoff percentage of 51.9%
Forward Gabriel Szturc and defenceman Noah Dorey could potentially hear their names called as well despite not being listed on the NHL Central Scouting Bureau’s final rankings.
Szturc was ranked on Central Scouting’s 2021-22 Preliminary Players to Watch List released in mid-October with a C grade, but was not ranked on the midterm rankings released in mid-January or final rankings in May.
Dorey hasn’t been listed on any rankings but has garnered NHL interest before, he was invited to the Boston Bruins development camp last fall after going undrafted in the 2021 NHL Draft.
INTERESTING ROCKETS DRAFT FACTS
- 70 players have been drafted by NHL teams out of the Rockets organization since 1992 (this does not include players who were later acquired or signed with the Rockets after being drafted)
- Scott Parker and Tyler Prosofsky are the only two players to be drafted twice. Both did not sign with the club that originally drafted them, reentering the draft for a second time.
- Ten Rockets have been selected in the first round (Lassi Thomson, Nolan Foote, Cal Foote, Lucas Johansen, Nick Merkley, Luke Schenn, Tyler Myers, Scott Parker, Scott Hannan, Kyle McLaren).
- The most Rockets ever selected in a single draft is seven back in 1997 (Scott Hannan, Kris Mallette, Quintin Laing, Karel Betik, Todd Fedoruk, Justin Jack, Brett McLean).
