MONTREAL – While the NHL held its first in-person draft since 2019 in Montreal, two signed incoming Wisconsin men’s hockey freshmen chose to spend the 2022 NHL Draft at home with those closest to them to celebrate when their names were called.
Both Badger newcomers heard their names called on Friday, the second day of the draft, when at pick No. 100, the Seattle Kraken chose defenseman Tyson Jugnauth, and at No. 124, the Carolina Hurricanes picked forward Cruz Lucius. Both went in the fourth round.
Jugnauth, from Kelowna, British Columbia, won the 2022 BCHL Top Defenceman Award after putting up nine goals and 50 points in 52 games to rank second among BCHL rear guards in scoring. The offensive blue liner played last season for the West Kelowna Warriors.
He is the first Badger drafted by the Seattle Kraken, leaving the Tampa Bay Lightning as the only NHL franchise without a Badger pick all-time.
Lucius, a Grant, Minnesota, native, played the past two years with the U.S. National Team Development Program. He put up nine goals and 18 points in an injury-shortened, 23-game season for the U.S. Under-18 Team during 2021-22, after posting 14 goals and 42 points in 42 games with the U.S. Under-17 Team during 2020-21.
He helped Team USA win silver at this past spring’s 2022 IIHF Under-18 World Championship with two goals and eight points in six games playing alongside fellow incoming frosh Charlie Stramel.
Stramel is a potential first-round pick for the 2023 NHL Draft.
All-time, 173 Badgers have been selected in the NHL Draft since Jeff Rotsch opened the door as the school’s first pick in 1970 by the St. Louis Blues. At least one has been picked in all but two drafts since including the last 25 consecutive years. Three additional Badgers were selected in the old NHL supplemental draft. Ninety-one Badgers have played in the NHL.
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