Avalanche Selects Kaut In First Round

The Colorado Avalanche Hockey Club selected forward Martin Kaut with the 16th overall pick in the first round of the 2018 NHL Draft tonight at the American Airlines Center in Dallas.
Kaut, 18, spent the 2017-18 campaign with HC Dynamo Pardubice in the Czech Republic's top professional league and recorded 16 points (9g, 7a) in 38 games. The Brno, Czech Republic, native split the 2016-17 campaign with Pardubice and HC Dynamo's junior team, registering one point (0g, 1a) in 26 outings with Dynamo and 16 points (4g, 12a) in 22 contests with the under-20 squad.

Kaut has represented his country in numerous international events, including the 2018 IIHF World Junior Championship in Buffalo, N.Y., where he ranked fourth on the team with seven points (2g, 5a) in seven games en route to a fourth-place finish at the tournament. His five assists were tied for third on the team and second among the Czech forwards. The 6-foot-2, 176-pound right wing helped his country win gold for the first time at the Ivan Hlinka Memorial Tournament in 2016, tallying four points (1g, 3a) in five games.

At 16th overall, Kaut is the second-highest selection of a Czech-born player in franchise history (Vaclav Nedorost, 14th overall, 2000).
Kaut was rated the fourth-best European skater in NHL Central Scouting's final rankings for the 2018 draft, moving up from the 11th spot in the midterm rankings.
The NHL Draft resumes tomorrow (Saturday, June 23) with rounds 2-7 beginning at 9 a.m. MT on the NHL Network.