As the draft moved along and I didn't hear my name, you start to wonder when it will happen. I was trying not to stress myself out too much. I was just trying to think of the best possible scenarios, even as it went on. I was looking at the teams on the board and was just trying to take the positives out of everything. I really just wanted to go to a team that wanted and believes in me. When a team trades up to get you (as Arizona did), that's perfect. That's a best-case scenario. I'm extremely happy to be going to such a young and talented team.
During the draft, me and my dad were talking about some of the guys and we were happy when they were drafted. It's funny, while sitting up in the stands and right after the No. 15 pick, I made eye contact with someone at the table from Arizona and they actually gave me a wink. I figured something might be happening but didn't want to get too excited in case it didn't happen. But it ended up happening, and I was talking to my parents and told them about that and they were freaking out because they knew Arizona was one of the teams I was excited about possibly joining.
When I reached the stage, the Coyotes management told me how much they really wanted me. They were just very excited to get to know me more and said they were going to take care of me. So I'm really excited. It looks like a well-run organization that's really up-and-coming.
The next step for me is minicamp and I'll look forward to getting to Arizona. After that, I want to continue my training and continue to work hard to give myself a chance to make the NHL in 2016-17. That's been a goal of mine for a long time, and I'm going to continue to work on my game as a whole, getting stronger off the ice as well.
Thanks for reading all season, everyone.
See you down the road.
