Ottawa made another big splash on Wednesday, acquiring two-time Stanley Cup winning goalie Matt Murray from the Pittsburgh Penguins for forward Jonathan Gruden and a 2020 second-round draft pick (No, 52).
But Tuesday was all about their three first-round picks.
Stuetzle scored 34 points (seven goals, 27 assists) in 41 games this season for Adler Mannheim of Deutsche Eishockey Liga, Germany's top professional men's league. He is the highest-selected NHL draft pick born and trained in Germany since forward Leon Draisaitl was selected No. 3 by the Edmonton Oilers in the 2014 NHL Draft.
Two picks later, Dorion was excited to see Sanderson, the son of former NHL forward Geoff Sanderson, still on the board.
"When you come out of a draft with the best defenseman in it, it's a success," he said. "I know forwards are the fancier pick, the sexier picks, but we had this kid on the top of our list for defensemen."
Sanderson was captain of the United States National Team Development Program Under-18 team and scored 29 points (seven goals, 22 assists) in 47 games in 2019-20.
Greig scored 60 points (26 goals, 34 assists) in 56 games for Brandon of the Western Hockey League.
"Our scouts did a lot of hard work," Dorion said. "A successful night is the result."
The last time a team had two top-five picks was the 2000 NHL Draft, when the New York Islanders selected goalie Rick DiPietro No. 1 and forward Raffi Torres No. 5. In the 1999 NHL Draft, the Vancouver Canucks took forwards Daniel Sedin and Henrik Sedin with the Nos. 2 and 3 picks. In the 1997 NHL Draft, the Islanders chose goalie Roberto Luongo No. 4 and defenseman Eric Brewer No. 5. In the 1988 NHL Draft, the Quebec Nordiques got defenseman Curtis Leschyshyn with the No. 3 pick and forward Daniel Dore with the No. 5 pick.
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