My Draft Day: Kelly Hrudey

An unexpected phone call during a brotherly basement ball hockey game marked the beginning of Kelly Hrudey's NHL career.

Despite swirling rumors and his number two ranking as a Canadian goalie prospect according to a hockey magazine - Hrudey still didn't think much of Draft Day - not expecting to be picked up by any NHL team at the time, let alone by a franchise fresh off their first Stanley Cup in 1980. But the New York Islanders had other ideas.

"The phone rings and my brother ran upstairs," Hrudey told the Talkin' Isles podcast. "He called me upstairs and said the phone is for you. On the other end of the line was [former Islanders scout] Jim Devellano. He introduces himself and says that the Islanders have drafted me 38th overall."

After a short conversation and a promise to be mailed more information about training camp, Hrudey was feeling all sorts of emotions after inking his first contract.

"They just won their first Stanley Cup so that was pretty intimidating to say the least," Hrudey said.

Years later, Devellano revealed the Islanders didn't initially plan to draft the young goaltender that high, instead rating him as a third or fourth round pick. Drafted right before Hrudey was goaltender Don Beaupre, who the Islanders rated equally to Hrudey.

"They didn't think Don was better than I or that I was better than Don," Hrudey recalled. "When the Minnesota Wild drafted him [37th overall], the Islanders were picking next. At that time, they felt that I wouldn't last to the third and especially not to the fourth round because they thought the market has changed and I'd go a little bit higher."

Not all draft choices got the chance to go to training camp, but Hrudey packed up and travelled from Western Canada to Long Island in September of 1980. The Alberta native played for the Medicine Hat Tigers prior to getting drafted, accustomed to traveling by car or bus.

"At that point in my life, I've only been on an airplane four or five times maybe," Hrudey said. "I had only really traveled in Western Canada. So traveling from Edmonton all the way to Long Island was crazy. I was dropped off at the Holiday Inn on Old Country Road, and then to Cantiague Park the next day for training camp and meeting some of the guys."

Pretty much as soon as he arrived in New York, the Islanders had big plans for the young goalie.

"Much to my surprise, I found out that I was going to be traveling with the team to Chicago and playing the first preseason game that year, which was amazing. It was amazing for a lot of reasons."

Hrudey broke in with the team a few years later, and is still fourth in team history with 241 games played and 106 wins, not including his 73-save effort in the Easter Epic. A pretty good outcome for a guy whose biggest priority on draft day was just beating his brother in ball hockey.