Co-hosts Dan Rosen and Shawn P. Roarke recorded the episode from Montreal, the host city for the 2022 draft that will take place Thursday and Friday at Bell Centre.
The first round will be Thursday (7 p.m. ET; ESPN, ESPN+, SN, TVAS) and rounds 2-7 are Friday (11 a.m. ET; NHLN, ESPN+, SN, TVAS).
Mike G. Morreale, a staff writer for NHL.com and co-host of the "NHL Draft Class" podcast, joined Rosen and Roarke to break down the top of the draft, reasons why forward Shane Wright, a center with Kingston of the Ontario Hockey League, is projected to go No. 1 to the host Montreal Canadiens and why Slovakian left wing Juraj Slafkovsky of TPS in Liiga, the top professional league in Finland, could be a perfect fit for the New Jersey Devils at No. 2.
Morreale also discussed why he thinks forward Cutter Gauthier of the USA Hockey National Team Development Program could be a dark horse to make it to the NHL quickly, perhaps even faster than center Logan Cooley, his teammate in NTDP who is committed to the University of Minnesota for next season.
Rosen and Roarke also talked about the excitement of the NHL having the first live in-person draft since 2019, the buzz in Montreal because the event is here and the Canadiens have the No. 1 pick, and the stir that the host team could create.
They also discussed several players who can become unrestricted free agents July 13, including Filip Forsberg, Kris Letang and Evgeni Malkin.
Forsberg has an eight-year contract offer from the Nashville Predators and general manager David Poile said Wednesday he is hopeful they are close to coming to an agreement. Rosen and Roarke each talked about why they think Forsberg will re-sign with the Predators.
They also discussed why Letang, a defenseman, is and should be a priority for the Pittsburgh Penguins ahead of Malkin, a forward.
Penguins general manager Ron Hextall said on Wednesday it's possible they could re-sign Letang before leaving Montreal on Friday night. He said talks with Malkin have not progressed far enough for that kind of optimism.
The co-hosts also talked about the San Jose Sharks making history by hiring Mike Grier to be the first Black general manager in the NHL on Tuesday and the whirlwind that the 47-year-old must be in right now being at the draft one day after he was introduced by the team.
The NHL @TheRink podcast is free and listeners can subscribe on all podcast platforms. It is also available on NHL.com/multimedia/podcasts and the NHL app.
---
Listen: New episode of NHL @TheRink
