2012 NHL Draft from a European perspective

24 Jun 2012 | Dennis Mende

Nail Yakupov third Russian in Draft history to become NHL's top prospect

With their third consecutive first overall pick the Edmonton Oilers drafted Russian forward Nail Yakupov just as expected. In this position he followed Canadians Taylor Hall and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins to become the third player from Russia after Ilya Kovalchuk (2001) and Alexander Ovechkin (2004) to be selected as first overall pick in the NHL Entry Draft.

Nail Yakupov in has just scored a goal for Russia

First fully European-trained player to be drafted in 2012 was Swedish defender Hampus Lindholm from Rögle BK who was chosen by the Anaheim Ducks as sixth overall. Other European first rounders were Filip Forsberg from Sweden, Mikhail Grigorenko and Andrei Vasilevski from Russia, Radek Faksa and Tomáš Hertl from the Czech Republic, Zemgus Girgensons from Latvia along with Teuvo Teräväinen and Olli Määttä from Finland.

From a total of 211 players selected in the NHL Entry Draft 57 came from Europe (in comparison to 68 in 2011) with Sweden having the biggest contingent of European talent with 23 players (28 in 2011).

From the non-typical ice hockey countries Denmark had two players selected while France had one. Danish goalie Frederik Andersen who proved last season to be one of the best goalies in Swedish Elitserien was actually not new to the Draft as he was chosen by Carolina in 2010 in the 7th round as 187th overall. Now, two years later, he improved to the third round as 87th player where he was chosen by the Anaheim Ducks. The other Danish player is talented 19 years old forward Thomas Spelling who recently signed a contract with Elitserien newcomers Rögle BK.

Frederik Andersen at the World Championship

Only French players to be selected was Tim Bozon, son of the famous Philippe Bozon, who was born in St. Louis, Missouri, when his father came to play in the NHL during the 90s. He started his hockey career in Switzerland where the family moved a decade ago before he went to Canada's Western Hockey League last year.

For the full list of the drafted players click here.