For the first time since 2007, the University of Michigan had a player selected in the first round of the NHL Entry Draft, as incoming freshman Jacob Trouba (Rochester) was taken ninth overall by the Winnipeg Jets on Friday at Consol Energy Center, home of the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Trouba was ranked ninth among North American skaters by the NHL's Central Scouting Service after completing his second season with the United States National Team Development Program in 2011-12.
The 6-foot-2, 193-pound defenseman appeared in 50 games last season with the USNTDP Under-18 team, earning 31 points (9g, 22a). He represented the United States at the 2012 IIHF World Junior Championship, recording three assists in six games. Trouba has also won two gold medals with the U.S. at the World Under-18 Championships (2011, 2012) and captured a silver medal at the 2011 Under-17 World Hockey Challenge.
Trouba is the 17th Michigan player or commit to be selected in the first round, and the first since Montreal took forward Max Pacioretty in 2007.
He is the seventh-highest pick in U-M history and the second-highest pick by the Winnipeg Jets (Aaron Ward, fifth overall, 1991).
Trouba will join sophomore defenseman Brennan Serville (Pickering, Ont.) as Winnipeg draft picks in Ann Arbor next season.
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After incoming freshman Jacob Trouba was selected ninth overall by Winnipeg on Friday, three more members of the University of Michigan hockey team fulfilled their NHL draft-day dreams on Saturday at Consol Energy Center, home of the Pittsburgh Penguins.
U-M winger Phil Di Giuseppe (Maple, Ont.) was the first Wolverine off the board, going 38th overall to the Carolina Hurricanes. Incoming forward Boo Nieves (Rochester, N.Y.) was also a second-round pick, as the New York Rangers chose him 59th overall. Incoming defenseman Connor Carrick (Orland Park, Ill.) was selected in the fifth round, 137th overall, by the Washington Capitals.
Di Giuseppe, who was ranked 22nd among North American skaters in the final CSS rankings, recently completed his freshman season with the Maize and Blue, posting 26 points (11g, 15a) in 40 games. He ranked second among team rookies in all three scoring categories and received CCHA All-Rookie Team honorable mention. The 6-foot-1, 200-pound forward was named the CCHA Rookie of the Month for October and the league's Rookie of the Week for the week ending Oct. 31, 2011.
Nieves (pictured) spent the last two seasons at the Kent School in Kent, Conn., where he was coached by former Michigan captain Matt Herr. The 6-foot-3, 184-pound forward tallied 39 points (11g, 28a) in 22 games at Kent last season before joining the Indiana Ice of the United States Hockey League at the conclusion of his high school season.
Carrick was ranked 124th among North American skaters in the CSS rankings after competing with the United States National Team Development Program for the past two seasons. Carrick appeared in 41 games with the Under-18 team in 2011-12, earning 16 points (5g, 11a).
Photo courtesy MiHockeyNow.com
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