2019 NHL Draft: 5 biggest winners and losers from first round

Winner: Finland

Finland is quietly taking over the hockey world. Not only did they win the World Championship despite icing a roster with an 18-year-old as their best skater, they’ve been killing it in the NHL Draft.

For the fourth straight season, Finland saw a player drafted in the top three picks. Kaapo Kakko was selected with the second overall pick by the New York Rangers. He has all the tools required to be a star in the NHL. Finland has also seen five straight drafts with someone drafted in the top 10.

A pair of Finnish defensemen, Lassi Thomson and Ville Heinola, were selected with the 19th and 20th picks respectively. They are the 11th and 12th defensemen from Finland to be drafted in the first round. It’s just the second time ever more than one defenseman from Finland got drafted in the first round in a single year (2017 saw four).

Loser: Swedish Forwards

The first round is usually full of players from Sweden. This was not the case in 2019. Only four Swedish players got drafted in the first round. Three of them – Philip Broberg, Victor Soderstrom, and Tobias Bjornfot – were defensemen. Simon Holmstrom, drafted by the Islanders with the 23rd pick, was the lone forward.

Not since 2014 has Sweden had to wait that long for a forward to be drafted in the first round. And even then, Holmstrom was a bit of a reach. He was projected by many to be a mid-second rounder.