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8 Minnesotans Selected in 2020 NHL Draft

By Minnesota Hockey, 10/07/20, 6:15PM CDT

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The 2020 NHL Draft, which was held virtually on Oct. 6-7, featured the selection of eight Minnesota natives and 52 total Americans.

Maple Grove native Brock Faber was the first Minnesotan selected, going in the second round to the Los Angeles Kings. Faber was a standout in the Osseo-Maple Grove Hockey Association before joining the U.S. National Team Development Program for two seasons.

The third round featured a trio of Minnesota high school hockey standouts. Jake Boltmann was selected with the 80th overall pick, making it ten consecutive years a player from Edina was selected in the NHL draft. Andover defenseman Wyatt Kaiser was chosen with the very next pick by the Chicago Blackhawks, and then, Eagan native and St. Thomas Academy state tournament star, Jackson Hallum, was taken by the Vegas Golden Knights.

The Montreal Canadiens selected two perennial Class A standouts in Jack Smith and Blake Biondi in the fourth round. The Canadiens used the 102nd pick to select Smith, a St. Cloud native who has been a force for St. Cloud Cathedral, and six picks later, they drafted Biondi, the 2020 Mr. Hockey Award winner from Hermantown.

Mason Langenbrunner was the only Minnesotan selected in the fifth round, going to the Boston Bruins. Mason and his dad, Jamie, led Cloquet to Peewee AA (2015) and Bantam AA (2017) State Tournaments as a player-coach duo, and after a year being coached by Lee Smith at Eden Prairie, Mason will once again be under his dad’s tutelage as Jamie serves as the Bruins’ Director of Player Development.

Minneapolis native and Blake High School forward Joe Miller was chosen in the sixth round by the Toronto Maple Leafs. After being left off the preseason and midterm rankings by NHL Central Scouting, Miller made a big impression in the postseason, posting five goals and four assists in three games to lead the Bears to a third-place finish at the 2020 Minnesota State High School Class AA Boys Hockey Tournament.

NOTES:  All of the players selected participated in the CCM High Performance programs, which are designed to identify and develop the top players in Minnesota … Four of the draftees participated on a CCM HP Tier I League team, including Langenbrunner who played in the 2018 USA Hockey’s Youth 15 Tier I National Championships with the Blue Ox … Seven of the eight Minnesotans selected played Minnesota high school hockey this past season, and six of them competed in the 2020 Minnesota State High School Hockey Tournament … The players selected represent eight different communities.

Name Round Pick Overall NHL Team 2019-20 Team Association
Brock Faber 2 14 45 Los Angeles Kings US NTDP Osseo-Maple Grove
Jake Boltmann 3 18 80 Calgary Flames Edina HS Edina
Wyatt Kaiser 3 19 81 Chicago Blackhawks Andover HS Andover
Jackson Hallum 3 29 91 Vegas Golden Knights St. Thomas Academy HS Eagan
Jack Smith 4 9 102 Montreal Canadiens St. Cloud Cathedral HS St. Cloud
Blake Biondi 4 16 109 Montreal Canadiens Hermantown HS Hermantown
Mason Langenbrunner 5 27 151 Boston Bruins Eden Prairie HS Cloquet
Joe Miller 6 25 180 Toronto Maple Leafs Blake HS Minneapolis

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