NHL Draft Order: 2010 First Round

With the Chicago Blackhawks winning the Stanley Cup last night, the NHL offseason has officially begun.  The 2010 NHL Awards Show will be live from Las Vegas once again on June 23rd and The Hockey Writers will be bringing you full coverage of the event from ‘Sin City’.

General Managers and team executives have a different date circled on their calendar, June 25th, as the next day they can finally begin making improvements to their team.  That opportunity for all 30 NHL organizations comes with the 2010 NHL Entry Draft.

The Hockey Writers’ Associate Editor Rick Gethin and a panel of analysts will be hosting a live NHL draft webcast of the first round from the Rbar in downtown Columbus.  The panel will include THW’s Mike Colligan, Eric Smith of HockeyBuzz.com and FOXSportsOhio.com, Dave Seaman of ColumbusWired.net, as well as THW’s Jeff Little and Draft Expert Christopher Ralph joining via video feed.

Be sure to check out Christopher’s outstanding in-depth Draft Prospect previews as we near June 25th.

The Blackhawks ‘reward’ for winning the Stanley Cup is the honor of having the last pick in each round of the draft.  With the season complete, here’s what the first round draft order will look like:

1. Edmonton Oilers
2. Boston Bruins (from Toronto via Phil Kessel trade)
3. Florida Panthers
4. Columbus Blue Jackets
5. New York Islanders
6. Tampa Bay Lightning
7. Carolina Hurricanes
8. Atlanta Thrashers
9. Minnesota Wild
10. New York Rangers
11. Dallas Stars
12. Anaheim Ducks
13. Phoenix Coyotes (from Calgary via Olli Jokinen trade)
14. St. Louis Blues
15. Boston Bruins
16. Ottawa Senators
17. Colorado Avalanche
18. Nashville Predators
19. Los Angeles Kings
20. Pittsburgh Penguins
21. Detroit Red Wings
22. Phoenix Coyotes
23. Buffalo Sabres
24. Atlanta Thrashers (from New Jersey via Ilya Kovalchuk trade)
25. Vancouver Canucks
26. Washington Capitals
27. Montreal Canadiens
28. San Jose Sharks
29. Anaheim Ducks (from Philadelphia via Chris Pronger trade)
30. Chicago Blackhawks

Stay tuned here at The Hockey Writers for ongoing coverage of the 2010 NHL Entry Draft!