Connor Carrick hasn’t forgotten much about the weekend he was drafted into the NHL.



Carrick remembers how he wasn’t going to attend until a scout from the Colorado Avalanche urged him to go, told him he was a lock to get picked at some point. He remembers all his teammates from the U.S. National Team Development Program getting picked. He remembers his bored younger brother joining the local fans in Pittsburgh in booing the Flyers and Capitals anytime they made a selection. He remembers warning his brother that one of those teams might just pick him (which of course they did). He remembers the “massive, crazy, gluttonous, celebratory meal” afterward at an Italian restaurant recommended by a local photographer.



“But in terms of a professional standpoint, I was the last defenceman taken off that U.S. development team; Jacob Trouba went to Winnipeg; Brady Skjei went to the Rangers; Pat Sieloff went to Calgary; Matt Grzelcyk went in the third...