Game On Magazine - April 2017 Game on Preview Edition | Page 65

World Junior Championship
team and the 2015 World
Senior Championship team,
had some solid seasons in
Dallas and was the Golden
Knights’ sixth choice in the
NHL expansion draft in June.
Not surprisingly, he’s excited
about his new opportunity.
“I am really looking forward
to playing for this new team,”
said Eakin. “It should be
exciting, to say the least. It’s a
new team in a new arena in a
new city. I think it’s going to
be tons of fun.”
It’s interesting that Eakin
was the second Manitoban
chosen by the Golden
Knights’ in the expansion
draft. Goaltender Calvin
Pickard went first overall
from Colorado. The third
Manitoban taking was
Brendan Leipsic from the
Toronto Maple Leafs and
Leipsic was so happy to be in
Las Vegas, he signed a two-
year $1.3 million contract with
the Golden Knights in July.
However, when Kelly
McCrimmon is your assistant
general manager, you can
pretty much bet that the
Manitoba train was not
going to leave the station
after just three expansion
draft selections. Two days
later, on NHL entry draft
day, the Knights selected
Cody Glass from the Portland
Winterhawks with their
first pick (sixth overall) and
then made a deal to acquire
Calvin
Pickard
Cody
Eakin
Brendan
Leipsic
Cody
Glass &
Keegan
Kolesar
B y S c o t t Tay l o r
Photos by James Carey Lauder,
Jeff Miller, Rik Fedyck and
Brian Thiesse/Seattle Thunderbirds
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