Top 5 moments from the first round of the 2018 NHL Draft

Although it was a mostly uneventful night overall, Hockey Twitter was in fine form during Round 1 of the NHL draft Friday.

There were still a few special moments — both hockey and non-hockey related — involving mainly Canadian clubs as 31 teenaged players finally found out where their NHL home will be. Like usual, media and fans had a time chiming in on all the antics.

Here’s the Top 5 moments and storylines from Day 1 on the draft floor:

The trades that didn’t happen

Aside from the Capitals sending Goaltender Philipp Grubauer along with blueliner Brooks Orpik to the Colorado Avalanche in a salary-dump move aimed at clearing some space to re-sign John Carlson, and a few teams swapping picks late in the first round, it was all but dead on the trade front as names rumoured to be available — Erik Karlsson, Wayne Simmonds, Artemi Panarin, etc. — all stayed put.

Sad/confused Montreal fan(s)

The Montreal Canadiens desperately needed to draft a player who would make an almost immediate impact down the middle with their No. 3 overall pick, and the team did just that with the selection of the top-ranked centreman in the draft. Jesperi Kotkaniemi could very well turn out to be that franchise middle man the Habs have been coveting for the better part of a decade, but a few confused Canadiens fans showed that in their minds, GM Marc Bergevin can’t do anything right.

Tkachuk family celebrates

Brady became the third member of the Tkachuk clan to be drafted to the NHL and the third time since 1990 that one went in the first round. Father Keith was taken 19th overall 28 years ago, while older brother Matthew was chosen by the Flames at No. 6 in 2016. All were on hand to see the Boston University product land with the Ottawa Senators with the fourth overall selection.

Jim Benning’s hair

The Vancouver Canucks got their coveted defenceman after selecting Quinn Hughes with the No. 7 overall pick on Friday, but unfortunately for the Michigan University product, it was his new general manager’s egregiously dyed, jet-black flow that stole the draft-floor spotlight.

Evan Bouchard falls to the Oilers

Arguably the second most NHL-ready blueliner available, the Oilers were gifted the offensively adept, right-handed defenceman they’ve been coveting after Bouchard shockingly fell to No. 10 overall. His 1.30 points-per-game pace (92 in 71 games) with London of the OHL last season is the highest offensive clip from a defenceman in their draft year since the mid-2000s.