Red Wings prospect and Dylan James was apparently as shocked as the rest of the hockey world when he found out that the Red Wings picked him 40th overall in this past summer’s NHL Draft, as he told the Calgary Booster Club’s Scott Cruickshank:
It is the morning of July 8. General managers, having made their first-round choices the previous evening, are barrelling into the remaining rounds of the NHL draft at the Bell Centre in Montreal. So James, at his family’s home in southeast Calgary, is predictably glued to the television, watching as teams declare their second-round picks.
He notices the Chicago Blackhawks, at No. 39, choose a centreman from the Kingston Frontenacs. Studio analysts dissect the decision, introducing the prospect to the viewing audience through a series of highlight clips. While this is going on, James thinks he catches his name in the background. “I look at my parents and go, ‘Did you guys hear that?’ And they’re like, ‘Yeah.’”
Right then, however, the screen offers no clue about the draft order, about whose turn it is. Stunned, James sits there, assuming his wildest childhood dreams have been realized. But where the heck is he going? What is his NHL destination? He has absolutely no idea. It feels like an eternity. In reality, “a nervous 30 seconds.”
Eventually, the broadcast crew updates the proceedings and James finally learns his fate — he is joining the Detroit Red Wings organization.
“It was pretty cool when I found out it,” said James. “Everything was a blur that next 10 minutes. I was kind of just starstruck. I couldn’t even think. I can’t remember who phoned me. Then a pretty crazy two hours after that.”
Continued (it’s a good read)
