The Minnesota Wild chose seven more players Saturday during the second and final day of the 2014 National Hockey League Draft at Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia.
They join first-round pick Alex Tuch, who was drafted by the Wild on Friday night.
Here are the other players:
— Louis Belpedio, defenseman with the US National Team; third round, 80th pick overall. Will play college hockey for the University of Miami (Ohio). (Shown in photo)
— Kaapo Kahkonen, goalie with the Junior Blues in Finland’s SM-Liiga. Native of Finland; fourth round, 109th overall.
— Tanner Faith, defenseman with Kootenay of the Western Hockey League. From Terrace, British Columbia; fifth round, 139th overall.
— Pontus Sjalin, defenseman with three different Ostersunds IK teams last season. Native of Sweden; round six, No. 160 overall.
— Chase Lang, center with the Calgary Hitmen in the Western Hockey League; round six, 167th pick overall.
— Reid Duke, center with the Lethbridge Hurricanes in the Western Hockey League; round six, 169th pick overall.
— Pavel Jenys, center with Brno Jr. in the Czech Republic. Native of the Czech Republic; round seven, No. 199 overall.
Belpedio, a teammate of Alex Tuch with Team USA, is a smaller defenseman at 5-10, and 193 pounds. He grew up a Chicago Blackhawks fan from Skokie, Ill.
“I’m a Chicago kid, so there’s a little bit of a rivalry there, but I’ve switched to the other side already,” Belpedio said.
Belpedio scored seven goals and added 13 assists in 53 games with the Under-18 team last season.
Profiles of all eight players are posted on the Wild’s website.
Wild GM Chuck Fletcher summed up his approach to the draft this way:
“We weren’t trying to be overly cute or creative. We just kind of took what came to us and we didn’t give up any picks going forward,” he said. Here’s his entire post-draft news conference.
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First-rounder Alex Tuch spoke with reporters after he was chosen Friday night.
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