Three Manitobans heard their names called as the National Hockey League wrapped up its annual two-day draft from Nashville on Thursday.
With 224 total players selected, players born and raised in Manitoba made up just one singular percentage point. But of those players, one was the very first goaltender chosen. So that has to mean something, right?
That player was Carberry's Carson Bjarnason. The soon-to-be 18-year-old was the first Manitoban to be selected, as he went 51st overall to the Philadelphia Flyers.
He has played the past two years with the nearby Brandon Wheat Kings, going 29-29-6 for a team working its way through a rebuild.
Bjarnason maintained a .900 save percentage and a 3.08 goals against average to go alongside three shutouts this past season. The 6-foot-3, 190-pound backstop also earned five wins for Canada between the Hlinka Gretzky Cup (gold medal) and the U-18 championship (bronze medal).
Chosen next out of Manitoba was forward Jayden Perron. The 18-year-old Winnipeg product went at No. 94 overall to the Carolina in the third round.
A slighter build than that of Bjarnason, the 5-foot-9, 170-pound Perron spent the past two years suiting up for the Chicago Steel of the USHL, where he compiled 41 goals and 117 points in 121 games through the 2021-22 and 2022-23 seasons.
The University of North Dakota commit also operated at a point-per-game pace in the postseason, scoring five times and adding four assists in nine career playoff games for the Steel.
Two rounds later it was defenceman Carter Sotheran, as he joined Bjarnason in Philadelphia with the 135th pick, becoming the third and final player taken from Manitoba. The 6-foot-3, 190-pound blueliner had four goals, 23 points and 54 penalty minutes for the Portland Winterhawks last season.
A 19-year-old of Sanford, Sotheran is a year older than the others selected before him. He played his minor hockey with the AAA Pembina Valley Hawks, before making the jump to the Western Hockey League for 2022-23.
Although listed with Central Scouting's final list, defenceman Sam Court (ranked No. 192) of the AJHL's Brooks Bandits and Hudson Thornton (ranked No. 206) of the Prince George Cougars did not hear their names called from Bridgestone Arena. The two Winnipeggers very well may receive invites to NHL development camps following the draft.
Other players of interest selected include Aaron Pionk (149 overall, Minnesota), who is the brother of Winnipeg Jets defenceman Neal Pionk.
Winnipeg ICE star forward Zach Benson (13th overall) become the second-straight first round pick from the ICE selected by the Buffalo Sabres, joining Matthew Savoie, who was chosen in the first round of 2022.
Nate Danielson, who served as Bjarnason's teammate with the Wheat Kings, was selected ninth overall by Steve Yzerman's Detroit Red Wings.