On the afternoon of June 25th at the Roseau Valley School Convocation, Denton Mateychuk along with 18 of his fellow grade 12 classmates were handed their graduation diplomas from Vice-Principal Jennifer Collette.

Less than two weeks later, on the evening of July 7th at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Denton Mateychuk was handed a Columbus Blue Jackets hockey jersey.

Blue Jackets Director of Amateur Scouting Ville Siren had the honour of making the teams second selection in the first round of the 2022 NHL Draft.

"With the 12th pick, the Columbus Blue Jackets are proud to select from the Western Hockey League's Moose Jaw Warriors...Denton Mateychuk."

Three years after being chosen by Moose Jaw in the first round (11th overall) of the WHL Bantam Draft, the then 17-year-old from Dominion City, along with his entire family, made the trip to Montreal for the 2022 NHL Draft and proudly celebrated his selection by the Blue Jackets in round one.

Two days after the draft, Mateychuk, flew to Columbus and was one of 28 players who took part in the Blue Jackets Development Camp. 

Mateychuk celebrated his 18th birthday in Ohio.

It's been a memorable three years full of highlights for Mateychuk who spent the 2019-2020 season with the Manitoba U18 AAA Hockey League's Eastman Selects.

In January of 2020, Mateychuk and his Team Canada teammates brought home bronze medals from the Winter Youth Olympic Games in Lausanne, Switzerland.

Mateychuk played eight games with the Steinbach Pistons before the 2020-21 Manitoba Junior Hockey League season was shutdown because of COVID-19.

Four months later he joined Moose Jaw in the bubble in Regina and played 16 games with the Warriors as the Western Hockey League got in an abbreviated season.

Shortly after his WHL season was over, Mateychuk was named to Team Canada's roster as an injury replacement and won gold at the 2021 World U18 Hockey Championship in Texas.

This past year he recorded 13 goals and 51 assists during his first full season with the Warriors and added 10 points in 10 playoff games.

Mateychuk, who was also captain of Team White that won the 2022 CHL/NHL Top Prospects Game in Kitchener back in March, will be off to Calgary later this month and attend Hockey Canada's National Junior Team summer camp from July 28th - August 4th.


Clayton Dreger asked Denton Mateychuk to describe the NHL Draft experience