Anaheim Ducks Select Seven Players During Second Day Of 2021 NHL Draft

Jul 24, 2021

The Anaheim Ducks selected seven additional players through Rounds 2-7 of the 2021 NHL Draft today. In addition to last night’s first-round pick of center Mason McTavish (third overall), the club selected defenseman Owen Zellweger (second round, 34th overall), right wing Sasha Pastujov (third round, 66th overall), defenseman Tyson Hinds (third round, 76th overall), center Josh Lopina (fourth round, 98th overall), left wing Sean Tschigerl (fifth round, 130th), goaltender Gage Alexander (fifth round, 148th) and center Kyle Kukkonen (sixth round, 162nd). 

“I think the day went very well,” said Ducks Assistant General Manager Martin Madden. “We wanted to come out of this draft with a balanced crop of prospects both in terms of styles and positions, and we reached those objectives.”
 
Zellweger, 17 (9/10/03), ranked fourth among all Western Hockey League (WHL) defensemen in points per game (1.18) after scoring 2-11=13 points and a +5 rating in 11 games in the shortened 2020-21 campaign with the Everett Silvertips. In 70 career WHL games with Everett, he has earned 4-21=25 points with a +25 rating and 10 PIM. 
 
The 5-9, 175-pound defenseman registered 2-10=12 points with a +20 rating and eight penalty minutes (PIM) in 58 games with the Silvertips in 2019-20 as a rookie, ranking 14th among WHL rookie defensemen in scoring. A native of Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta, Zellweger helped Canada to a gold medal at the 2021 U-18 World Championship, ranking tied for the tournament lead among defensemen with 1-7=8 points with a +8 rating in seven tournament games.
 
Pastujov, 18 (7/15/03), led USA Hockey’s National Team Development Program’s (NTDP) U-18 team in scoring (30-35=65), goals and assists, and ranked third with a +20 rating in 41 games in 2020-21. The 6-0, 184-pound forward combined for 44-71=115 points with a +20 rating with the NTDP U-18 and U-17 teams the last two seasons. 
 
The Bradenton, Fla. native led Team USA in scoring (5-3=8) at the 2021 U-18 World Championship and also won a silver medal at the 2019 U-17 World Hockey Challenge, tying for the tournament lead in assists (7). His brother, Nick, was selected by the New York Islanders in the seventh round (193rd overall) of the 2016 NHL Draft, and his other brother, Michael, completed his senior season at the University of Michigan in 2020-21.
 
Hinds, 18 (3/12/03), split the 2020-21 season with Shawinigan and Rimouski of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL), recording 6-10=16 points with a +10 rating and 13 PIM in 33 games. He led Rimouski defensemen in scoring, goals and ranked second in assists. He also earned one assist in six QMJHL playoff games. 
 
The 6-3, 178-pound defenseman has collected 8-19=27 points with a +15 rating and 33 PIM in 87 career QMJHL games with Shawinigan and Rimouski. A native of Gatineau, Quebec, Hinds earned one assist with Team Canada at the 2020 U-17 World Hockey Championship. Anaheim acquired the 76th overall selection from Montreal in exchange for a third-round selection in 2022. 
 
Lopina, 20 (2/16/01), helped the University of Massachusetts-Amherst (Hockey East) to a national championship in 2020-21, scoring 9-14=23 points with a +21 rating in 29 NCAA games. He was named to the Hockey East All-Rookie Team and became the first Minuteman player to earn Hockey East Co-Rookie of the Year recognition after ranking sixth among all NCAA freshmen in scoring and eighth in plus/minus, while leading all rookies in faceoff wins (312).  
 
The 6-2, 195-pound forward recorded 2-4=6 points in the NCAA tournament, including two assists in the national semifinal game vs. Minnesota Duluth. A native of Minooka, Ill., Lopina scored 24-38=62 points in 106 career United States Hockey League (USHL) games from 2018-20. 
 
Tschigerl, 18 (4/11/03), led the Calgary Hitmen of the WHL in goals (13) and ranked second in scoring (21) in 21 games in 2020-21. He also ranked tied for seventh in points per game (1.0) among draft eligible WHL players. 
 
The 6-0, 189-pound forward has scored 18-17=35 points with 22 PIM in 85 career WHL games with Calgary, and has also appeared in four WHL playoff contests. 
 
Alexander, 19 (7/2/02), posted a 6-3-0 record with one shutout, a 2.23 goals against average (GAA) and .917 save percentage (SV%) in nine WHL games with the Winnipeg Ice in 2020-21. The 6-6, 205-pound goaltender ranked fifth in GAA and eighth in SV% among WHL leaders last season.
 
A native of Okotoks, Alberta, Alexander is 7-4-1 with one shutout and a 2.97 GAA in 16 career WHL games with Winnipeg. 
 
Kukkonen, 18 (11/13/02), recorded 31-43=74 points with 16 PIM in 23 games with Maple Grove High School in Minnesota, leading all skaters in assists and ranking second in scoring among United States High School Minnesota League (USHS-MN) players. 
 
The 5-10, 172-pound native of Maple Grove, Minn. Scored 55-84=139 points in 54 career USHS-MN games from 2018-21, ranking fifth in assists and sixth in points in his three seasons. He also scored two goals in three USHL contests with the Madison Capitals in 2018-19.