On June 30, local time in the United States, the National Hockey League (NHL) draft in Las Vegas came to the news that Kevin He, a Chinese-American player born in Beijing, was selected by the Winnipeg Jets in the fourth round of the 109th place, becoming the highest-ranked Chinese-born player in the NHL draft.
According to the report, the Winnipeg Jets traded their No. 123 and No. 219 picks to the Buffalo Sabres in exchange for the 109th pick, avoiding other teams from intercepting Kevin He halfway.
Kevin He currently plays for the Niagara Icehoards of the Ontario Hockey League (OHL), one of the three junior leagues affiliated with the Canadian Hockey League. Of course, entering this league also requires a draft, and Kevin was selected with the 25th pick.
He scored 53 points (31 goals, 22 assists) with the Ice Dogs last season and 87 points (52 goals, 35 assists) in 130 appearances over two seasons.
A large group of Kevin He's relatives came to Las Vegas to cheer him on. Kevin said that many of his relatives were meeting him for the first time.
Kevin's parents are both Chinese immigrants, and his father is a former speed skater. When Kevin was five years old, his family moved to Canada. In order to better expand his son's ice hockey career, he later moved from Quebec to Ontario.
According to the report, Kevin will continue to play for the Niagara Ice Dogs after being selected. The difference is that he is now a reserve player for the Winnipeg Jets.
When introducing Kevin, foreign media specifically emphasized that he was the second Chinese-born player.
The first is Song Andong, who was selected by Long Island, New York in 2015. It was the 172nd pick in the 6th round.
Song Anton, like Kevin, was born in Beijing. But the difference is that Song Anton first received ice hockey training in China, and later went to the United States and Canada to develop in a private hockey school. During his time in China, Kevin only learned to skate and briefly touched ice hockey. The real training comes from Canada.
Song's hockey experience ended in the 1718 season, when he played for the Madison Congressional Corps at the USHL in North America. Statistics show that in the 1617 and 1718 seasons, Song Andong made a whopping 100 appearances for the National Assembly, but only had 1 goal and 2 assists, and the statistics speak for themselves.
Now Song Andong has disappeared from public view for several years, and at the age of 27, he should have entered the society a long time ago and engaged in a normal job of non-sports competition.
Ying Rudi, the son of Yingda, who is two years younger than Song Anton, has opened a film company called Beijing 2 to 1 after retiring in a low-key manner. Judging from the INS news sent by Ying Rudi, it seems that he is engaged in the promotion of China's youth ice hockey career.