Gaede selected by Sharks in third round of NHL draft
San Jose gobbles up Royals winger with the 88th pick, making him the first Woodbury High School graduate to be drafted by a National Hockey League team.
- Max Gaede
Max Gaede made Woodbury High School history last weekend — without even leaving his home.
The three-year member of the Woodbury varsity boys hockey team became the first WHS graduate to be drafted into the National Hockey League when the San Jose Sharks tabbed the Royals forward in the third round of the league’s entry draft on Saturday, June 19.
“It's pretty crazy,” Gaede said. “It's a lot to take in.”
Gaede, who finished his Woodbury career with 43 goals and 58 assists for 101 total points, said he expected to be drafted, but was surprised nonetheless when he got the call.
“I didn’t know I’d go that early,” Gaede said. “We had been talked to by about three or four teams in person and I knew that there were about 12 teams that were looking at me, but I really didn’t know what they all thought of me.”
He found out quickly enough.
The WHS alumnus said that he nearly missed his name being called with the 88th pick during the televised draft coverage as a first-round selection was being interviewed at the same time.
Shortly after Gaede’s name was announced to the assembled throng gathered in Los Angeles’ Staples Center, he was called by family advisor Dan Plante before one more ring of the phone made it all very real.
“I got a call saying, ‘we just selected you in the third round, welcome to the San Jose Sharks,’” Gaede said. “I was celebrating then.”
A call placed to San Jose general manager Doug Wilson to gauge the 2009-10 Western Conference’s regular-season champion’s thoughts on its acquisition was not immediately returned.
While the Sharks now own Gaede’s NHL rights for the foreseeable future, it does not mean that the Royals’ first hockey draftee will be headed straight into San Jose’s system.
“I will attend their developmental camp (in July), because that’s what recruits do,” said Gaede, who has committed collegiately to Minnesota State University-Mankato. “But I am not trying out for a spot.”
Instead, he intends to return to Iowa and the grind of the United States Hockey League schedule when he again takes up the stick for the Sioux City Musketeers this October.
Gaede played in 11 games last season with the Musketeers after departing for Iowa just hours after the Royals fell in the Section 3AA final last March.
He recorded two points for Sioux City, logging an assist in his third game and a goal in his final contest of the season, a 10-3 win versus Lincoln, Neb.
His former coach, Woodbury’s Wes Bolin said he is very happy for Gaede, who is the first player he has coached to be drafted by the NHL.
“It’s pretty exciting and he deserves it,” Bolin said. “For him to go as high as he did is quite special.”
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