As he walked out of the KeyBank Center after the first round of the NHL Draft, Casey Mutryn realized he had to put the same custom suit on again the next day.
He was pissed.
“I still am, to be honest with you,” Mutryn said almost three weeks later.
Mutryn, a Norwell, Mass., native, had long wanted to be a first-round pick in the NHL Draft. He had been a top ‘08 in New England before proving his worth as a top ‘08 in the United States at the U.S. National Team Development Program over the last two seasons.
“It’s something he wrote down as a goal of his for the last bunch of years,” Scott, his father, said.
In the lead-up to the draft, it looked like Mutryn might fulfill that goal. The Boston College commit’s combination of 46 points in 62 games with the U18 NTDP team this year, his 6-foot-3 frame, and his role as captain led people to surmise he might be a late first-rounder. His stock rose. He interviewed with 30 of 32 NHL teams.
But then came the first round. And through all the trades and “oh this team might take me here,” and “oh this team might take me there,” Mutryn walked out of Night 1 without having been picked.
A large contingent of family made the trip to Buffalo to be there for the big moment. After the first night ended, they tried to offer some encouragement.
“They’re obviously really supportive and wanted to help me out,” Mutryn said. “But to be honest, I didn’t want to listen to any of that.
“It’s been a dream and a goal of mine to be a first-round pick. No one dreams of being a second-round pick.”
The first round took four hours and 16 minutes, which, for someone waiting to be drafted, is a grind. The one good thing for Mutryn was that he knew he wouldn’t have to wait that long on Day 2, when the NHL has Rounds 2-7.
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That doesn’t mean that the first few picks of Round 2 weren’t stressful.
“It’s an emotional rollercoaster,” Mutryn said. “When they come up to announce the pick, your heart starts racing, and you get the butterflies in your stomach, and then when it’s not you, you take a deep breath, regroup, and wait for it to happen again.”
It felt like a while in the moment. But outside of draft reality, Mutryn didn’t wait long: the Seattle Kraken took him with the 38th pick — just six picks into the second round.
As for the moment he was drafted?
“I remember it,” Mutryn said. “It’s more so you can’t really feel your legs when you’re walking up to the stage and just getting a lot of butterflies and excitement and things like that.”
Then came the typical NHL Draft media requirement. Mutryn went through the gauntlet of photos, social media content and press conferences. At some point, a member of the Seattle staff came and got the Mutryn family to bring them backstage.
That’s when they learned the news: Mutryn had a 5 p.m. flight to Seattle for Development Camp. He had to be at the airport for 3:30. Fortunately for the Mutryns, a family member had gotten ahead of things and gone to Duff’s to get a big table to celebrate for a few hours.
“It was probably like 20-25 of us at Duff’s having wings and hanging out for an hour and a half before he had to go right back to the airport and leave,” Scott said.
Interestingly enough, Mutryn was in the market for a confidence boost. He got it when he arrived at Kraken Development Camp.
“The way they spoke very highly of me and were so pumped to get me. They were thrilled,” Mutryn said. “That’s great to hear, and them wanting the best for me and knowing that I’m going to get there someday.
“Part of it now is being upset that I didn’t get picked in the first round, but realizing how great of a situation it is in Seattle.”
Mutryn is coming from the NTDP, which is notoriously difficult, but prepares players for professional hockey.
“It’s a really fun place to be, but it’s also a really hard place,” Mutryn said. “I think that prepares you for not only the next level in hockey and whenever you deal with adversity going through the rest of your hockey journey, but just life in general.”
At Mutryn’s NTDP Evaluation Camp in 2024, Nathan Gerbe spoke to the players and preached the importance of proving yourself at every level. One point he hit on was the NHL Draft. Sure, it’s nice to be a high pick and get your jersey and a photo taken. But when the dust settles, you’re on the same playing field as the seventh-round picks and undrafted guys.
“I remember how much that resonated with Casey,” Scott said.
Mutryn will need to carry that mentality with him to Boston College, where he begins as a freshman this fall. And he will do so with older brother Teddy, who was drafted in the third round by the San Jose Sharks last June.
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With two kids drafted in back-to-back years, I wondered if Scott was proud of them for it.
“People ask me this a lot, and my answer has not wavered for this,” he said. “I’m proud of all of my kids, but with [Teddy and Casey], I’m proud that they’re good people, that you’re raising good humans.”
