Nathan MacKinnon

Nathan MacKinnon (born on September 1, 1995) is a Canadian ice hockey forward who currently plays for the Colorado Avalanche of the National Hockey League (NHL).

Nathan was selected first overall by the Colorado Avalanche in the 2013 NHL Entry Draft. In his draft year, he was named Most Valuable Player of the 2013 Memorial Cup tournament.

Early Playing Career
Nathan grew up playing in the minor ice hockey system of Cole Harbour, Nova Scotia. As an atom aged player, he recorded 200 points in 50 games. When he was twelve and thirteen years old, Nathan played Bantam AAA for the Cole Harbour Red Wings, recording seasons of 110 and 145 points respectively.

After these two seasons, Nathan enrolled at Shattuck-Saint Mary's in Faribault, Minnesota. He chose to leave his hometown and attend the Minnesota boarding school because of the strength of its ice hockey program. In his first season at Shattuck-Saint Mary's playing with the Bantam Tier I program, he scored 101 points in 58 games played to finish second in team scoring.

For the 2010–11 season, Nathan joined the Under-16 Midget program at the school. Despite being the team's second youngest player, he was averaging more than two points a game and was second in team scoring at the midway point of the season. During the season, Nathan was named to the team that represented Nova Scotia in the ice hockey tournament at the 2011 Canada Winter Games.

At the tournament, Nathan scored eight goals and eleven points to finish fourth in tournament scoring as Nova Scotia finished in seventh place. He finished his second season at Shattuck-Saint Mary's with 93 points in forty games played, and was second on the team with 45 goals scored.

Junior Playing Career
Heading into the 2011 Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL) Draft, Nathan was widely regarded as the favourite to be selected first overall and was ranked by QMJHL Central Scouting as the best available player.

Despite this, Nathan spent the day of the draft skating with the Omaha Lancers of the United States Hockey League (USHL) as he was considering playing either college ice hockey in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) or major junior ice hockey in the QMJHL.

On June 4, 2011, Nathan was selected first overall by the Baie-Comeau Drakkar in the 2011 QMJHL Draft. Because he does not speak French, there was speculation that MacKinnon would follow through with his option to play in the USHL until he was eligible for the NCAA, unless his rights were traded to a different QMJHL team.

On July 13, 2011, Nathan's rights were traded to the Halifax Mooseheads for Carl Gélinas, Francis Turbide, the Mooseheads' first round draft picks in 2012 and 2013, and the Quebec Remparts' first round draft pick in 2013, previously acquired by Halifax.

The Mooseheads had been attempting to acquire MacKinnon since Baie-Comeau was awarded the first overall pick in the 2011 QMJHL Draft. He scored his first QMJHL hat-trick on December 3, 2011, scoring five goals in a 6–4 victory over the Quebec Remparts.

In a league of 18 and 19 year olds, Nathan was only 16 years old when he accomplished this. The opposing coach for the Remparts was his current coach with the Colorado Avalanche, NHL Hall of Famer Patrick Roy. With five goals in one game, he tied the Mooseheads record for the most goals in a single game held by Jason King.

On May 26, 2013, Nathan led the Mooseheads to their first Memorial Cup championship, scoring a hat-trick in the final game against the Portland Winterhawks his second hat trick of the tournament. He was also named Most Valuable Player, scoring a tournament-best seven goals and six assists in four games, and earned a spot on the Tournament All-Star Team.

NHL Career
On June 24, 2013, leading up to the 2013 NHL Entry Draft, head coach Patrick Roy of the Colorado Avalanche who owned the first overall selection, stated publicly that his team would select Nathan if the draft were held then, despite widespread speculation that the team was likely to select Seth Jones who grew up in Denver. "It would be tough for us not to take MacKinnon," Roy told ESPN The Magazine. Roy also refused to rule out trading the pick.

On June 26, 2013, Avalanche director of amateur scouting Richard Pracey said during a conference call that the team had MacKinnon in their sights. "As of today, we're leaning on Nathan MacKinnon," Pracey said. On June 30, 2013, the Colorado Avalanche did indeed use their first overall pick in the draft to select Nathan

On July 9, 2013, Nathan was signed to his first NHL contract, a three-year entry level deal with the Avalanche. He made his NHL debut on October 2, 2013 becoming the youngest hockey player to ever dress in a regular season game for the Colorado Avalanche franchise, registering two assists in a 6 - 1 Colorado victory over the visiting Anaheim Ducks.

On October 12, 2013, Nathan scored his first NHL goal against Michal Neuvirth of the Washington Capitals during the second period at the Verizon Center.