Justin Barron will get a chance to line up with Halifax Mooseheads alumnus and fellow Nova Scotian Nathan MacKinnon in Colorado.
The Avalanche selected the 18-year-old defenceman from Halifax 25th overall in the NHL draft on Friday night.
"It was a long night sitting there, but it's all worth it," Barron said to Ron Knabenbauer of ColoradoAvalanche.com. "I couldn't be happier to be a part of the Avalanche organization."
Justin is the Captain of the Halifax Mooseheads this season.
— Colorado Avalanche (@Avalanche) October 7, 2020
Guess who else played for that same club? #NHLDraft #GoAvsGo pic.twitter.com/YoSfUyYT48
The last time a Nova Scotian went in the first round was Herring Cove's Shane Bowers 28th overall to the Ottawa Senators in 2017. He is now in the Avalanche system after a November, 2017 trade so, including MacKinnon going first overall in 2013, the past three Nova Scotians to be picked in the first round are now all members of the same organization.
There are now five Nova Scotians in the Avalanche system - MacKinnon, Barron, Bowers, Ryan Graves (Yarmouth) and Matt Stienburg (Halifax).
"I know Alex Newhook, Bowen Byram, Matthew Stienburg, Shane Bowers, I know all of them pretty well," Barron said to Knabenbauer. "I was able to skate once with MacKinnon when he was home before returning back to Colorado (for training camp and the restart). It's pretty cool to see all of the great players that they have in the organization and a lot of them I happen to know. It's special to now be a part of that."
"It is really special. Sometimes the Maritimes get overlooked with hockey and prospects, but the past few years we've really shown that we have a ton of great players from around here," Barron added. "I think the hockey down here has really come up, and it's only getting better."
Cape Breton Eagles forward Ryan Francis of Beaver Bank was drafted in the fifth round (143rd overall) by the Calgary Flames. Francis broke out with 72 points in 61 games last season.
Barron's Mooseheads teammate Elliot Desnoyers went in the fifth round (135th overall) to the Philadelphia Flyers. The 18-year-old centre spent his first two QMJHL seasons with the Moncton Wildcats, where he compiled 66 points in 122 career games.
He is now the No. 1 centre in Halifax and is an alternate captain.
Former Cape Breton Eagles winger Egor Sokolov was taken in the second round (61st overall) by the Ottawa Senators. The big Russian led the QMJHL in goals last season with 46 in 52 games and was third in points with 92. This was his third year of draft eligibility.
Barron is the captain of the Mooseheads and is in his fourth season with the team. He is a gifted skater who has 81 points in 153 career regular season games, including 19 points in 34 games last season.
"He was a guy that we had ranked higher than where we got him," Colorado general manager Joe Sakic said to Knabenbauer. "He's really going to add to the way we like to play the game. We like to play from the backend with a lot of speed, a lot of puck-moving ability, and he's a real good two-way player. He can defend well and penalty kill as well."
Barron's older brother Morgan recently signed his entry-level contract with the New York Rangers, who drafted him in the sixth round in 2017. He is a forward and was the captain at Cornell University last year.
