Winnipeg Jets pick highest Chinese-born player ever selected in NHL draft

The Winnipeg Jets had a hand in making hockey history this weekend by welcoming the highest player born in China ever to be drafted to the NHL.

Eighteen-year-old Kevin He was the overall 109th pick in the fourth round of the 2024 NHL draft in Las Vegas on Saturday.

The Beijing-born player from Ontario becomes the second-ever player born in China to be drafted to the league. That's following Andong Song, who was drafted by the New York Islanders on the 172nd overall pick of the 2015 draft.

"Super excited to be a Jet. Super honoured," He said in a video posted on Jets' social media channels. "Can't wait to see you guys at camp."

The forward has played his last two seasons for the Niagara IceDogs in the Ontario Hockey League. He finished last season with 53 points in 64 games.

The Jets traded their fourth- and seventh-round picks to the Buffalo Sabres to move up in the fourth round and draft He.

Allan Chan, founder of the all-Asian hockey team Winnipeg Emperors, says many people have told him how excited they are by the news of He's selection.

"The NHL has been, and hockey in general, has been pushing the message of hockey is for everyone and for diversity and inclusion," said Chan, a Chinese Canadian whose son is, like himself, a hockey player.

The draft pick "just shows how well the game is doing it and attracting new players from all backgrounds to participate in the game," he added.

"It'll be great for my son Brayden this year, because now he'll get to cheer on a new player that … looks like him and speaks Chinese and is from the same background as his family."

'Good kid'

Former Western Hockey League and University of Manitoba Bisons player Larry Woo said he was also following the NHL draft closely because his son, Jonas, is in the same age range as He.

Jonas plays in the WHL and would be eligible for next year's draft. His older brother, Jett, was selected 37th by the Vancouver Canucks in the 2018 draft, and currently plays for their American Hockey League affiliate.

"As a Chinese father, even growing up playing, I never really saw myself as a Chinese person playing hockey. I was just a person playing hockey," Woo said.

"But I do understand that … for kids to see what's possible out there, sometimes it is really encouraging and it's pretty cool … to see somebody that's like them and having success."

Woo said He's selection is great thing for the 18-year-old, his family and the game of hockey. He added that, whatever his background, He wouldn't have gotten to where he is if he didn't have a great work ethic and wasn't a "good kid."

"He's played on some tough teams in the Ontario Hockey League, which makes me think that, again, his character, the way he works, the way he competes is probably off the charts," Woo said. "The more I read about Kevin … the more I just think that he's got so many good traits."

The Winnipeg Jets didn't have a first-round pick this year. In the second, they drafted Alfons Freij in the 37th overall pick.

The Swedish defenceman racked up 14 goals and 33 points in 40 games in the last season of that country's top junior league. He also helped the national team take the bronze in the last  IIHF U18 World Championship, in which he recorded six points in seven games.

Centres Markus Loponen, from Finland, and Kieron Walton from Toronto were picked 155th and 187th in the fifth and sixth rounds, respectively.