Simon Wang makes history as highest-drafted Chinese player in NHL

Simon Wang is still only 17 years old.

The journey that brought him to Peacock Theater on Saturday morning had already been long and winding.

Then he made history.

The San Jose Sharks chose the defenceman from the Ontario Hockey League's Oshawa Generals with the first pick of the NHL draft's second round, making the six-foot-six, 222-pound Wang the highest-selected Chinese player in the league at No. 33 overall.

"Unreal moment for my family, for hockey (in) China," Wang said as he sported his new team's teal threads. "Dream-come-true moment. Trying to soak it in."

The teenager started playing hockey in Beijing at age four, but his family decided he needed more competition to develop after speaking with a friend already in Canada.

Wang moved to the Toronto area in 2019, and after returning home during the COVID-19 pandemic, returned to Ontario and enrolled in a private school. Wang's mother, Willa, then bought a junior-A team in Brantford, Ont., and relocated it to Nobleton — roughly 125 kilometres away — where her son started to flourish.

The two other Chinese-born players drafted to the NHL are 2024 Winnipeg Jets fourth-round pick Kevin He and 2015 New York Islanders sixth-rounder Andong Song.

"I'm just getting started," said Wang, who's committed to eventually attending Boston University in the NCAA. "I never really knew this game, how it's supposed to be played until 14. I'm always the underdog. Always have distance to catch up. I still have hunger in me, still have to drive that I've got to get better every single day to catch up.

"That's why I'm probably one of the most unique guys in the draft class."

Wang started this season in junior-A before signing on in the OHL with the Generals, where he put up two assists in