Cody Glass Becomes 1st Pick by Vegas Golden Knights in 2017 NHL Draft

The Vegas Golden Knights have their first rookie draft pick. 

Vegas selected center Cody Glass of the Portland Winterhawks during Thursday's draft in Chicago with the No. 6 overall pick.

This comes after the NHL's newest team made its expansion draft selections during Wednesday's awards show. Goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury, who helped the Pittsburgh Penguins win the Stanley Cup in 2016-17, headlined the expansion draft selections.

The Golden Knights had a viewing party at T-Mobile Arena and shared the reaction when NHL commissioner Gary Bettman announced it was their turn to pick:

"

Our turn! pic.twitter.com/Mr7yWG2WTc

— Vegas Golden Knights (@GoldenKnights) June 23, 2017"

The team was also appreciative of Chicago's United Center for the music choice leading up to the glass selection:

Ted Wyman of the Winnipeg Sun noted Glass was seen as more of a second- or third-round pick just one year ago until he exploded onto the scene with 92 points (32 goals) in his most recent season.

"I don't think I was a real high prospect to start the year," Glass said, per Wyman. "I just wanted to play the way I knew I could and prove to people that I am a top player and I think that's what I did all year."

The NHL shared some of his head-turning highlights and scoring ability:

Glass is just 18 years old and, like his expansion team, will likely need some time to blossom into a force at the NHL level. However, the potential is there for the center to become a go-to scorer for Vegas down the line when it is ready to compete for a postseason spot in the Western Conference's Pacific Division.