Geary selected by Sabers on day 2 of NHL draft

Las Vegas, Nevada. — Rising second-year student Patrick Geary (Buffalo, NY) was the second current Michigan State hockey player drafted in 2024, selected by the Buffalo Sabres in the Upper Deck NHL Entry Draft, Rounds 2-7 completed Saturday in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Geary was selected in the sixth round (172nd overall) by his hometown team. A product of the Buffalo Junior Sabres program, Geary is a rapidly improving force on the Spartans’ young blue line, which has featured four freshmen in the lineup every night in 2023-24. Geary has skated in 32 of 38 games and each of the last 30. He has five goals and eight assists on the season (+1), and scored one of MSU’s biggest goals of the season – the overtime winner to seal the Big Ten Tournament championship against Michigan.

Two future Spartans were selected in the seventh round – Michigan products and USNTDP alumni Lucas VanVliet (Livonia, Michigan) and Austin Baker (White Lake, Michigan) was selected six times in the seventh round. VanVliet was selected 197th overall by the Vegas Golden Knights, and Baker was selected by the Detroit Red Wings with the 203rd pick.

MSU 2024 DRAFT NOTES

• MSU had four selections in the 2024 draft. Artyom Levshunov became the No. 2 overall pick against Chicago in Friday night’s first round.
• Levchunov is tied for the second-highest MSU selection in program history, with Craig Simpson (1985, Pittsburgh). Joe Murphy drafted by the Detroit Red Wings in 1986, he became the first college player to be selected first overall.
• The selection of Levchunov by Chicago was their first pick of a Michigan State player since the Blackhawks took Duncan Keith (2nd round, 54th overall) in 2002. Keith went on to win three Stanley Cup titles with Chicago (2010, 2013 and 2015). Chicago has selected seven Spartans in its draft history.
• Originally from Belarus, Levchunov became the highest NHL draft pick of Belarusian origin in hockey history.
• MSU had its most selections (4) since 2002, when Jim Slater (ATL), Lee Falardeau (NYR), Duncan Keith (CHI), Brock Radunske (EDM) and Colton Fretter (ATL) was the fourth-largest draft class for MSU. The Spartans had eight picks in 1990, seven selections in 1985 and six in 1994, 1989 and 1991. The years MSU had five picks were 2002, 1984 and 1982.
• Geary He joins classmate Maxim Štrbák (Košice, Slovakia) in the Sabres’ defensive pipeline. Štrbák was selected 45th overall in the 2023 draft. Buffalo has selected eight Spartans all-time, fourth-most of any team.
• Austin Baker was also selected by his hometown team. A native of White Lake, Michigan, he is one of eight selections by the Detroit Red Wings in 2024. Baker joins the 2021 selection Red wild and choice 2023 Trey Augustin in the Wings pipeline.
• Lucas Van Vliet is the first-ever future Spartan selected by the 2023 Stanley Cup champion Vegas Golden Knights.