VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) – The NHL draft turned into a showcase for hockey in Minnesota.

Bloomington native Erik Johnson became just the fifth American chosen first overall when the St. Louis Blues selected him Saturday.

Fellow Minnesota natives Kyle Okposo and Peter Mueller followed Johnson in the top 10 with Okposo going to the Islanders and Mueller to the Coyotes.

And the Minnesota Wild also made big new with a draft day trade, acquiring star forward Pavol Demitra from the Los Angeles Kings in exchange for the 17th pick and top prospect Patrick O Sullivan.

“It’s a great day for USA hockey, as well as Minnesota,” said Johnson, who played with both Okposo and Mueller in summer leagues growing up. “A lot of my buddies have just been selected and I just can’t wait to congratulate them, it’s just awesome.”

Ten Americans were selected in the first round, the most ever, topping the previous high by two set in the last draft.

The Pittsburgh Penguins used the second pick to select Jordan Staal, the 17-year-old brother of Carolina Hurricanes star forward Eric Staal.

Chicago selected center Jonathan Toews third. The 6-foot-1, 195-pound Canadian center scored 21 goals and added 17 assists in 41 games at the University of North Dakota last season.

The Washington Capitals had their rookie of the year Alexander Ovechkin take the stage to announce the fourth pick, and used it to select Swedish center Nicklas Backstrom.

Columbus selected Quebec-born center Derick Brassard sixth. Brassard scored 44 goals and 116 points in Major Junior Hockey League last season.

New head coach Ted Nolan announced the New York Islanders’ selection of Okposo – the first pick that registered off the ranking charts. Okposo had 58 points in just 50 games and was named rookie of the year in the United States Hockey League.

All three were gone just before Minnesota picked so the Wild picked big two-way Canadian forward James Sheppard ninth.

But Minnesota still managed to make a splash a short while later by acquiring Demitra, the Kings third-leading scorer with 25 goals and 62 points in just 58 games last year. Demitra has 241 goals and 581 points in 611 NHL games with St. Louis and Los Angeles.

O’Sullivan was the AHL rookie of the year in Houston with 47 goals and 93 points in 78 games last season.

Los Angeles then used the 17th pick to take Trevor Lewis, a Utah-born center out of the USHL.

Florida rounded out the top-10 by picking talented right wing Michael Frolik, who has already played two professional seasons in his native Czech Republic.

Phoenix acquired the 29th and 152nd pick from Detroit in exchange for the 41st and 47th selections, then used the 29th pick to select American defenseman Chris Summers.

Summers, a product of the US National Team Development Program, became the 10th American selected in the first round.

“USA Hockey has done a tremendous job with development programs and developing players in this country,” said Larry Pleau, general manager for both the St. Louis Blues and the US Team at the 2006 Winter Olympics.

“It seems like they’re starting to put more and more out here and it’s a lot of credit to that program.”

The only other big trade involving draft picks came before the second selection was announced, as Calgary acquired forward Alex Tanguay from Colorado in exchange for defenseman Jordan Leopold, a second-round pick – 59th overall – and a conditional second-round pick in next year’s draft.

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