This is my round 1 mock draft. I will do this one as if there were no trades going to occur. It is hard to predict anything so for now I will just do my first round with no trades. In my next blog I will revisit my mock draft and add some possible trade scenerios.
1. Edmonton- Taylor Hall, LW. Hall and Seguin are neck and neck, but with Hall’s performance at the world juniors alongside new teammate Jordan Eberle, and his Memorial Cup performance, the Oilers can not pass him up.
2. Bostan Via Toronto- Tyler Seguin, C. Hall and Segiun are 1,2 by far with Hall gone Seguin is a no brainer.
3. Florida- Cam Fowler, D. With no easy pick here, they decide to add more offence to there D line.
4. Columbus- Brandon Gormley, D. Many look to Gudbranson, but Gormley prvides offence and size and stability to the back end.
5. Long Island- Erik Gudbranson, D. Gudranson along with Hamonic makes the Islanders D scary for years to come.
6. Tampa Bay- Nino Niederreiter, LW. EL NINO, fits in very nicely as Stamkos future LWer.
7. Carolina- Brett Connolly, LW. Canes were looking at Dmen but couldn’t pass up a possible Rick Nash to work with Eric Staal.
8. Atlanta- Ryan Johansen, C. Atlanta gets their future #1 Center to go alongside Evander Kane.
9. Minnesota- Mikael Granlund, C. Fletcher goes in a different direction as the Wild have gone in the past. They take the smart skilled center who could be the next Saku Koivu, and he may even get mentored by him… watch and see Mikko and Saku unite.
10. New York- Vladimer Taresenko. may be the BPA, and with a few Russian prospects already, Sather believes he can get Taresnko over to New York.
11. Dallas- Jack Campbell, G. they hum and haw Campbell or Merrill, finally going with far and away the best goalie prospect in years.
12. Anaheim- Derek Forbort, D. A hulking Dman who can hit play D and score, looks like they found Prongers replacement.
13. Phoenix via Calgary- Jeff Skinner, C. A dynamic sniper, with Mike Richards heart + Maloney loves Kitchener Rangers prospects.
14. St. Loius- Alex Burmistrov, C. still scrambling after Dallas took Campbell, Davidson goes BPA and takes Burmistrov.
15. Boston- Jonathan Merrill, D. Boston had Merrill rated ahead of Forbort and Gudbranson and feel they have got a steal, and the Dman they covit.
16. Ottawa- Emerson Etem, C-LW. Bryan steals Terry’s thunder and takes the L.A.s homegrown talent, as he may be the best pure scorer available. and it is just what the Sens need.
17. Colorado- Dylan McIlrath, D. Avs were also hoping Campbell would drop they instead take the big D who has a nasty edge and decent 2way skills. He will replace Foote just fine in a year or 2.
18. Nashville- Nick Bjugstad, C. Mr. Minnesota is no slouch he is big and he can score. Nashville feels they got a winner.
19. Los Angeles- Kirill Kabanov, LW. Possibly more skilled than Taresenko and should have been a top 3 pick, his attitude and the Russian factor drop him here. The Kings have a wealth of top end prospects, and with a few Russian prospects nearing there NHL debuts. Lombardi takes on the huge risk, and hopefully the steal of the draft.
20. Pittsburgh- Quinton Howden, LW. Shero ways the options between Howden and Watson. Crosby needs someone big and who can score… Howden fits the bill.
21. Detroit- Mark Pysyk, D. Holland didn’t expect Pysyk to be around at 21. Were set to take Rensfeldt but can’t pass up on Pysyk.
22. Phoenix- Austin Watson, RW. With Skinner in place they find him a nice compliment on RW.
23. Buffalo- Riley Sheahen, C. Sheahen has had a up and down season, but he and Kassian bring a new tower of pwer dimension to their system.
24. Atlanta via New Jersey- Jason Zucker, LW. A bit of a gamble, Zuckers stock has sky rocketed since his performance at the world juniors, and brings a Colby Armstrong edge to the Thrashers.
25. Vancouver- Alex Petrovic, D. Vancouver needs to re-stock the back-end and Petrovic gives them a bit of everything.
26. Washingtom- Jarred Tinordi, D. Caps think about adding to the Russian pool, but go with a sturdy tough stay at home Dman who is a very safe pick. He also is from Washington.
27. Montreral- Charlie Coyle, RW. originally looking at Brock Nelson, Timmins convinces Gauthier that Coyle will compliment Leblanc down the road.
28. San Jose- Tyler Toffoli, RW-C. we have all heard it before Wilson loves the 67’s but this time it makes sense. Toffoli is a pure goal scorer, and has proven chemistry with San Jose’s future leader Logan Couture.
29. Anaheim via Philidelphia- Jaden Schwartz, C. Anaheim takes a smart goal scorer, and future second line center behind Getzlaf.
30. the Stanley Cup Champs, Chicago- Calvin Pickard, G. the Hawks have a good core of prospects and tons of youngsters on thier roster already. they Severly lack goaltending depth. They pick up the clear favorite after Campbell.
I know the Stanley Cup is not over by any means and Philly could come back, but I doubt it. Even if they do I don’t think these picks change, they both have different needs. So it really doesn’t matter where they pick at 29 0r 30.
As for the Kings pick. Kabanov is a superstar, with lots of issues and if they can help Kabanov resolve them and he does come over and play, watch out!!!
I will be writing again very soon, with my trades version and the Kings are involved in a doozy so stay tuned.
Potential players who I thought might go first round but fell out of favour for whatever reason are.
Tyler Pitlick, C
Ludvig Rensfeldt, LW
Evgeny Kuzenetsov, C
Brock Nelson, C
John McFarland, C
Jordan Weal,C
and my favorite player and biggest sleeper of the draft. Ryan Spooner, C.
Luton
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