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Mockable Mock Draft : Two A Day Keeps The Gull At Bay (Picks 16-18) |
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1. The Buffalo Sabres - Rasmus Dahlin
2. The Carolina Hurricanes - Andrei Svechnikov
3. The Montreal Canadiens - Noah Dobson
4. The Ottawa Senators - Filip Zadina
5. The Arizona Coyotes - Quinn Hughes
6. The Detroit Red Wings - Jesperi Kotkaniemi
7. The Vancouver Canucks - Evan Bouchard
8. The Chicago Blackhawks - Brady Tkachuk
9. The New York Rangers - Oliver Wahlstrom
10. The Edmonton Oilers - Adam Boqvist
11. The New York Islanders - Ty Smith
12. The New York Islanders - Vitali Kravtsov
13. The Dallas Stars - Martin Kaut
14. The Philadelphia Flyers - Barrett Hayton
15. The Florida Panthers - Mattias Samuelsson
16. The Colorado Avalanche
Rasmus Sandin, Left Defenseman, 5’11 190lbs, 18 Years Old, Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds in the OHL
51gp 12g 33a 45p
Like Hayton (14th on this list), Sandin is a member of the powerhouse Greyhounds. Being an important player on a top team is always a plus. Sandin is another player rising in the ranks due to his quietly excellent season. A year ago when playing in the SuperElit in Sweden he was in his own weird grouping behind Dahlin and Boqvist while being ahead of other potential first rounders Adam Ginning, Filip Johansson and Nils Lundkvist. Making the move to North America was the correct one as his skills were well on display in his near PPG season.
What seems like a broken record describing defenders in this draft, he is another smallish mobile defenseman with strong skating and good puck possession abilities. He’s a very strong 5vs5 producer and has made his presence known in the OHL by not being the number one choice on the Power Play. He had to produce without some of the more juicy minutes with a loaded top-6. He’s a very smart passer and is always looking for an open man. While he has scored quite a few goals, he’s not a shooter. Hopefully somebody can convince him to throw more pucks at the net. He lacks some of the innate elite abilities that some of the defenders I have going before him have. However he is a solid and smart defender that can be physically dominated when he makes mistakes, but thrives in possession of the puck.
The best part about Sandin’s situation in my opinion is that he was able to get acclimatized for a full season in North America and due to being loaned to the OHL as opposed to being signed, he technically can join his new clubs AHL affiliate next season. Similar to Julius Honka. That extra incentive in his development curve should help his draft stock as teams will be able to put him on a quicker path to the NHL than his fellow CHL draftees.
Colorado have two good defense prospects in the system with Makar and Timmins (Both RHD), but they still need more work to add to their young forward core. Sandin would go nicely with the movement the Avs are making towards a more mobile team.
Potential : Top-4 Offensive “Possession” Defenseman
NHL Comparable : Sami Vatanen
17. The New Jersey Devils
Jonatan Berggren, Right Winger, 5’11 183lbs, 17 Years Old, Skellefteå AIK J20 in the SuperElit
38gp 18g 39a 57p
The Devils proved that speed kills and there are few skaters in this draft faster than Berggren. His dominant U18 performance has really put him on the map. He was simply fantastic including a heroic game against the Czech Republic to win Bronze. He had 5 goals and 10 points tied for third in the tournament. The Devils are shifting their game and a player like Berggren would be a perfect fit for what they are trying to build.
In my opinion, no other player has seen his stock shoot up as much as Berggren. Not only due to this tournament, but his overall year. He torched the SuperElit for 57 points in 38 games. Only he and Lias Andersson (7th, 2017) led that league in scoring as an undrafted player. In the U18 he was Sweden’s best skater all tournament. Berggren’s that classical Swedish speedster. So dangerous off the rush and so smart with and without the puck. He causes turnovers left and right. He has top tier skating with some hands to boot (looking at you Hagelin and Grabner). I really like this guy and I think he has some serious potential to be the steal of the draft.
While it’s true that the Devils need defense prospects in a hard way, I feel like they can’t pass up a player who looks like a perfect fit for the identity they are building in the organization. I also don’t think Zacha has really shown enough offensive upside at this point for the Devils to be complacent in forward depth drafting. I’m also not exactly sold on any of McLeod, Quenneville or Bastian’s offensive upside.
Potential : Top-6 Scoring Winger
NHL Comparable : Nikolaj Ehlers
18. The Columbus Blue Jackets
Joseph Veleno, Centre, 6'1 194lbs, 18 Years Old, Drummondville Voltigeurs in the QMJHL
64gp 22g 57a 79p
With Wennberg taking a huge step back and hopes resting squarely on Dubois’ shoulders, the Jackets need to continue to funnel in new lifeblood into their centre position. With Kotkaniemi and Hayton already taken in this series of events, I feel the Jackets go back to the Q well and draft the player most agree is the third bets centre in the draft.
A lot of people had Veleno pegged as a top-10 pick going into the season. This primarily on becoming the first ever player granted exceptional status in the QMJHL. However his tale is more similar to Sean Day than the McDavid’s, Tavares’ or Ekblad’s of the world. That is to say it was based on physical maturity over otherworldly skill. Not to say he isn’t skilled, because he is. Veleno is the prototypical hard working two-way centre that can make plays at high speeds. After a dubious start to the season on the sinking Sea Dogs, he was traded to the Voltigeurs where he took off in scoring going from a PPG to a 1.46PPG. Funny enough despite only playing 31 games in Saint John, he still managed to finish 5th in scoring. Kind of tells you how things were going there. He was also effective in the playoffs being their best forward in the 10 games.
The issue facing Veleno is that he is a jack of all trades and master of none. He has a lot of good tools, but no elite tool that could separate him from some of the other forwards in this draft. I liked what I saw in his brief appearance at the U18’s, but he never really stuck out and made me go “wow.”
His work ethic and attention to detail to the game is exactly the type of game the Jackets have been building. Even though they have Panarin and some other talented guys, you can’t accuse them of not being a workmanlike team. I think this would be a good fit and Veleno being a more mature young player could find himself on the Jackets as earlier as a year from now.
Potential : Second Line Two-Way Centre
NHL Comparable : Paul Stastny
Thanks for reading. If you did not see the write ups for the previous picked players, please feel free to browse the archive and leave nasty messages.
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