The Hockey Buzz Mock Draft rolls on. Rasmus Dahlin went first to Buffalo, Andrei Svechnikov to Carolina, Filip Zadina to Montreal, Noah Dobson to Ottawa, Oliver Wahlstrom to Arizona, Quinn Hughes to Detroit, Vancouver selected Brady Tkachuk and Chicago just picked Adam Boqvist. The New York Rangers are on the clock.
Consensus was that Tkachuk was the right selection, with 67% of the approximately 500 votes as of press time of this blog agreeing with the pick
Overall Rules and Process :
After the pick or trade is made, a poll will be posted to rate the selection or deal. If the majority of people like the pick or trade, that selection stands and it moves on to the next team’s picks. If not, the majority rules and that’s what happens with that team and pick. I have the last right of refusal to keep everything on the up and up and avoid ballot box stuffing. My request to you is that you take this serious and not make a mockery of the mock draft, because that would be an insult to the others who are participating and makes the whole process a sham. But by playing this out, we get to have healthy debate and conversation to remain engaged up and possibly beyond the draft. If teams make deals and they occur before a team’s selection is due, that deal will play a part as to when each person’s selection occurs.Here how this is working: each evening (for now, one pick per day, but we will go to two when we get to second half of the mock draft and possibly even before that, so that we complete on time) the team’s selector emails me their pick and rationale for that selection to jan.levine@gmail.com. If making a trade, the same applies, and all the selectors have been listed below along with their screen name if from this site or their twitter handle if external to help facilitate making trades. I am posting that pick and rationale on the site and create a voting poll. For now, we are using just a yes or no vote for the poll, but if people want me to list other options for the selection at that pick number in cases of a no vote, I am happy to do so, to help make it more robust.
With the 8th overall pick in the 2018 NHL Entry Draft the Chicago Blackhawks select Adam Boqvist, defenseman, Brynas Jr. (SWE-JR.).
Rationale for the selection:
After Dahlin, Boqvist is the best offensive defenseman in the draft. Over the next couple of years, he'll need to work on his play in his own zone but has the potential to take the reigns from Keith as the Blackhawks' number one defenseman.
The Hawks are pretty well set in terms of young, top-six forwards with Saad, Debrincat, and Schmaltz. Chicago is in desperate need of defensemen.
I asked why Boqvist over Bouchard. The response was: "Boqvist has a higher ceiling than Bouchard. He has great hands, offensive creativity, and a powerful shot. He can quarterback the power play right when he enters the NHL. Bouchard may be the safer pick, but Boqvist could very well be the next Karlsson."
Up for the ninth pick in the draft are the Rangers and selecting for New York will be tomburton, who is on the clock (Edmonton Oilers are next up and my hope is to receive this pick during the day and post in the evening)
Lottery teams : Buffalo - Rasmus Dahlin Carolina - Andrei Svechnikov Montréal – Filip Zadina Ottawa - Noah Dobson (nyrangers9479 will be up again later with pick 22) Arizona - Oliver Wahlstrom Detroit - Quinn Hughes (Pete will also pick 30th) Vancouver - Brady Tkachuk Chicago - Adam Boqvist (Panarin27 will also pick 27th) Rangers - Tom Burton (picks 9, 26 and 28) Edmonton - Slimtj100 Islanders (2x) -Chiefs Dallas - tumbleweed Philadelphia- jmatchett383 (picks 14 and 19) Florida - jimbo
Non-lottery teams : Colorado - Ranger71 New Jersey - Todd Cordell (Devils blogger on site) Columbus - Paul Berthelot (Jackets blogger on the site) Los Angeles - Steve Kournianos (@thedraftanalyst) San Jose- Sharksfan68 Toronto - Matt1337 Anaheim - Climbdenali12 Minnesota - Dan Wallace (Wild blogger on site) St. Louis - Isles (Vukota) Washington - Russ Cohen (@sportsology)