The Hockey Buzz Mock Draft is underway, after Rasmus Dahlin went first to Buffalo and Andrei Svechnikov to Carolina, Montreal’s pick is below. Ottawa is now on the clock. Consensus was that Svechnikov was the right selection, with 94% of the 793 votes as of press time of this blog saying they agreed 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 3rd Overall Pick in the 2018 NHL Entry Draft, the Montreal Canadiens, represented by Andrew Sarrazin, select Filip Zadina.
Rationale for the selection: There has been some debate in recent days about who the Montreal Canadiens will take and I think the obvious selection is Zadina. Yes, Montreal is in need of a Centre and you can make a strong case for the Habs to take Kotkaniemi for obvious reasons. However, the drop of in talent after Zadina is notable. To take such a risk with such a valuable pick would put Marc Bergevin in even hotter water than he may be in now.
You know what else Montreal needs? Scoring. The Montreal Canadiens do not score, and Filip Zadina does. He has an all-star shot, and can be implemented into the Canadiens top 6.
Also with the rumours of Pacioretty being traded, a player who is most consistent in scoring goals for the Montreal Canadiens, you need to get goals from somewhere else.
Zadina will be selected at #3
I asked Andrew why he took Zadina over Brady Tkachuk, His response was: “Tkachuk is going to be NHL player and I like him a lot, it just doesn’t really make sense to go for him in #3 over Zadina. Zadina has proven he can put the puck in the net consistently, which is what Montreal needs, while Tkachuk very well could be an elite goal scorer, but I'd still put my money on Zadina.…
Up for the fourth pick in the draft are the Ottawa Senators and selecting for the Sens will be nyrangers9479, who is on the clock
Lottery teams : Buffalo - Rasmus Dahlin Carolina - Andrei Svechnikov Montréal – Filip Zadina Ottawa - nyrangers9479 (picks 4 and 22) Arizona -pet.m.d Detroit- Pete V (picks 6 and either 30 or 31) Vancouver - Leftcoaster Chicago - Panarin27 (picks 8 and 27) 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)