We're almost doooone.
1. Edmonton Oilers Select Connor McDavid 2. Buffalo Sabres Select Jack Eichel 3. Arizona Coyotes Select Mitchell Marner 4. Toronto Maple Leafs Select Noah Hanifin 5. Carolina Hurricanes Select Ivan Provorov 6. New Jersey Devils Select Dylan Strome 7. Philadelphia Flyers Select Mathew Barzal 8. Columbus Blue Jackets Select Zachary Werenski 9. San Jose Sharks Select Pavel Zacha 10. Colorado Avalanche Select Jakub Zboril 11. Florida Panthers Select Mikko Rantanen 12. Dallas Stars Select Lawson Crouse 13. The Los Angeles Kings Select Kyle Connor 14. The Boston Bruins Select Timo Meier 15. The Calgary Flames Select Nick Merkley 16. The Edmonton Oilers Select Yevgeni Svechnikov 17. The Winnipeg Jets Select Joel Eriksson Ek 18. The Ottawa Senators Select Travis Konecny 19. The Detroit Red Wings Select Gabriel Carlsson 20. The Minnesota Wild Select Paul Bittner 21. The Buffalo Sabres Select Ilya Samsonov 22. The Washington Capitals Select Jansen Harkins 23. The Vancouver Canucks Select Colin White 24. The Toronto Maple Leafs Select Noah Juulsen
25. The Winnipeg Jets Select Left Winger Jake DeBrusk from the Swift Current Broncos in the WHL
5’11 171lbs, 18 years old
72gp 42g 39a 81p
DeBrusk led the Swift Current Broncos in goals and points, but ultimately was stifled in the playoffs. Those 42 put him tied for 6th in the WHL goal scoring race and helped him be the top goal scoring threat among draft eligible WHL players. Despite the offensive production and ability to score off the rush like few others, the reasons scouts really like him is his two-way game and compete level. He will fight to get to the scoring areas and cause havoc once he gets there. Knowing where to be is what he excels at as well as being a trying opponent to play against. He makes up for a lack of elite skating and great hands with intelligence and hard work. Knowing where to be is often more important than having the best shot or the most skill. That’s where DeBrusk excels. I think he fits right in with the type of team identity the Jets are trying to build. Plus the Jets need as many strong forward prospects as they can get.
NHL Comparable : Justin Williams
Potential : Second Line Scoring Winger
26. The Montreal Canadiens Select Right Winger Brock Boeser from the Waterloo Blackhawks in the USHL
6’0 187lbs, 18 years old
57gp 35g 33a 68p
I don’t really understand the love of making Montreal draft a French Canadian from the Q. It seems every draft rolls around and everybody speculates which FC they will make a grab at. Yet when we look at it historically, it’s not the case. The last time they went to the Q for a first round pick was Beaulieu, who is more French sounding in name than in reality. Even Louis LeBlanc the oft scoffed “obvious French pandering… was coming out of the USHL, the league the current Habs scouting staff seem to prefer. Thus Boeser. The Canadiens need goals in a big way. They’re so hard pressed a lot of people think Scherbak can not only make the team out of camp at 20 years old…but be part of the solution. So hard up for goals that Sekac was glorified as a potential top line player and savior. Boeser is not a savior, but he’s a very good goal scorer. He led his team by 20 goals while also adding assists…largely from rebounds. He’s a high volume shooter that gets results. He led the USHL in goals scored, finished third in points and had an outstanding Ivan Hlinka tournament as the captain of the Americans (6 goals in 5 games). I think one of the biggest issues is that he’s a really raw talent prospect. It wouldn’t surprise me if he went earlier in the 10-15 range if a team is willing to gamble on his extremely quick and sharp development curve. He’s one year removed from looking completely lost and overwhelmed by the competition level of the USHL to dominating it completely. The Habs need goal scorers…at 26; this is likely the best they can expect in those regards.
NHL Comprable : Patrick Sharp
Potential : Top-Six Sniper
27. The Anaheim Ducks Select Defenseman Oliver Kylington from Fà¤rjestad in the Elitserien
6’0 185lbs, 18 years old
18gp 2g 3a 5p
The Ducks have been steadily bringing in more and more puck moving defensemen. In fact, they’ve been doing a pretty good job of bringing in youth at most positions allowing them to jettison a lot of highly thought of prospects and ex-highly picked individuals like Schultz, Gardiner, Holland, Tangradi and Karlsson without batting an eye. With such a trend towards mobile defensemen, I wonder if they continue it? Kylington is the best skating defenseman in this draft. He might be the best pure skater of all the top prospects (I say this because there is always some obscure 7th rounder who is faster than Grabner and Hagelin combined but with little else). To say he skates well is an understatement and a disservice. It’s mainly what had him consistently in the expected top-10 going into the year. He was expected to contend with Hanifin for the top defenseman in the draft. Yet holes appeared in his game and none more apparent than at the U18’s where he was eaten alive. That was the first time I had seen him play since November and…wow. He was dreadful. Caught out of position a lot, the inability to track players, oddly timed rushes with forced plays. Nothing made sense. You can see the talent, he oozes it, but it just wasn’t coming together. What Kylington represents is a classic boom/bust prospect. A player that if he finds his confidence and his game can realize the lofty Karlsson comparisons he had going into the draft, but just as easily fall by the wayside like many other highly talented individuals that can’t seem to get it right. Anaheim is in contention mode and I wouldn’t be surprised if they dealt this pick, however should they pick at 27, I think they will want to continue to add to their young defense even with a gamble.
NHL Comparable : Jake Gardiner
Potential : Top-Four Offensive Defenseman (Boom/Bust)
28. The Tampa Bay Lightning Select Right Winger Denis Guryanov from Lada Togliatti in the KHL
6’2 187lbs, 18 years old
8gp 0g 1a 1p
Guryanov is a natural goal scorer with one of the hardest slap shots in the draft. Add to that his excellent wrist shot and ability to snipe off the rush and you have one of the more dangerous offensive threats in the late first. A strong U18’s has really pushed his draft stock from an oversight in the second round to a player that could potential break the top-20. I would hedge my bets against this, mostly because I’ve seen it before constantly. Kamenev, Buchnevich, Kucherov, Slepyshev and so on were all highly skilled top ranked MHL/KHL prospects expected late first rounders with the “Russian Factor… and fell inevitably. Even Kuznetsov fell to the late first…heck…Tarasenko was an expected top-10 pick at the latest and fell. So Guryanov as an MHL All-Star will probably be lucky to go this high. Speaking of the U18’s, what a performance. A lot of individualistic plays that were worrying, but when you get the results he does, it doesn’t matter. He plays with some physicality and uses his body well in puck protection. However he’s at his most dangerous in a cycle game. He can work hard and find himself open for a shot. He has an explosive extra gear for a larger player like himself and that really helps separate himself from opponents. Tampa has gone for gambles and they seem to pay off, if any team is taking Guryanov, I’d bet on them.
NHL Comparable : Patrick Marleau
Potential : Top-Six Sniper
29. The Philadelphia Flyers Select Defenseman Brandon Carlo from the Tri-City Americans in the WHL
6’5 198lbs, 18 years old
63gp 4g 21a 25p
Now I’m going to state up front that I dislike Carlo. I think he’s highly overrated. That said, this is a mock draft and from the rankings it seems teams like him. Every year there’s a tall “defensive… defenseman that gets talked up as being the next Chara. It rarely works out (including a long slew of busts), but every now and then a few scrape by or exceed reasonable expectations. Carlo joins this list as a player with a lot of projection. He’s tough and physical with room to grow, which means teams salivate at the thought of that height growing into a defenseman of 230lbs. He’s a better straight line skater than you would expect from a defender of his size, but he struggles with players taking him on the rush. The most famous example of this was Barbashev terrorizing him at the WJC’s making him look like a turnstile. The hope as ever is that he grows into a big, menacing shutdown defenseman. With Sam Morin showing that his playoff performance in the offensive zone that got him drafted earlier than expected was less of a fluke and more of a progression as a prospect, the Flyers might be interested in continuing to add sizeable defensive prospects to their stable.
NHL Comparable : Braydon Coburn (Seems I have to put at least one of these every year)
Potential : 5-6 Defensive Defenseman
30. The Arizona Coyotes Select Centre Anthony Beauvillier from the Shawinigan Cataractes in the QMJHL
5’10 170lbs, 18 years old
67gp 42g 52a 94p
Beauvillier is one of my favourites in the draft and it’s a shame he will likely drop because of his size. For some reason nobody expects it to happen to Konecny, but Beauvillier…sure why not? Beauvillier is an extremely versatile forward that plays part top-6 forward, part pest, part face-off expert and part defensive specialist. He’s a coach’s dream and does a little bit of it all. He’s the best face-off man in the QMJHL and that isn’t an exaggeration. Despite being 17 years old for the whole season (having turned 18 only a few weeks ago) he was the best face-off man in the Q winning the most face-offs in the league at a 58.7% clip. Which I quite enjoy since size is often something held against centremen. He lead the league in shots, came 9th in goal scoring, 5th in GWG’s and 8th overall in scoring. All while leading his team significantly in every category. He’s a threat shorthanded (4 SHG), he’s a threat at on the PP (16PPG) and at 5vs5. He does it all. Problems are he’s small and he plays like a big player with a big mouth. One worries like many players of the same ilk, how that will translate to the NHL. The Coyotes should continue building their forward prospect pool even if it might be worrying that the majority of their top prospects (the way this mock has it) are under 6’0.
NHL Comparable : Joe Pavelski
Potential : Top-Six All Purpose Centre
Thanks for reading. Sorry Flyers fans.