The third mock Hockey Buzz mock draft driven by the readers and a few special guests kicked off Monday. The first five were Alexis Lafreniere, Quinton Byfield, Tim Sturzle, Marco Rossi and Cole Perfetti. Kicking off the next five was Anton Lundell, which only garnered 35% of the almost 200 votes, followed by Alexander Holtz. The selection by Buffalo, with KilkennyDan picking, is below with Minnesota, represented by dudestar, on the clock and Winnipeg, represented by Ross77, on deck. As a reminder, we will have a break after the Jets pick is posted with the next selection posted Monday am. Below is the voting poll, please weigh in with your view.
As a reminder, for each pick, included should be: a) Selection and reasoning/scouting report, and, b) Alternatives considered (both players and trades). Please provide me via email your pick with the aforementioned information following the posting of the prior pick on the site. If I become aware of a pick or a few picks in a row, I will email you to help facilitate moving the mock draft along. I will post the blog with the pick and the voting poll within each blog.
Overall Rules and Process
As mentioned previously, there is a little kicker. 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 seriously 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 will work: the team’s selector will email me at [email protected] their pick, rationale and any alternatives for that selection. I will post that pick and rationale on the site and create a voting poll. That poll will likely include alternatives that were considered with each voter allowed to select one option.
With the 8th Overall Pick in the 2020 NHL Entry Draft, the Buffalo Sabres, represented by KilkennyDan, select Lucas Raymond, RW, Frolunda (SHL)
Rationale for the selection with scouting report along with alternatives considered (both players and trades):
Tremendous skating is what propels him to the top 5 on Buffalo’s board. He has the speed, puck handling skills, and hockey sense to be a top-six winger after a couple years of seasoning. He is a natural RW, but has the flexibility to be able to shift to LW.
Also considered: (wistfully) Tim Stutzle and Alexander Holtz and (more realistically) Marco Rossi.
The two top defensemen worthy of top-ten consideration: Jaime Drysdale, RHD, and Jake Sanderson are not higher on Buffalo’s boards due to organizational needs. The pipeline is ready to start producing blueliners that compliment the Sabres current D core, and that play the modern style of D. Having one or both available at #8 would facilitate a trade down. But, in the end either would be good selections.
Likewise, Yaroslava Askarov, G, Russia is reportedly rocketing up the boards. He may be the target of trade offers, but we believe he belongs in the 10 - 15 range.
I would hope that Kevyn (Kevin with a Y) Adams puts up a lot of smoke about selecting one of this trio. We’ll be content to stay at 8 as long as Rossi or Raymond remain available.
Otherwise, we’ll look to drop down with an eye for Connor Zary, C, WHL and/or Lukas Reichel, W, Germany. Zary is my favorite player in the draft (not to be confused with the best prospect).
He projects as a 3C on a SC contending team with a 2C ceiling. He has size, he is smart, he plays with grit. Oh, did I mention that he’s smart? Projecting what boys will become as men is very challenging; give me smarts every time I need a tie breaker. He will probably be taken in the 10-20 range.
Reichel has been called the “best prospect in Germany”*, and considering Stutzle’s lofty status, that’s a real mouthful. (* I will not reveal my source, but it’s from someone who was once a top-ten pick and has years of familiarity with the DEL). I think he’ll go 14-24, but he’s the prospect MOST likely to be a surprise “reach”.
An ideal trade would be BUF 8 -> NJ for 18 & 20. This is unfair to NJ based on traditional draft value charts, but actually favors the Devils by more recent iterations. One of the aforementioned trio could have the Devils coveting 7 & 8 rather than the three firsts.
Winnipeg at 10 could entice a trade if they were to overpay. The same can be said about Carolina.
2020 NHL DRAFT FIRST-ROUND ORDER AND GMs
1. New York Rangers - Jan Levine - Alexis Lafreniere, LW, Rimouski, OMJHL
2. Los Angeles Kings - Kooleus, Quinton Byfield, C, Sudbury, OHL
3. Ottawa Senators (via San Jose Sharks) - spatso, Tim Stutzle, C, Mannheim, DEL
4. Detroit Red Wings - feds91stammer, Marco Rossi, C, Ottawa, OHL
5. Ottawa Senators - spatso, Cole Perfetti, LW, Saginaw, OHL
6. Anaheim Ducks - optimus-reim, Luke Herrington, Anton Lundell, C, HIFK, LIIGA
7. New Jersey Devils - redmonsters, Kevin Barrett, Alexander Holtz, RW, Djurgarden, SHL
8. Buffalo Sabres - KilkennyDan, Dan Sovocol, Lucas Raymond, RW, Frolunda, SHL
9. Minnesota Wild - dudestar, Nicholas Plazio, Friday. Sept. 18 am
10. Winnipeg Jets - Ross77, Darren Ross, Friday, Sept. 18 around 6pm, then a break
11. Nashville Predators - slimtj, TJ Reilly, Monday, Sept. 21 am
12. Florida Panthers - jimbo, Jimmy Reilly, Monday, Sept. 21 pm
13. Carolina Hurricanes (via Toronto Maple Leafs) - Bingo, Chris Cote, Tuesday, Sept. 22 am
14. Edmonton Oilers - maximumbone, Silas Bengtsson, Tuesday, Sept. 22 pm
15. Toronto Maple Leafs (via Pittsburgh Penguins) - Michael Augello, Leafs blogger on site, Wednesday, Sept. 23 am
16. Montreal Canadiens - Vivian Lapeirre, bi-lingual, Wednesday, Sept. 23 pm
17. Chicago Blackhawks - Theo Fox, Chicago blogger on site, Thursday, Sept. 24 am
18. New Jersey Devils (from Arizona) - redmonsters, Kevin Barrett, Thursday, Sept. 24 pm
19. Calgary Flames - deddie, Dan Ethier, Friday, Sept. 25 am
20. New Jersey Devils (from Vancouver via Tampa Bay) - redmonsters, Kevin Barrett, Friday, Sept 25 pm
21. Columbus Blue Jackets, Thomas Townsend, Columbus blogger on site, Sunday, Sept. 27 am
22. New York Rangers (from Carolina) - Jan, Tuesday Sept. 29 am
23. Philadelphia Flyers - Flyersfan328, Phil Brunner, Tuesday Sept. 29 pm
24. Colorado Avalanche - climbdenali12, Ryan Armstrong, Wednesday, Sept. 30 am
25. Washington Capitals - winerydog, Wednesday, Sept. 30 pm
26. St. Louis Blues, jediman, Brendan Smith, Thursday, Oct. 1 in am
27. Anaheim Ducks (from Boston) - optimus-reim, Luke Herrington, Thursday, Oct. 1 in pm
28-31. Pick order TBD - picks will be Friday, Oct. 2 in am, Friday, Oct 2 around 5 pm, - Monday Oct 5 in am and Monday, Oct 5 inpm
Dallas (Russ Cohen, sportsology)
Vegas (JRR1285, Josh Ruiz)
Ottawa (acquired from New York Islanders in JG Pageau deal - spatso)
San Jose (acquired from Tampa Bay in Barclay Goodrow deal (Jeremy Barber, user id: barberjw, email: barbjw26@gmail) -
Looking forward to running this again. We had a ton of fun last season. That should be the same again this year with New York having the first and 22nd picks in the first round.
New York Rangers Blogger • 
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