The third mock Hockey Buzz mock draft driven by the readers and a few special guests kicked off last Monday. The first five were Alexis Lafreniere, Quinton Byfield, Tim Sturzle, Marco Rossi and Cole Perfetti. Kicking off the next five was Anton Lundell followed by Alexander Holtz, Lucas Raymond, Jaroslav Askarov and Jaime Drysdale. Jake Sanderson was the first pick in the next round of selections followed by Jack Quinn, Dawson Mercer Seth Jarvis, Ryan O'Rourke, Hendrix Lapierre and Dylan Holloway . The selection by New Jersey, with redmonsters picking, is below with Calgary, represented by deddie, on the clock and New Jersey, represented by redmonsters, on deck. 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. In addition, after each pick in the summary below, I have added in the % that approved the pick in the poll and total number of votes.
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 18th Overall Pick in the 2020 NHL Entry Draft, the New Jersey Devils, represented by redmonsters, select Kaiden Guhle, D, Prince Albert (WHL)
Rationale for the selection with scouting report along with alternatives considered (both players and trades):
I am not so sure the Devils will retain both the 18th and 20th pick. I believe they will try and trade to a troubled salary cap team and get some NHL talent OR they will trade down from here to get some more draft capital.
The Devils need a lot of help at basically all positions. With Drysdale and Sanderson long gone a Dman with upside made sense here. From numerous scouting reports, Kaiden Guhle is an excellent skater, with very good speed and acceleration in both directions. He is able to push the play offensively as well as pinch in at the opponent’s blue line and still get back to his position in the defensive end. Guhle is a strong stick handler. He can go back in his own zone, retrieve pucks, avoid forecheckers and move it up the ice. He can make a good first pass to start the rush. Guhle can also lead the rush through the neutral zone and has the passing skills to create chances. While Guhle can bring offense, the bread and butter of his game is his defensive play. His strong skating leads to excellent gap control and he is very difficult to beat in one-on-one situations. If attackers come down his side of the ice with their heads down, Guhle can throw a big hit but he is disciplined and does not get himself out of position looking to make that hit. He also plays physical along the boards and in front of the net. He has the physical attributes to make a quality second pairing defenseman, albeit with a somewhat limited offensive ceiling at this point.
As I mentioned earlier, the Devils would be interested in moving down at this point, there are a number of prospects still on the board including:Braden Schneider, Connor Zary, Rodin Amirov and Jan Mysak
2020 NHL DRAFT FIRST-ROUND ORDER AND GMs (plus yes votes/total votes, % of votes that agreed with selection)
1. New York Rangers - Jan Levine - Alexis Lafreniere, LW, Rimouski, OMJHL (349/398, 88%)
2. Los Angeles Kings - Kooleus, Quinton Byfield, C, Sudbury, OHL. (405/566, 76%)
3. Ottawa Senators (via San Jose Sharks) - spatso, Tim Stutzle, C, Mannheim, DEL (310/332. 93%)
4. Detroit Red Wings - feds91stammer, Marco Rossi, C, Ottawa, OHL, (116/235, 52%)
5. Ottawa Senators - spatso, Cole Perfetti, LW, Saginaw, OHL (102/289, 35%)
6. Anaheim Ducks - optimus-reim, Anton Lundell, C, HIFK, LIIGA (62/222, 28%)
7. New Jersey Devils - redmonsters, Alexander Holtz, RW, Djurgarden, SHL (183/333, 55%)
8. Buffalo Sabres - KilkennyDan, Lucas Raymond, RW, Frolunda, SHL, (191/266, 72%)
9. Minnesota Wild - dudestar, Jarsolav Askarov, G, SKA-NEVA, VHL (73/142, 51%)
10. Winnipeg Jets - Ross77, Jamie Drysdale, D, Erie, OHL (278/305, 91%)
11. Nashville Predators - slimtj, Jake Sanderson, D, NTDP-U18, USDP (121/163, 74%)
12. Florida Panthers - jimbo, Jack Quinn, RW, Ottawa, OHL (110/138, 80%)
13. Carolina Hurricanes (via Toronto Maple Leafs) - Bingo, Dawson Mercer, C, Chicoutimi, QMJHL (124/193, 64%)
14. Edmonton Oilers - maximumbone, Seth Jarvis, RW, Portland, WHL, (210/277, 77%)
15. Toronto Maple Leafs (via Pittsburgh Penguins) - Michael Augello, Ryan O'Rourke, D, Sault Ste Marie, OHL (107/423, 25%)
16. Montreal Canadiens - Vivian Lapeirre, Hendrix Lapierre, C, Chicoutimi, QMJHL, (109/239, 45%)
17. Chicago Blackhawks - Theo Fox, Dylan Holloway, C/LW, Wisconsin, NCAA, (179/216, 83%)
18. New Jersey Devils (from Arizona) - redmonsters, Kaiden Guhle, D, Prince Albert, WHL
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. Vegas Golden Knights - JRR1285, Josh Ruiz, Friday, Oct. 2 in am
29. Ottawa Senators (acquired from New York Islanders in JG Pageau deal) spatso, Friday, Oct 2 around 5 pm
30-31. Pick order TBD - picks will be Monday Oct 5 in am and Monday, Oct 5 in pm
Dallas (Russ Cohen, sportsology)
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.
Tomorrow starts the buyout period. That period runs two weeks, from September 25 to October 8, just before free agency starts. We all know that Henrik Lundqvist is a prime candidate to be bought out by the Rangers. The possibility exists that he will retire or waive his NMC, so that the team could deal him, eating half of his $8.5 million salary. But if New York is "forced" to go the buyout route, the cap hit is $5.5 million in 2020-21, saving $3 million on the cap, and $1.5 million for 2021-22. Adding $5.5 mil in dead cap space puts the Blueshirts' total at almost $13 mil, as the tea, already has $1.1 mil from Dan Girard, $300K from Ryan Spooner and $6,083,333 from Kevin Shattenkirk on the books for next season.
Two other buyout options are Marc Staal and Brendan Smith. Staal is making $5.7 million. Buying him out saves $2.1 million this season with almost $3.6 million remaining on the books in 2020-21 and $1.066 million in dead cap space in 2021-22. If Smith is bought out, New York saves $1.567 million in 2020-21 with $2.783 remaining on the cap that season and $783K in 2021-22. I don't see anything happening tomorrow, but stranger things have occurred. More likely is that a move would come after the Cup Finals ends, especially if it's Hank, but time will certainly tell.
New York Rangers Blogger • 
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