The second annual Hockey Buzz Mock Draft continues. Jack Hughes went first to New Jersey, Kappo Kakko was selected by the Rangers and Bowen Byram landed with Chicago. Following a trade with Colorado, Buffalo selected Alex Turcotte while Los Angeles tabbed Cole Caufield and Detroit’s went with Vasili Podkolzin. Colorado traded the 7th pick to New York, who picked Trevor Zegras while Edmonton's selected Dylan Cozens. Anaheim traded their pick to Florida, who took Kirby Dach, and Vancouver dealt their pick top Colorado with the Avalanche taking Matthew Boldy. Philly's pick is below.
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 [email protected]. 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.
Philadelphia with the 11th pick select Philip Broberg, LHD AIK Sweden
Rationale for the selection:
The majority of the Flyers minor league depth is in the forward ranks either at Lehigh Valley (G Rubtsov - C, N Aube-Kubel - RW, M Vorobyev - C) or on the way (M Frost – C, W Allison – RW, J Farabee – LW, I Ratcliffe – LW, J O’Brien – C). The goalie pipeline also appears to finally be stocked with F Sandstrom, S Ersson, and K Ustimenko toiling in Europe the last few years. The Flyers felt comfortable enough with what they had in the system to trade A Stolarz near the deadline for Cam Talbot who is an UFA.
The outlook for the defense is not as rosy. Most of the young defensemen in the Flyers system have graduated to the big club (T Sanheim, P Myers, R Hagg, S Morin) and the only defenseman as of January 2019 listed as one of their top prospects is Egor Zamula, an undrafted free agent. If GM Chuck Fletcher is successful in one of his stated goals this off season and finds a top pairing defensemen to play with Ivan Provorov, the most likely course of action may be a trade. I’m not sure Matt Niskanen is that guy. Someone like the current favorite whipping boy of the Flyers’ fan base, S Gostisbehere, might be part of such a deal as his skill set and contract would be attractive to other teams. Finally, the contracts of both A McDonald and R Gudas are now off the books and Matt Niskanen will expire at the end of the 20-21 season, if not resigned.
Broberg started off the 2018-19 campaign fairly high rated but seemed to fall out of favor with the “hockey experts” mid-season. His strong showing at the recent U18 World Championships as restored the luster to his stock. Broberg has been described as a smooth skating, offensively minded D-man with good vision and ability to generate successful breakouts from the defensive zone. He would most likely be successful paired with a stay at home defensemen such as Hagg or Morin and his advanced skill level on the offensive end could see him in the league as early as the 2020-21 season but most likely the following year. Having Broberg waiting in the wings would be beneficial as the current defensive group becomes eligible for new contracts making some of them potentially unaffordable.
We also considered Swedish defensemen Victor Soderstrom since he is right handed, which is a weakness in the Flyers system, and Peyton Krebs but were scared off by his recent Achilles injury.
Minnesota, represented by MaximumBone, Silas Bengtsson, is on the clock for the 12th pick.
2019 NHL DRAFT FIRST-ROUND ORDER and GMs to Date
1. New Jersey Devils - redmonsters, Kevin Barrett - Jack Hughes
2. New York Rangers - Jan Levine, Kappo Kakko
3. Chicago Blackhawks - kevin6, Kevin Braeunle, Bowen Byram
4. Colorado Avalanche (from Ottawa Senators) - optimus-reim, Luke Herrington, traded pick to Buffalo, who selected Alex Turcotte
5. Los Angeles Kings - slimtj, TJ Reilly, Cole Caufield
6. Detroit Red Wings - Feds91Stammer, Vasili Podkolzin
7. Buffalo Sabres - lonsabres, Paul Schott, traded to Colorado, optimus-reim to pick, traded to New York, who selects Trevor Zegras
8. Edmonton Oilers - Reveen, Curtis Lavoie select Dylan Cozens
9. Anaheim Ducks - climbdenali12, Ryan Armstrong, pick traded to Florida and the Panthers select Kirby Dach
10. Vancouver Canucks - Carol Schram, Canucks blogger on the site, trades the pick to Colorado, who selects Matthew Boldy
11. Philadelphia Flyers - Flyerfan328, Philip Brunner and Streit2ThePoint, Ryan Snyder, sélect Philip Broberg
12. Minnesota Wild - MaximumBone, Silas Bengtsson
13. Florida Panthers - jimbo, Jimmy Reilly, traded pick to Anaheim.
14. Arizona Coyotes - jediman, Brendan Smith
15. Montreal Canadiens - Karine Hains, Canadiens blogger on the website
16. Colorado Avalanche - optimus-reim, Luke Herrington, traded to Vancouver
17. Vegas Golden Knights - Jeff Paul, Vegas blogger for Hockey Buzz
18. Dallas Stars - Panarin27, Mark Choate
19. Ottawa Senators (from Columbus Blue Jackets) - Trevor Shackles, Ottawa blogger on the site
20. New York Rangers (from Winnipeg Jets) - Jan Levine
21. Pittsburgh Penguins - Datools55, Julien Michel
22. Los Angeles Kings (from Toronto Maple Leafs) - slimtj, TJ Reilly
23. New York Islanders - eichiefs9
24. Nashville Predators - Russ Cohen, sportsology
25. Washington Capitals - nyrangers9479
26. Calgary Flames - beandip, Andrew Horenbein
27. Tampa Bay Lightning - Panarin27, Mark Choate
28. Carolina Hurricanes - Bingo, Chris Cote
29. Buffalo Sabres [or Anaheim Ducks] (from San Jose Sharks) - lonsabres, Paul Schott
30. Boston, covered by Anthony Travalgia, HB Bruins blogger
31. St. Louis, the pick is owned by Buffalo, pick to be made by lonsabres, Paul Schott
New York Rangers Blogger • 
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