The third mock Hockey Buzz mock draft driven by the readers and a few special guests kicked off Monday. Representing the Rangers, I selected Alexis Lafreniere, which had an 88% approval rate out of 357 responses. The Kings' and Senators' picks are below. Detroit, represented by fed91stammer in on the clock, with the Senators second pick in this round on deck. Below are the voting polls, 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 2nd Overall Pick in the 2020 NHL Entry Draft, the Los Angeles Kings, represented by Kouleus, select Quinton Byfield, C, Sudbury (OHL)
Rationale for the selection with scouting report along with alternatives considered (both players and trades):
"The LA Kings are devastated after Lafreniere was selected. One Kings fan already purchased a Lafreniere jersey during the very confusing draft lottery. So with sad faces, the Kings select Byfield. They don't even smile.
Years from now, all agree that Byfield is the better hockey player."
Earl Skakel provided some rationale:
Although the Kings are pretty deep at center with
Kopitar
Vilardi
Turcotte
Madden
Kupari
Thomas
Anderson-Dolan
Dudas
The pick has to be Byfield as he just possesses everything in size, speed,hands,passing and an underrated shot. The scary thing is he's so young he's not yet finished growing and although the Kings have too many centers at the moment he will be the eventual replacement for Kopitar. Players like Thomas and Kupari may have to switch to wing and a guy like Anderson-Dolan who 2 years ago was a shoe in to make the team may struggle to make it now. Byfield is also a great insurance policy in case Vilardi's back problems come back.
With the 3rd Overall Pick in the 2020 NHL Entry Draft, the Ottawa Senators, represented by spatso, select Tim Stutzle, C, Mannheim (DEL)
Rationale for the selection with scouting report along with alternatives considered (both players and trades):
Mika Zibanejad is the last first round draft pick that the Sens selected directly out of European play. Other previous notables include Erik Karlsson, Marion Hossa, Martin Havlat, Anton Volchenkov and Alexi Yashin.
Although the Ottawa Senators are delighted to draft a player with Stutzle’s abilities there is no doubt that there was great disappointment when they failed to win the lottery and the
opportunity to draft Lafreniere. After that, fingers were crossed in the hopes that Byfield might slide past the LA Kings. Ottawa wants to build around big physical players. The idea of being able to put Byfield on a first line with Tkachuk was an exciting dream.
Multiple trade offers for the 3rd overall pick were considered. Ottawa also has the 5th and 28th pick in the first round and 4 more picks in the second round. But nothing proved viable in terms of moving the third pick overall. Ottawa is too early in its rebuild design. Hard to imagine an actual trade that works for the Sens when the focus remains fixed on rebuilding with little pressure to win at this point in time.
Stutzle does have good size, a Pierre Dorion preference. At 6’ 1” and 187 pounds, he is still growing. He is a natural centre with a left hand shot. But he can play all forward positions. Scouts seem unanimous in noting that he plays with an outstanding pace to his game. It is more than merely being able to skate fast. He can make decisions and execute effectively at a very high level of intensity. Stutzle is able to mesh speed, great vision, confidence with an all round superior hockey skill set.
He has been able to do this while playing against men in the German DEL. It should not go
unnoticed that almost all his development over the past five years has occurred while playing against older, stronger skaters. He has been very effective in transitioning upwards and playing against higher levels of competition. His wonderful performance at last year’s World Juniors suggests that there is fire in his game. He rises to the challenge.
You want to believe that his development arc projects far beyond what we have seen so far. He should have no difficulty transitioning to NHL play and to the smaller ice surface. Scouts rave about his playmaking skills and his ability to find the open man in the offensive zone. His puck handling and vision makes him very effective on the power play. His first step is explosive and in tight situations he has the quickness that enables him to break free from defensive coverage.
His progression has been dramatic. He was recruited by major junior and NCAA teams as a 15 year old. He actually made a commitment to play at the University of New Hampshire. But, ultimately, Stutzle chose to remain in Germany. No doubt, this decision to stay and play professional hockey has contributed to his accelerated development and his dramatic upward movement in the draft rankings.
He can become overconfident in his puck handling and sometimes makes a mistake by holding unto the puck too long. But, in a young player, this may be more of an asset than a liability. By all accounts coaches and teammates love working with this kid. Tim Stutzle should dress for the Ottawa Senators on opening night.
TSN (Bob Mackenzie)
….a player who has been climbing the rankings since the beginning of the season. Tim Stutzle, the German-born player who plays for Mannheim of the German Hockey League, jumped one spot from McKenzie' s mid-season rankings into the second spot. McKenzie made note of Stutzle being a "dynamic and exciting guy who commands the puck.”
Sportsnet (Sam Cosentino)
There’s enough track record that he projects at centre in the NHL and that may be enough for him to pass Byfield.
The Hockey Writers
Stützle has been putting on a performance for years in Germany, absolutely dominating every league he plays in – which is always much higher than his own age. This season, the
centreman turned 18 and was playing in a men’s league, finishing with seven goals, 27 assists, and 34 points in 41 games. Last season, turning 17 halfway through, he played in the U20 league, racking up 23 goals, 32 assists, and 55 points in only 21 games. It’s safe to say he’s good.
2020 NHL DRAFT FIRST-ROUND ORDER AND GMs
1. New York Rangers - Jan Levine - Alexis Lafreniere, LW, Rimouski
2. Los Angeles Kings - Kooleus, Quinton Byfield, C, Sudbury
3. Ottawa Senators (via San Jose Sharks) - spatso, Tim Stutzle, C, Mannheim
4. Detroit Red Wings - fed91stammer, Derek Fischer, Tuesday, Sept. 15, pm
5. Ottawa Senators - spatso, Walter Clare, Wednesday, Sept. 16 am
6. Anaheim Ducks - optimus-reim, Luke Herrington, Wednesday. Sept. 16 pm
7. New Jersey Devils - redmonsters, Kevin Barrett, Thursday, Sept 17 am
8. Buffalo Sabres - KilkennyDan, Dan Sovocol, Thursday. Sept. 17 pm
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, jumbo, Jimmy Reilly, 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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