See... what you need to do is pretend you're each individual team, and do a draft ranking for each based on team need and drafting history
That's precisely what I try my hardest to accomplish.
Take Philadelphia. If Paul Holmgren was still their GM, I never would have mocked them either Kravtsov or Merkley. Holmgren never drafted Russians, and liked to build a team of rugged, old-school, north-south NHL-ers. He mostly drafted early out of North America. But current GM Ron Hextall has made a living out of swinging for the fences and drafting high-upside players.
Ottawa is the opposite. Would it be wise for them to draft a high-upside, new-style/puck-moving D like Hughes or Boqvist at #4? Certainly. But GM Pierre Dorion has proven to prefer a bigger, tougher style of play. Therefore, my choice for them at #4 came down to Tkachuk or Bouchard.
Sometimes need/familiarity come into play. I have Arizona taking Wahlstrom at #5, although they could use some more help at D. But their future franchise player is, without a doubt, Clayton Keller. Though they have some very talented wings in their system, none can match the speed/skill-level of Keller. Wahlstrom would give them an unbelievable top-two punch on the top line. With Detroit at #6, Hughes/Boqvist/Dobson would all make great sense. But Hughes is not only the best skater/highest-upside of the three, but he also is a Michigan product. So I went with Hughes.
My Rangers pick at #9 was basically a choice between centers Kotkaniemi and Veleno. Kotkaniemi has not only gotten a lot of hype after an outstanding IIHF tourney, but the new Rangers scouting regime has clearly shown a preference for European skaters. Is this always the best call? Well, I think they are going to regret taking Lias Andersson over Casey Mittelstadt for many years to come, so I would have to say no. I also like Veleno over Kotkaniemi, but have him falling two more spots before being taken by another team which will soon need C depth in the Islanders.
Again, there are always big surprises on draft day. Two years ago, the Blue Jackets wrecked every mock draft in North America when they took Dubois over Puljujarvi with the #3 overall pick. Personally, if I were Columbus I would have taken Keller there, but I mocked them Puljujarvi like everyone else because it seemed like the obvious pick.
