BD's Mock Draft Extravaganza

[Ghost of jas]

21. NYR: Michael Grabner

Commentary: The New York Rangers deliberate, discuss, and debate heatedly. Huge sniper center Patrik Berglund or game breaker Michael Grabner? By a hair, the Rangers brass go with the speedster from Spokane. In their eyes, Michael owns a unique speed to scoring ratio that is unmatched within their system aside from Petr Prucha. Very opportunistic. A courageous burner, Grabner has the innate ability to wind up in the right place at the right time like most good goal scorers. But if the Rangers aren’t content with Dubinsky/Immonen/Ryan down the middle, and feel that Berglund has the potential to be a number one center, then he may well be the choice. For now, dynamic wingman Grabner strikes me as the BPA and best fit for the Blueshirts

C'mon, now, BD, you know the Rangers organization craves a #1 center? Therefore, Berglund it is!

 

[Chuck Schwartz]

Great job...when can we expect second round comments?

 

[CertifiedPublicGuin]

Excellent, excellent work here, my friend... everyone here seems to realize that this is often the way drafts turn out (off the board picks, team needs, etc...) Definitely the most well-thought out draft I've seen thus far, though I must admit I'm very surprised we havn't heard too much of the "there is no way this will happen". Out of curiosity, what is your rationale behind the nonexistence of Vasyunov from your list? Simply teams getting scared off, being Russian and full of "bad attitude speculation?"

 

[JackBauer]

excellent post, good research...it was a pleasure to read...only comment, you think vasyunov drops past the 2nd round?

 

[sarcastro]

Vasyunov is such a hard player to slot IMO. He could slide pretty far because of all the concerns about his drive and work ethic, but a team could fall in love with him and pull a Setogucci too. Probably has the longest potential arc in terms of how high he could realistically go and how far he could realistically drop.

 

[Jackets16]

this has nothing to do with the draft part, but the columbus name has nothing to do with bees

 

[WhitePony]

Wow never even entertained the thought of Staal dropping to the Isles.

 

[KahunWOW]

I will try to provide second round comments ASAP. Enjoy and criticize!

When ?

 

[Artie]

16.Montreal: Brian Strait

Commentary: With ridiculous forward depth, the Canadiens add a NTDP defensive standout with the selection of Brian Strait. An extremely frustrating defender to play against, Strait gives Montreal a rearguard whose style is tailor made for the NHL. A similar player to Jason Smith, he will provide a steadying influence to a team loaded with risky offensive spice. I could see an offensive, PP quarterback like Vishnevsky go here to the Canadiens because of having physical guys like Emelin and O’Byrne. But in the end I opted for a low risk North American defenseman, who is a safe bet to make the NHL. We’ve all seen how valuable this kind of defender is in the playoffs.

Patrik Berglund

Commentary: Big, dynamic, and sharp shooting center. This massive, more reactive center will compliment the smaller, intense Oshie nicely. Berglund has soft hands and great vision of the entire ice.

While the Brian Strait pick sounds reasonable, given that Berglund seems to address a more pressing need for Montreal, would that not maybe be a better route for the Habs.

 

[gars59]

Brian Strait

habs would never draft that , what a joke

 

[gars59]

habs will not pass frolik if he is avaible ... i'm pretty sure

or they will draft Vishnevsk

and who is , they will not pass Ben Maxwell or Yuri Alexandrov

what a horrible mock draft

 

[Prussian_Blue]

Nice work... I like the Berglund pick for the Blues, and I also agree with your comments that they may look to add a winger with that pick. Kana and Kveton are two names definitely on my draft board there, as is Trevor Lewis from the USHL (Okposo's linemate).

P_B

 

[Artie]

Nice work... I like the Berglund pick for the Blues, and I also agree with your comments that they may look to add a winger with that pick. Kana and Kveton are two names definitely on my draft board there, as is Trevor Lewis from the USHL (Okposo's linemate).

P_B

P_B,

Do you think the Blues would entertain moving up to 16 for the 27th and 31st pick?
Would it be worth it for them?
Is it enough?

 

[bigd]

Brian Strait

habs would never draft that , what a joke

Of coarse not, he is a player with too much character and leadership for Monteal!

 

[Anthony Mauro]

habs will not pass frolik if he is avaible ... i'm pretty sure

No, no you're not.

or they will draft Vishnevsk

And that's why I listed him as another possibility.

what a horrible mock draft

I understand. Some people like it, some don't. That's expected. But a 5 word sentence does not tell me anything insightful about the work I put out. Sorry for your terrible reading experience.

 

[Anthony Mauro]

Sorry guys I've been extremely busy finding work and working in the city. I haven't been able to make any progress, due to being out or extremely tired.

 

[Colt.45Orr]

Wow never even entertained the thought of Staal dropping to the Isles.

Could happen.

 

[NWT Habs Fan]

B-D

Entertaining draft and commentary. Ignore those that take these mocks as being personal insights into their teams. It is great to see fellow draft and NHL watchers understand a little to provide some insights into what might...and what might not...happen on draft day. Point is, none of us really know. Some of us really make an attempt to make a good effort. Others make no sense at all. We welcome all, but we relish the good reads. Keep up the good effort!

 

[gars59]

Brian strait is way overrated by you , in many mock he is draft in the early second round

 

[Anthony Mauro]

Brian strait is way overrated by you , in many mock he is draft in the early second round

I don't care where he is in other mocks. Just because I rate him first round on my list doesn't make him overrated. It means I like him. And just because mainstream lists don't list Strait in the top 20 doesn't mean there's no chance that he could be taken early.

What if last year every team thought G.Latendresse was overrated? Oops! They pretty much did dropping him to 45.

 

[gars59]

Habs will never draft strait in first rounder

 

[Prussian_Blue]

P_B,

Do you think the Blues would entertain moving up to 16 for the 27th and 31st pick?
Would it be worth it for them?

Is it enough?

My sense of the situation is, no, the Blues wouldn't do that.

Not because the #16 pick wouldnt be valuable, but because there's so much discrepancy about the draft after the top six or seven players.

My thinking is, the Blues can get two guys at #27 and #31 who would each be roughly equivalent in talent to the one guy they'd get at #16. If you look at the players as graded assets, I'd rather have two B-plusses than one A-minus, and I believe the Blues would agree.

In more human terms, just looking at this mock... the #16 player was Brian Strait, the #27 was Michael Forney, and the #31 was Codey Burki. Would you rather add one Brian Strait to your organization, or one Michael Forney and one Codey Burki?

P_B

 

[Artie]

In more human terms, just looking at this mock... the #16 player was Brian Strait, the #27 was Michael Forney, and the #31 was Codey Burki. Would you rather add one Brian Strait to your organization, or one Michael Forney and one Codey Burki?

P_B

I'm with you on this one, but wasn't really sure what the Blues as an organization may be targetting or if they may really want someone a lot earlier.

My sense is that this draft is more about quantity that quality. In a baseball analogy, there seem to be a lot of singles and doubles out there with not many home runs, but if you put together enough singles and doubles, you are going to score some runs.

As a Habs fan, I would definitely take Forney and Burke over Strait. I guess that's why I was exploring that possibility. Wasn't sure if the Blues wanted to add some NHL proven players to the roster. I guess it will depend on what direction the new ownership group wants to take.

 

[Prussian_Blue]

My sense is that this draft is more about quantity that quality. In a baseball analogy, there seem to be a lot of singles and doubles out there with not many home runs, but if you put together enough singles and doubles, you are going to score some runs.

I agree... and as a fan of the St. Louis Cardinals and the famous Tony LaRussa "small ball," I like that analogy a lot.

P_B

 

[Skk82]

i thought it was a good mock draft...

if the pens can't wrangle johnson past st. louis, i'm not sure they'd take backstrom over kessel or toews, but they very well might.

good insight though on specific team needs/wants.