KallioWeHardlyKnewYe said:
I'm surprised it took so many posts to bring this one up. That top four was a complete crap shoot. Depending on the mock, I saw all four of the top four at #1 even in the week before the draft.
It's not similar in that there is a consensus number one this season.
Last year is eerily similar to this draft IMO - one consensus number one, one highly rated defenceman named Johnson, no consensus after the first pick.
A top seven was identified last year (Crosby, Brule, JJ, Pouliot, Ryan, Kopitar, Skille), a top seven was this year (EJ, Staal, Kessel, Backstrom, Toews, Brassard, Mueller). One American defenceman and six forwards (three Canadians, two Americans and one European forward) in each draft class in pre-draft rankings.
Like last year there will likely be some surprises - perhaps a team will like Tlusty or Little better than Brassard, maybe a late climber like Summers will crack the top ten, Frolik might drop to the mid teens. The top six or seven look like surefire top ten picks, but one thing we've learned is to never assume (not many expected Kopitar to drop out of the top 10). I know I was quite surprised to see Staal follow suit.