Go easy on me! Here is my top 16 mock - based on viewings, youtube clips, and what I think teams will do.
Ran a tankathon to get the draft results.
1. Hawks - Macklin Celebrini - obvious pick for Chicago. They get the 2nd of their back to back franchise players to move into the future
2. Habs - Ivan Demidov - As a Habs fan, I struggled actually moving up to 2nd overall. Felt some pressure. But, I think this year, if picking here, we ignore the Russian factor and select the high impact RW. Demigod won't come until 25/26, so this fits perfectly with one more year of tanking.
3. San Jose - Artyom Levshunov - San Jose, after picking forwards in the first round for the past few years, they decide to go to the back end and pick, the smooth skating RD from Michigan State. Last year's forward crop in Smith, Musty and Haltunnen have them set up for the future at forward.
4. Anaheim - Sam Dickinson - trade away one great defencemen and bring in another. What you see is what you get with Dickinson. He is a very safe pick. Not the most dynamic offensively, but he plays a solid game. Adds to a very solid D corp.
5. Columbus - Cole Eiserman - Columbus surprises a little and goes with the pure sniper to pair with Fantilli in the future. Eiserman is dropping on many draft boards, and this runs the risk of being a boom/bust style pick.
6. Arizona - Cayden Lindstrom - Artizona runs to the podium and selects the big powerful centre our of Medicine Hat. Perfect player to challenge Cooley for #1 centre, or perhaps get paired with Cooley in the future. Future first line of Cooley - Lindstrom - Guenther. Yikes!
7. Ottawa - Tij Iginla - Ottawa with the somewhat surprise in selecting Tij. Kid is climbing draft boards and has a very projectable game. Ottawa appears to be struggling to keep players. They want a good character guy in their dressing room. If Tij is anything like his dad on that front, he will be very likeable.
8. Buffalo - Anton Silayev - Buffalo goes to the back end and adds the smooth skating mountain of a man. Should line up nicely in this D corps.
9. Minnesota - Zeev Buium - Minnesota adds some spark to their back end with the University of Denver product. Forwards are set for the future time to add to the back end
10. Seattle - Berkly Catton - Catton ends his mini slide by staying in the state of Washington. Seattle adds a dynamic intelligent forward.
11. St Louis - Zayne Parekh - Look out. Steal of the draft alert. St Louis lands the offensively gifted D-man in Zayne Parekh. With a rich history on D, the Blues add another player who is extremely intelligent and offensively gifted. Perfect back end player for the future with the young studs up front.
12. Calgary - Konsta Helenius - Off to Finland we go in an attempt to build for the future. Calgary looking for a player that looks like the guy they just traded - Elias Lindholm.
13. NY Islanders - Michael Brandsegg-Nygard - Big Bodied RW from a non-traditional hockey market. Feels like an Uncle Lou kind of move. Islanders have decent young Dmen at this point.
14. New Jersey - Liam Greentree - Jersey with a wealth of skill on the back end, decide to go back up front to give them flexibility to move pieces if need be.
15. Washington - Carter Yakemchuk - Washington needs just about everything at this point. They take BPA.
16. San Jose (via Pitt) - Cole Hutson - After selecting a RD with their first pick, San Jose rolls the dice on everyones favourite little brother. Selecting LD Hutson. Kid has a higher draft pedigree than his older brother and if his development curve follows the same pattern, he could become a steal. San Jose looks to do just that.
Ran a tankathon to get the draft results.
1. Hawks - Macklin Celebrini - obvious pick for Chicago. They get the 2nd of their back to back franchise players to move into the future
2. Habs - Ivan Demidov - As a Habs fan, I struggled actually moving up to 2nd overall. Felt some pressure. But, I think this year, if picking here, we ignore the Russian factor and select the high impact RW. Demigod won't come until 25/26, so this fits perfectly with one more year of tanking.
3. San Jose - Artyom Levshunov - San Jose, after picking forwards in the first round for the past few years, they decide to go to the back end and pick, the smooth skating RD from Michigan State. Last year's forward crop in Smith, Musty and Haltunnen have them set up for the future at forward.
4. Anaheim - Sam Dickinson - trade away one great defencemen and bring in another. What you see is what you get with Dickinson. He is a very safe pick. Not the most dynamic offensively, but he plays a solid game. Adds to a very solid D corp.
5. Columbus - Cole Eiserman - Columbus surprises a little and goes with the pure sniper to pair with Fantilli in the future. Eiserman is dropping on many draft boards, and this runs the risk of being a boom/bust style pick.
6. Arizona - Cayden Lindstrom - Artizona runs to the podium and selects the big powerful centre our of Medicine Hat. Perfect player to challenge Cooley for #1 centre, or perhaps get paired with Cooley in the future. Future first line of Cooley - Lindstrom - Guenther. Yikes!
7. Ottawa - Tij Iginla - Ottawa with the somewhat surprise in selecting Tij. Kid is climbing draft boards and has a very projectable game. Ottawa appears to be struggling to keep players. They want a good character guy in their dressing room. If Tij is anything like his dad on that front, he will be very likeable.
8. Buffalo - Anton Silayev - Buffalo goes to the back end and adds the smooth skating mountain of a man. Should line up nicely in this D corps.
9. Minnesota - Zeev Buium - Minnesota adds some spark to their back end with the University of Denver product. Forwards are set for the future time to add to the back end
10. Seattle - Berkly Catton - Catton ends his mini slide by staying in the state of Washington. Seattle adds a dynamic intelligent forward.
11. St Louis - Zayne Parekh - Look out. Steal of the draft alert. St Louis lands the offensively gifted D-man in Zayne Parekh. With a rich history on D, the Blues add another player who is extremely intelligent and offensively gifted. Perfect back end player for the future with the young studs up front.
12. Calgary - Konsta Helenius - Off to Finland we go in an attempt to build for the future. Calgary looking for a player that looks like the guy they just traded - Elias Lindholm.
13. NY Islanders - Michael Brandsegg-Nygard - Big Bodied RW from a non-traditional hockey market. Feels like an Uncle Lou kind of move. Islanders have decent young Dmen at this point.
14. New Jersey - Liam Greentree - Jersey with a wealth of skill on the back end, decide to go back up front to give them flexibility to move pieces if need be.
15. Washington - Carter Yakemchuk - Washington needs just about everything at this point. They take BPA.
16. San Jose (via Pitt) - Cole Hutson - After selecting a RD with their first pick, San Jose rolls the dice on everyones favourite little brother. Selecting LD Hutson. Kid has a higher draft pedigree than his older brother and if his development curve follows the same pattern, he could become a steal. San Jose looks to do just that.
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