2018 HF Team Boards Mock Draft -- Pick #17

[mcpw]

Every year there's a mock draft done by the team boards of HF -- here are the results of 2015, 2016, and 2017. Rules are easy: just pick the player you want your team to draft based on who is still available; "trade the pick" is not an option

2018 Mock Draft
1 BUF --- D Rasmus Dahlin 117/126 (93%)
2 CAR --- F Andrei Svechnikov 69/74 (93%)
3 MTL --- F Filip Zadina 56/71 (79%)
4 OTT --- F Brady Tkachuk 38/71 (54%)
5 ARI --- F Oliver Wahlstrom 34/49 (69%)
6 DET --- D Adam Boqvist 41/93 (44%)
7 VAN --- D Quinton Hughes 34/64 (53%)
8 CHI --- D Evan Bouchard 28/39 (72%)
9 NYR --- D Noah Dobson 61/132 (46%)
10 EDM --- F Jesperi Kotkaniemi 41/65 (63%)
11 NYI --- F Joseph Veleno 52/68 (76%)
12 NYI* --- D Ty Smith 44/68 (65%)
13 DAL --- F Joel Farabee 10/30 (33%)
14 PHI* --- F Vitali Kravtsov 30/67 (45%)
15 FLA --- F Grigori Denisenko 5/18 (28%)
16 COL --- F Barrett Hayton 15/47 (32%)
17 NJD ---
18 CBJ ---
19 PHI ---
20 LAK ---
21 SJS ---
22 OTT* ---
23 ANA ---
24 MIN ---
25 TOR ---
26 NYR* ---
27 CHI* ---
28
29
30
31

Click to read more...

 

[Devils Dominion]

How long is the poll open til?

 

[Devils Dominion]

Wow, 81% of you guys picked Patrick? SMH

Our fans were smart in the 2015/2016 polls though.

 

[Darkauron]

Wow, 81% of you guys picked Patrick? SMH

Our fans were smart in the 2015/2016 polls though.

Well there probably is some inflation in these polls because fans from other teams boards can still vote in them

 

[Devils Dominion]

I'm deciding on Bokk, Kaut, Wilde & Miller

 

[mcpw]

How long is the poll open til?

Each poll remains open for two days.

 

[Edmonton East]

Wilde, Bode

 

[Blender]

Bode Wilde.

 

[Cheddabombs]

Leaning towards Patrick but I havnt made up my mind yet.

Wow, 81% of you guys picked Patrick? SMH

Our fans were smart in the 2015/2016 polls though.

But you were leaning towards Patrick yourself when that poll opened?

I can't see the poll results from that for some reason but maybe don't call out people for initially wanting Patrick at that time when you were pretty much divided as well, and if anything were "leaning towards" him.

Anyhoo... Wilde or Bokk for this, not too sure yet.

 

[Zippy316]

Paging @StevenToddIves

 

[Zippy316]

Wow, 81% of you guys picked Patrick? SMH

Our fans were smart in the 2015/2016 polls though.

That poll was done very, very early on after the draft lottery.

I think if you were to have taken a poll a day before the draft, you would have closer to a 50-50 split. Seems like Hischier slowly won people over as the draft got closer.

 

[Unknown Caller]

Sandin.

 

[Devils Dominion]

But you were leaning towards Patrick yourself when that poll opened?

I can't see the poll results from that for some reason but maybe don't call out people for initially wanting Patrick at that time when you were pretty much divided as well, and if anything were "leaning towards" him.

Anyhoo... Wilde or Bokk for this, not too sure yet.

You'll prob flip flop again.

I was dead set on Nico after doing my research

 

[Devils Dominion]

I keep hearing about Wilde being an adventure in his own end.

Was there any of that talk about McEvoy pre-draft?

 

[RememberTheName]

Bode Wilde

 

[Ripshot 43]

That poll was done very, very early on after the draft lottery.

I think if you were to have taken a poll a day before the draft, you would have closer to a 50-50 split. Seems like Hischier slowly won people over as the draft got closer.

I think a lot of fans had their opinions tainted by the fact that it became more and more clear that we were picking Nico. Just like how Flyers fans opinions changed from preferring Nico to omg I can’t believe they are passing on Patrick.

 

[R8Devs]

bokk or sandin would be fine for me here. ill chose bokk for the poll though

 

[StevenToddIves]

Paging @StevenToddIves

I voted for Miller, but it was close between him and Bode Wilde.

I don't understand the Sandin vote. If a Devils fan doesn't want the "risk" associated with Miller or Wilde (or Lundqvist) despite appreciably higher upside, why Sandin over a lower-risk D like McIsaac? Sandin's upside is a very solid all-around 2nd pairing D, which is nothing to scoff at. But so is McIsaac's -- and McIsaac is bigger, more NHL-ready and has a higher floor.

Maybe it will help if I rank the D available on this list in terms of various skills:
SKATING
1 Merkley
2 Wilde
3 Miller
4 Alexeyev
5 Lundqvist
6 McIsaac
7 Woo
8 Sandin
9 Samuelsson

OFFENSIVE ABILITY
1 Merkley
2 Wilde
3 Lundqvist
4 Miller
5 Alexeyev
6 Sandin
7 McIsaac
8 Woo
9 Samuelsson

DEFENSIVE ACUMEN
1 McIsaac
2 Woo
3 Samuelsson
4 Alexeyev
5 Sandin
6 Miller
7 Wilde
8 Lundqvist
9 Merkley

PHYSICALITY
1 Woo
2 Miller
3 Samuelsson
4 McIsaac
5 Alexeyev
6 Wilde
7 Sandin
8 Merkley
9 Lundqvist

HOCKEY IQ (I'm also deducting for off-ice concerns on this one)
1 Lundqvist
2 Sandin
3 McIsaac
4 Miller
5 Woo
6 Samuelsson
7 Alexeyev
8 Wilde
9 Merkley

Of course, these are my observations, and thus subjective. Of course, it is important to note that these are very different types of players. We can split them into groups of "low-risk, likely mid-pairing D" (McIsaac, Sandin, Woo, Samuelsson), "significant risk with significant reward D" (Merkley, Lundqvist) and the guys in between (Wilde, Miller, Alexeyev), whom I believe are all NHL locks, it's just a matter of the risk of downside (bottom four contributors) versus upside (top-pairing studs).

 

[Devils Dominion]

Berggren is interesting but moreso later in the round.

Here's someone that I'd like to hear about from @StevenToddIves

Grigori Denisenko

 

[nugg]

I really like Wilde, but Miller seems to have a slight edge because of his physical strength. I'd be happy with either, especially if Ray can get one while trading down. Risky, I know.

 

[StevenToddIves]

Berggren is interesting but moreso later in the round.

Here's someone that I'd like to hear about from @StevenToddIves

Grigori Denisenko

Denisenko is certainly a highly skilled player. He reminds me a bit of Panarin, maybe without the strong finishing skills and fearlessness in tight. Outstanding hands/puck-handling/vision. He is an exciting and dynamic player, super fun to watch. Although listed as a LW/C, I do not see much possibility of him playing up in the middle in the NHL. His caveat is that he avoids physicality and dirty areas and has a lot of work to do on his 200-foot game. If all of this reminds one of scouting reports on Jesper Boqvist from a year ago, that's because they are not dissimilar players. I would call Denisenko, at this stage, a "higher-end Boqvist".

I have strong confidence Denisenko will score many points for a happy NHL team, but I cannot see it being the Devils. As I've stated before, Taylor Hall is the #1 LW for the foreseeable future, and the Devils are loaded with players on their LW depth chart behind him: MoJo, Bratt, Wood, Coleman. Zacha and Quenneville can both play LW as well as C, while Boqvist will be making a push for the team in a season or two.

The only way I could see the Devils considering a LW in the first round is if Farabee somehow fell, or maybe Kotkaniemi (who probably will end up an NHL center). There would be no need to draft Denisenko, even if the Devils decided to go with a forward, because he is not superior to several RWs who should be available at #17, i.e. : Kravtsov, Thomas, Bokk.

 

[StevenToddIves]

I keep hearing about Wilde being an adventure in his own end.

Was there any of that talk about McEvoy pre-draft?

No.

I do not compare McAvoy to Wilde so much. I've said before that my closest comparisons are Wilde = less consistent Subban and Miller = a rawer Charlie McAvoy. Both of these US-NTDP kids have just insane upside. But in either case, they have a lot of work to do before they reach it, and there are no guarantees.

 

[Peter Sidorkiewicz]

Rasmus Sandin

 

[Unknown Caller]

I voted for Miller, but it was close between him and Bode Wilde.

I don't understand the Sandin vote. If a Devils fan doesn't want the "risk" associated with Miller or Wilde (or Lundqvist) despite appreciably higher upside, why Sandin over a lower-risk D like McIsaac? Sandin's upside is a very solid all-around 2nd pairing D, which is nothing to scoff at. But so is McIsaac's -- and McIsaac is bigger, more NHL-ready and has a higher floor.

Sandin gets the vote because he’s the most reliable combination in terms of defensive responsibility along with solid offensive skill. And he still has plenty of upside. He also has some of the best 5v5 numbers of any of the defenseman who will be available at 17. From Cordell: “Sandin was a more efficient 5v5 producer at the OHL level than the likes of Vince Dunn, Travis Dermott, Dougie Hamilton, Aaron Ekblad, Olli Maatta, Mikhail Sergachev and Jakob Chychrun in their draft years so clearly he is competent offensively.”

 

[Devils Dominion]

I noticed Philly's pick on SSM exploded and doubled his point total this season one season after he was drafted.

Did Sandin help him or was his point total mostly attributed to Frost?