Coco's Mock Draft

[Beerfish]

A few comments on some picks:

- There is literally no way for you to know that RNH is the worst first overall pick since EJ. None. Wait a few years before making that comment.

It does no good at all to wait until you know the answer to something to make an evaluation on the question. Since all teams have to make their picks now and not down the road it's perfectly valid for the fellow to make his evaluation now about the quality of the 1st overall pick. Four years down the road he gets accolades if he is right or eats crow if he is wrong.

 

[Coco the Monkey*]

I only say that because Tavares, Stamkos, Hall are all better players and more elite than RNH ever was.

I meant worst 1st overall pick since Erik Johnson, meaning in the timeframe of Erik Johnson until now.

 

[SpezDispenser]

Solid mock IMO. Devils would go a long way in getting Murphy.

It "sounds" as if Zibanejad is rising as fast as any player recently, so I can't really see him going as low as 8th anymore - although that's probably pretty much where he'll go.

 

[hdtrax]

That is true. I didn't mean to jump on you for saying that, I just think its very premature. A lot of factors are involved in whether players can make the jump to elite, and I think RNH is among the rawest players to enter the draft as the perceived no. 1 choice. He is up against insane standards like you mention (i.e. the Stamkoses, Halls, Crosbys, etc) but time is whats necessary for this kid to come into his own. Heck it might even take 3-4 more years for us to see what he's truly made of.

And the comparison of Puempel to Connolly was meant to be a superficial one - looking at hip injuries in general. Puemps was slated to go top 15 (and top 10 VERY early on) but fell due to inconsistency, a bad Petes team and of course the injury. The nature of the Leafs' interest indicates to me that they'll try hard to grab him and maybe even move up in the draft somehow to grab Strome (if he fell). Not saying it would happen, I'm just not putting it past Burkie.

Finally, the whole "Burke Loves Americans" notion is so overblown its not even funny. We have 3-4 Americans on our roster as a whole and looking at his previous rosters in Anaheim, Vancouver and even Hartford - that number is fairly consistent throughout. Its because of his affiliation to USA Hockey that this idea gets overplayed. Burke has said himself he takes BPA, no matter where they're from - not based on some crazy desire he has to ice an all-American team.