HFOil Mock Entry Draft 2016 | Draft Complete!

[Joey Moss]

I feel like I crushed this one pretty well.

Henrik Borgstrom 4th round?

 

[Soli]

The Carolina Hurricanes select, from the Lincoln Stars of the USHL, Tanner "Roundhouse" Laczynski!



1 (13th) - Michael McLeod, C, Mississauga Steelheads (OHL)
1 (23rd) - Luke Kunin, C/RW, University of Wisconsin BaMcdgers (NCAA)
2 (43rd) - Taylor Raddysh, RW, Erie Otters (OHL)
2 (52nd) - Sean Day, LD, Mississauga Steelheads (OHL)
3 (66th) - Givani Smith, LW, Guelph Storm (OHL)
3 (73rd) - Maxime Lajoie, LD, Swift Current Broncos (WHL)
3 (74th) - Riley Stillman, LD, Oshawa Generals (OHL)
4 (103rd) - Filip Berglund, RD, Skellefteå AIK (SHL)
5 (133rd) - Jermey Helvig, G, Kingston Frontenacs (OHL)
6 (163rd) - Tanner Laczynski, LW, Lincoln Stars (USHL)

D+5

My 6th round pick made a 5 game NHL appearance, my 3rd rounders made the NHL but my 2nd rounders didn't, and my 1st round is being propped up by Kunin while McLeod hasn't provided good return on investment. I was debating Kieffer Bellows instead of McLeod and it looks like I would have hit a weak shot either way.

Ship might be sailing on Berglund, gonna have to put himself back on the map next season in the Bake with lots of bodies on the blueline. Good thing they're no strangers to playing 7 defensemen.

Plan on bumping these every weekend, be done in a month, and then look at 2021's Mock. That being said, I'm hoping not to start the 2021 Mock Draft in a fit of rage after this long weekend...

 

[Zaddy]

(1) 9th overall - LD Olli Juolevi (London Knights, OHL)
(2) 39th overall - LW Jonathan Dahlén (Timrå, Allsvenskan)
(2) 45th overall - C/W Dmitri Sokolov (Sudbury Wolves, OHL)
(3) 69th overall - C Noah Gregor (Moose Jaw Warriors, WHL)
(4) 99th overall - C Pius Suter (ZSC Lions, NLA)
(5) 123rd overall - C Rem Pitlick (Muskegon Lumberjacks, USHL)
(6) 159th overall - G Jack LaFontaine (Janesville Jets, NAHL)

Olli Juolevi & Jonathan Dahlén
Fairly happy with my draft, although it didn't turn out anything like the way I had planned. The first two picks Juolevi and Dahlén were both slam dunks for me, great value for where they were picked and I believe in both of them to be quality NHLers down the road.

Dmitri Sokolov
The third pick is where things got messy. My plan was to take Kyrou but when he was taken just before my pick it really made me unsure of what to do. Technically Bitten and Dube were BPA here but I wasn't in love with the idea of taking another small forward, partly because of already having taken Dahlén but also because of how small Montreal are up front already, especially down the middle. So I started to think of other possible candidates for the pick and eventually it boiled down to Hart, Katchouk, Green and Sokolov. Green was quickly discarded as I thought he wasn't the best value here. Hart is a goalie and I don't like taking goalies that early unless they're really good, so he was removed. Katchouk I like a lot and contemplated heavily but his offensive upside is questionable and this was my 2nd 2nd round pick so I thought I could afford to gamble, hence the answer was Sokolov. He looked awful at times during the season but when it was all said and done he ended up scoring 30 goals and being the leader in both goals and points on a terrible Sudbury team. And that is while adjusting to a new country, new language, playing with a bum shoulder and being out of shape. It's scary to think of what he could do with some proper training and being fully healthy. This is a kid who was ranked as a potential top10 pick in the pre-season and even 2-3 years back. Lots and lots of potential and definitely worth a pick in the 2nd to me.

Noah Gregor
With my 3rd round pick I had targeted defenseman Lucas Carlsson since even before the draft began. Again "my guy" got stolen just before I was due to pick. Luckily this time around there was a good option available in Noah Gregor who was the clear BPA at this point and someone I expect to be a mid 2nd round pick in june.

Pius Suter
Similar story here, I had targeted Jesper Bratt with this pick since before the draft began but this time he was at least taken 8 picks before me so I wasn't ever really close to getting him. Unfortunately my secondary options James Greenway and Eetu Tuulola also got taken so I had to re-think this pick. Suter was someone I had had on my list for a long time but didn't think I'd have to pick until the 5th round. All things considered I think he was the best pick I could make here and I'm very happy with it.

Rem Pitlick
This is the only pick that I'm actually uncertain about, as I have never seen him play outside of some youtube videos. It's a swing for the fences type of pick, but I thought that with his numbers and the progression he's showed over the past year it would be worth taking a shot at. Pitlick went from 16 points in 47 games last year to 89 points (and of them 46 goals) in 56 games and broke a couple of records in doing so. That's an incredible improvement over the course of a year and his 89 points were better than Kyle Connor mustered last year. No idea how his game is going to translate to the NHL level but he's going the college route so he has plenty of time.

Jack LaFontaine
Didn't realize this kid was still available, if I did I would probably have taken him with my 5th round pick. Either way happy to get him, only heard good things about him and seems like a good goalie to bet on in the mid/late rounds of the draft. Committed to a good program in Michigan too.

All-in-all, a pretty heavy-forward draft from my side but I thought the BPA was almost always a forward and if that's how it plays out you should go that route. I got a terrific d prospect in Juolevi already and everyone outside of that top15 is a pretty big questionmark anyway.

I was quite unfortunate with my draft here. Juolevi has had I think three serious injuries since being drafted that has really hampered his development. No idea if he'll even make it at this point. Dahlén came over and played 1 year in North America before being so homesick he went back home, not just to Sweden but to his hometown and old team Timrå in Swedish tier 2 instead of playing SHL. He has ripped that league apart two years in a row so clearly he is a very talented player and could likely still be a good NHLer if he ever decided to give it a go.

I ended up picking Sokolov but wanted Kyrou who was taken just ahead of my pick. That would've been a sweet pick, but instead I ended up taking a pure boom/bust guy mostly based on his pedigree and that he could lose some weight and fix his skating. That doesn't appear to have happened. I could've also taken Hart there but my bias against drafting goalies in the first two rounds worked against me.

Gregor has played 58 NHL games over the last two seasons but not sure he'll stick long-term. Suter just came over this year and had a very solid rookie year with 27 points in 55 games on an offensively inept Blackhawks team. He's probably my best pick so far. Rem Pitlick played 10 NHL games this season and was over PPG in AHL so there's a decent chance that he could be a full-time player next season. Not sure what is going on with LaFontaine, he had a strong season statistically during his senior year in college but has yet to sign an NHL deal or any kind of pro deal, not sure what's going on there.

All-in-all, pretty brutal draft for me so far but it could still be salvaged to an extent depending on what happens with Juolevi and Dahlén in particular but also Pitlick.

 

[Zaddy]

All-in-all, pretty brutal draft for me so far but it could still be salvaged to an extent depending on what happens with Juolevi and Dahlén in particular but also Pitlick.

Starting to look better now. Pitlick just scored a hat-trick last night and has 5 points in 5 games as a rookie. Dahlén finally came over and has 6 goals and 8 points through 13 games. Pius Suter still solid. Getting 3 NHLers out of this bunch wouldn't be too bad after how poor it looked initially.