The only mock draft you will ever need...

[FiveForDrawingBlood]

How is Mark McNeill's skating and hockey sense?

 

[Bills09]

Id be a little upset if the leafs passed on Catenacci in the 2nd.

 

[danishh]

52 belongs to the sens, though gibson probably works for us as well.

 

[BruinsPortugal]

Prince in the 2nd round? If he falls i can definitely see that happening, and i would be thrilled.

 

[AwesomePanthers]

I like Floridas second round picks A LOT more than our 1st. No one is gonna take Biggs at #5, that would be a waste of an impact pick.

 

[Chainshot]

Defensemen in Buffalo's pipeline:

Brayden McNabb
Mark Pysyk
Drew Schiestel
T.J. Brennan
Jerome Gauthier-Leduc
Matt MacKenzie

I've said it before on a bunch of these mock drafts, but due to Buffalo's lack of 2nd round pick, they are virtually forced into drafting a center with their 1st.

The only way this doesn't happen is if Regier makes two significant moves for centers prior to the draft.

Precisely. They will be looking at BFA -- best forward available. They will likely move the pick if Duncan were there to slip down a few and get more picks later in the draft.

 

[BIG BLUE]

if your draft went like that, then given who is left when Toronto's 2nd happens, I'd personally want
Catenacci or Noesen for that pick

 

[Juxtaposer]

Sharks will take the best forward available.

That is all.

 

[BelovedIsles]

If the Devils do pick at around 15th, I can see them grabing a McNeil or Philips. They really don't need a LW.

Wait...I thought the Devils were all over Larsson?

 

[wej20]

Isn't Nick Shore a centre? I'm sure he centres the line Beau Bennett plays on in Denver.

 

[R S]

How is Mark McNeill's skating and hockey sense?

Both very good.

 

[headsigh]

At face value I wouldn't be opposed to be drafting herpaderp (as he's called on the Thrasher boards), that would solely be a Best Player Available pick. One of Atlanta's organizational strengths is the center position, with Burmistrov, Telegin, Cormier, John Albert, Daultan Leveille off the top of my head. I think that it's a very real possibility Atlanta trades down and selects a winger like Brandon Saad or Joel Armia, who we're very high on.

I could see us trading back into the 2nd or late 1st to take a guy like Seth Ambroz or Rickard Rakell.

 

[Tretyak 20]

Wait...I thought the Devils were all over Larsson?

Well, if he's still available at 15th(ish) overall, we'll gladly take him!

 

[8BostonRocker24]

5-FLA – Tyler Biggs, RW, USNTP (USHL)
With a deep group of forward prospects, the Panthers add some drive and leadership.

I just don't see it...


I am following Tyler Biggs closer then any other prospect in this draft, he is BY FAR the most interesting prospect and has shot up the cart but I just don't see Florida picking him this high.

(IMO) They reached last year with Erik Gudbranson and I just can't see them reaching again.

 

[spikelechien]

Was curious about that myself.

31-EDM-Rickard Rakell, RW, Plymouth (OHL)
With Lander and Paajarvi, the skilled and intense Rakell creates a solid second line for the Oil.

61-VAN-Stuart Percy, D, Mississauga (OHL)
The astute first-pass is key to the Canucks success and Percy does it better than most.

Wow, an excellent mock draft when there are very few excellent mock drafts.

Note only do we agree or come close to agreeing on most of my favourites:
1. Zibanejad 10 vs 11
2. Puempel 14 vs 12
3. McNeill 19 vs 15
4. Jaskin 20 vs 22
5. Scheifele 22 vs 18
6. Miller 25 vs 25
7. Morrow 34 vs 28
8. St. Croix 49 vs 43
9. Hofmann 55 vs 66.
10. Percy 61 vs 55.

We also agree on some of my not so favourites:
1. Jurco 36 vs 41
2. Bell 54 vs 52

The only guys I have a problem with are the 2 Seattle guys (Jacobs and Noebels) whom I admit I haven’t seen too much of and Danault (Michal Bournival 2.0 who has lots of desire but only a 3rd line skillset). Also, Oleksiak while he is probably in the right range for his abilities will likely go much higher than even I think like Dylan McGrath went last year. Anyways, great job - are you going to do the 3rd round - would love to see it if you are considering it.

 

[arsmaster*]

Wow, an excellent mock draft when there are very few excellent mock drafts.

Note only do we agree or come close to agreeing on most of my favourites:
1. Zibanejad 10 vs 11
2. Puempel 14 vs 12
3. McNeill 19 vs 15
4. Jaskin 20 vs 22
5. Scheifele 22 vs 18
6. Miller 25 vs 25
7. Morrow 34 vs 28
8. St. Croix 49 vs 43
9. Hofmann 55 vs 66.
10. Percy 61 vs 55.

We also agree on some of my not so favourites:
1. Jurco 36 vs 41
2. Bell 54 vs 52

The only guys I have a problem with are the 2 Seattle guys (Jacobs and Noebels) whom I admit I haven’t seen too much of and Danault (Michal Bournival 2.0 who has lots of desire but only a 3rd line skillset). Also, Oleksiak while he is probably in the right range for his abilities will likely go much higher than even I think like Dylan McGrath went last year. Anyways, great job - are you going to do the 3rd round - would love to see it if you are considering it.

ikelechien,

You posts are very informative, one statement I would like to point out is you seem to be comparing your "ranking" with other peoples "mocks", I view the 2 as completely different.

I would be interested to see how your mock draft compares to your ranking, as you seem to have a decent grasp on prospects as well as formatting and explaing your selections.

I had a 2 round mock draft of my own as well, but it got bumped to the mock draft forum. I didnt explain all my selections, I thought I would explain my selections in the thread, but once a mock draft gets bumped to the mock draft section, sadly it dies.

Kyle West, really good mock.

 

[Granlund2Pulkkinen*]

ISo yeah, no complaints

EDIT: I think Jonas Brodin might be my new favourite player, get him to play forward and Vancouver takes him

Sedin-Sedin-Brodin

The All-Brother line.

Brodin is a defender

 

[Rhodes 81]

with little, burmistrov, and cormier in the system the thrashers seem set at center for a while. i think we'd be more likely to take someone like armia or saad.

our weakest organizational depth is on the wings. we don't really have any top-6 winger talent besides what is already on our team in kane, ladd, and wheeler, and the last two would look a hell of a lot more attractive on the 2nd line than the first.

 

[PlayMakers]

Geez Kyle, you really did a great job. Kudos. You should put this up on the site.

I'd be very happy with Hamilton and Prince for the B's.

 

[Crede777]

I will be sad if the Jackets pass on J. Gibson in the 2nd. We have no goaltending depth behind Mason (besides maybe Allen York).

From what I've read, he wasn't a night/day difference from Campbell the season before which is definitely a plus.

 

[WTFMAN99]

I have a feeling Colorado taps Sean instead of Ryan simply because Avs are kind of loaded at centre, probably need some wings or defense at this point.

 

[danishh]

I have a feeling Colorado taps Sean instead of Ryan simply because Avs are kind of loaded at centre, probably need some wings or defense at this point.

but they're both natural centers...


and yeah, you should definitely publish this somewhere kyle. Pretty much the best mock draft i've seen in years.

 

[Helsingin Jokerit]

Only thing with I disagree in this mock is that #1 ranked european goaltender Samu Perhonen didn't go in the 2 first rounds.

In my opinion he has higher ceiling than J.Gibson has.

 

[sg58]

Only thing with I disagree in this mock is that #1 ranked european goaltender Samu Perhonen didn't go in the 2 first rounds.

In my opinion he has higher ceiling than J.Gibson has.

Couldn't agree more, Perhonen is the best goalie available from what I've seen. (Not counting Hellberg since he's 2 years ahead).

 

[spikelechien]

ikelechien,

You posts are very informative, one statement I would like to point out is you seem to be comparing your "ranking" with other peoples "mocks", I view the 2 as completely different.

I would be interested to see how your mock draft compares to your ranking, as you seem to have a decent grasp on prospects as well as formatting and explaing your selections.

I had a 2 round mock draft of my own as well, but it got bumped to the mock draft forum. I didnt explain all my selections, I thought I would explain my selections in the thread, but once a mock draft gets bumped to the mock draft section, sadly it dies.

Kyle West, really good mock.

U are right, of course, but they shouldn’t be too different from your rankings if everyone is close to drafting BPA (best prospect available) and U don’t try to get in the head of Garth Snow or Dean Lombardi (not recommended). I haven’t seen your mock, I will go and look at it.

I am not ready to do a mock, in any case, and Kyle is doing such a good job. Later in the year, I usually do individual mocks for 6-8 teams on the clubs individual forums - suggesting 3-4 players for each draft position of the club. It allows for more discussion and gets the team’s fans thinking about more than just their 1st selection. Last year the only flak I got was from LA when I suggested that Lombardi was likely to draft a D in the 1st (and he did) and their system was stoked with D’s.


Interesting comments on this thread about the goalies, a subject I usually defer to others so as not expose my ignorance. However, at the risk of exposure, my top 4 goalies are:
1. Hellberg, Magnus
2. Gibson, Christopher
3. Perhonen, Samu
4. Gibson, John.

If you want to explore the goalie situation a little further, a good place to start is Jerry Shields blog @ http://www.goalierankings.com/.

In my opinion, this is not a very good year for goalies, especially from Canada. In fact, it is so bad that Team Canada is looking at Midget, Bantam and any good looking 6-year old for Team Canada @ the U18’s this year. OK, so I threw in the Bantams and the 6-year old but U get the picture - bad year for Canadian goalies.