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Thread: Forsbergfan's Mock Draft

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    Default Forsbergfan's Mock Draft

    I know there's a thread open for mock drafts, but it's 11 pages long already.
    Here is my mock of the first round. Would love to hear your opinions.

    1.Buffalo – Rasmus Dahlin. The obvious choice. Nothing more to say.
    2.Carolina – Andrei Svechnikov. There have been those suggesting that Carolina will take Zadina due to his chemistry with Necas at the World Juniors. However, I think that Svechnikov has separated himself from the non-Dahlin pact enough that they have to take him.
    3.Montreal – Filip Zadina . Now that Garth Snow has been fired, and the Bruins don’t have a first round pick, Marc Bergevin has officially the hardest head of any GM to get inside of. Obviously they need a center or a defenceman. However, the third best player in this draft is quite clear. Do they go for positional need, or take the BPA? Last time they had the same issue, with the same pick number, they took a player who they hoped would be their franchise center, yet had some question marks regarding that upside. Go back a few years. Do you think Bergevin would rather have taken Alex Galchenyuk, or say, Filip Forsberg? Do you think that is going to be in the back of his mind this draft? What if they land Tavares (okay, won’t happen, but Bergevin’s obviously gotta have some hope)? Even Ryan O’Reilly. The general rule is you take the best player available. I know I shouldn’t expect that considering the decisions this club has made the past few seasons… Let’s give them the benefit of the doubt this time. For the record, if they don’t take Zadina, I think they go with Quinn Hughes, and not Jesperi Kotkaniemi as the rumours are suggesting.
    4.Ottawa – Brady Tkachuk. This is a tough call. On the one hand, one would think the Sens would take one of the high end defencemen that are available this year, in case Karlsson leaves. On the other hand, if Bob McKenzie says there is a very clear top 4 in this year’s draft, I’m not betting against him. The Sens have loads of forward talent, but that talent is all skill, without any hard nosed top end players in the system. They go with Tkachuk, and will go D with their other first round pick.
    5.Arizona – Oliver Wahlstrom. Everyone seems to be mocking one of the top end dmen to the Coyotes. The last time the Yotes had a high pick, and there were a bunch of high end defencemen available (Sergachev and co.), we all did the same thing. And what did Arizona do? Took Clayton Keller. I think they are salivating over the possibility of Keller and Wahlstrom wreaking havoc on the league together. How many goals could Wahlstrom score with Keller setting him up? Craig Button said he has 50 goal potential, and the Yotes don’t really have a star winger in the system (provided Keller sticks as a center), just some very good ones. They also don’t have a team need on defence, especially after locking up OEL. Plus, they took a dman with their first rounder last year.
    6.Detroit – Jesperi Kotkaniemi. Much like the Habs, another really tough pick. They also need a center or a defenceman. Difference here is they will for sure be taking one of those. It’ll be between Kotkaniemi, Hughes or Bouchard. Kotkaniemi the center with Kopitar-like potential, Hughes, who just played (very well) for Jeff Blashill in the world championships, so there’s already a connection there, or Bouchard, who fits a team need for a minute munching, top pairing defenceman. Ultimately, I think they go with Kotkaniemi. He just fits much better with their needs – they have Larkin, who is more of a Ryan Kesler-like player, not necessary a number 1 center, they’re very high on Michaael Rasmussen, but I don’t think that anyone thinks he’s a number 1 center. They have some very good offensive defencemen in their system (Hronek, Cholowski, Saarijarvi). So they role the dice on Kotkaniemi.
    7.Vancouver – Quinn Hughes. So now we’ve gotten to the 4 non-elite elite defencemen. Which of the next four teams will take each of them? I think the Canucks go with Hughes. He’s got the highest upside with the least question marks (as opposed to Boqvist, who might have higher upside, but more question marks as well). They’ve got Juolevi in the system, who at this point projects as less of an offensive defenceman, but more of an overall well-rounded one. So they could use someone to feed those high-end forwards. Hughes is their best option.
    8.Chicago – Noah Dobson. I think the Hawks’ want a do-it-all dman, since they are so lacking in their prospect pool. They took Jokiharju last year, and he projects as more of a second pairing, PP specialist, so they go with the Alex Pietrangelo clone, who really upped his profile at the Memorial Cup, pushing him a tad over the rest of the dmen available on this list. I also think that they’ve had enough battles with Pietranlgelo and the Blues to know how valuable a defenceman like that is.
    9.NY Rangers – Evan Bouchard. The Rangers have done a very good restocking the prospect cupboard over the past several months. However, they could really use a minute munching, PP running dman, as the rest of their D prospects are more second pairing dmen. Bouchard fits in perfectly with their team needs.
    10.Edmonton – Adam Boqvist. Man, are the Oilers going to be thrilled with this one! They get the defenceman with huge offensive upside, who will be the one feeding McDavid in the very near future. Once the other dmen are off the board, there’s nothing to think about here. Wow, this draft is gonna be nuts – Boqvist could go 4th, or even 3rd overall, and he can drop to 10.
    11. 12. NY Islanders – Joel Farabee and Ty Smith. With two straight picks, I think the Islanders go with one forward and one defenceman. They seem to have an obsession with drafting wingers who could one day play with John Tavares (Dal Colle, Bellows), and they give it another try here. Farabee is the top winger available. Another last ditch effort to get JT to stay. Then they take the best defenceman available. Smith is a bit of insurance in case Ryan Pulock doesn’t wind up reaching his potential.
    13.Dallas – Joe Veleno. They’ve got a center who used to be a child prodigy, but wound up being just a really good player, not elite, once he made the NHL. Also, said player became more of a 2 way threat than a top scorer. Well, that center (Spezza) is nearing his expiration date (especially at his price) so they draft his clone almost 20 years later. They need a center in their prospect pool quite badly. They’ve got great young defencemen, some good wingers, but no centers. This is a great fit. They could also go with Barrett Hayton or Rasmus Kupari, but the Spezza/Veleno comparisons tips it for me.
    14.Philadelphia – Barrett Hayton. The Flyers have the league’s best prospect pool, so there is no team need here. I think they go with Hayton since they will have seen a whole lot of him after scouting Morgan Frost. The two have great chemistry and the Flyers will hope it carried over to the big leagues.
    15.Florida – Vitali Kravtsov. The Panthers could use a top winger to go along with their elite centers. They could go with Denisenko, but Kravtsov has a whole lot more potential. They have shown they are willing to take a risk in the past (Borgstrom way way off the board when they took him, and that one has worked out pretty well!), and they Dadonov over from the KHL last offseason, so they might have less concern over the Russian factor than other teams.
    16.Colorado – Gregori Denisenko. They went D last year with their first two picks (Makar and Timmins) and those D are developing very nicely. They have their top 2 centers locked down. They could use some top end wingers, since the previous wingers they have drafted outside of Rantanen (Greer, Morrison) don’t seem to project as top 6 players, more like middle six, players. Denisenko has a lot of offensive talent, and would fit in very nicely on a 2nd line with Jost.
    17.New Jersey – Bode Wilde. The Devils took a big step forward this year, but they have a huge hole on D in their system. Wilde gives them a D that should easily project as a top 4, with top pairing potential. They need someone like him badly. This is one of the picks I feel most confident in (although Wilde might be gone by now).
    18.Columbus – Rasmus Kupari. Jarmo Kekalinanen loves drafting skilled centers with his top picks (Dubois, Wennberg, Milano, Texier), and you won’t find a much better fit at this point than Kupari. They could also go with Dominik Bokk. However, they are absolutely loaded on the wing, so going with a center who could fill their number 2 spot one day makes more sense.
    19.Philadelphia – Isac Lundestrom. Looking through their system, they could use a Patrice Bergeron-type of shut down center, and they get it in Lundestrom, albeit with lower offensive potential. He’d make a great 3rd line center for them long term.

    GET WELL SOON, DOBBER.

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    Default Re: Forsbergfan's Mock Draft

    Not that I got so many picks right till now, but in my opinion, the draft gets MUCH harder to project from this point on. Between now and to the early 40s, the players are all very closely bunched together. I’ll do my best…

    20.Los Angeles – K’andre Miller. Miller draws comparisons to Ryan McDonagh, and for a team that doesn’t have much in the way of defence prospects outside of Kale Clague, this is a great value. Used to be a forward, so there’s some offensive upside there.
    21.San Jose – Rasmus Sandin. They’ve done well retooling their team getting some good forwards into the mix, however, their defence cupboard is bare. Sandin has a lot of potential, and could wind up being a steal at this point. Definitely a second pairing dman with the potential for even more.
    22.Ottawa – Jonny Tychonick. Pure offense. That’s what they want here, and that’s what they get. Teams have been more open to drafting out of the BCHL, and with their GM being a scout at heart, I think that’s what they do. This pick is a bit off the board, but no other defenceman available has as much offensive upside.
    23.Anaheim – Nils Lundqvist. Ducks, Scandinavian defenceman with offensive upside. Sound familiar? Draws comparisons to Anton Stralman, and the Ducks wouldn’t mind if he turns into him. The kind of player that helps teams in all areas of the game.
    24.Minnesota – Dominik Bokk. No way to know how a new GM will draft, but with a player with so much offensive talent available, how do you not take him? Was very hard for me to slot him so far down, in reality expect him to go higher.
    25.Toronto – Jacob Olofsson. Leafs went D last year, and have an absolute ton of wingers in the system. They also seem to prefer Nylander on the wing, due to his chemistry with Matthews. So there could be a need for a center in the system. Olofsson projects as a very solid mid-line center, which would fit in nicely behind Matthews and Kadri.
    26.NY Rangers – Serron Noel. With 3 picks in the first rounds, the Rangers can afford to draft a project with sky high potential, however he is a huge (and I mean huge, considering his size) project.
    27.Chicago – Ty Dellandrea. He’s the Morgan Frost of this year’s draft. Late round pick that goes to a team with 2 first round picks. Had a good season, and poised to totally break out next season. Lots of offensive potential here. Was great on a horrible team.
    28.NY Rangers – Jonathan Berggren. The last time a team had 3 first round picks, it was the Blue Jackets a few years ago, and then went with one high end player (Wennberg), one project with potential that might not pan out (Rychel, and he didn’t!), and one third line spark plug with some offensive upside (Dano). That’s the model I used for the Rangers. Berggren is their spark plug who could play from the top line down to the 3rd line. Draws comparisons to Viktor Arvidsson.
    29.St. Louis – Jared McIsaac. The Blues are loaded with prospects, but it’s been a while since they’ve taken a defenceman with a high pick. Just about all their top young defencemen are more offensive oriented, so they go with a safe, shutdown dman with the pick.
    30.Detroit – Akil Thomas. Hard working player that could wind up with top six offensive upside. Just seems like a Red Wings type of player.
    31.Washington – Martin Kaut. This guy is a playmaker. That’s his calling card. On a team that has some guy named Alex Ovechkin, that’s an asset in high demand.

    GET WELL SOON, DOBBER.

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    Default Re: Forsbergfan's Mock Draft

    Absolutely awesome breakdown! Two thumbs up.
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    Default Re: Forsbergfan's Mock Draft

    I like these rankings but I believe at pick No. 6 Detroit loves them some Quinn Hughes. They'd bend over to get their home town boy. At Pick No.7 Vancouver is all about Noah Dobson. (Assuming Hughes does indeed get picked at No.6) all in all nice work!!
    Head to Head format. 31 GM team league. 24 Player Roster, 2 Goalies, 6 Defenceman, 10 Forwards, 4 Reserve Spots, 30/15 Rule (30 NHL GP for players,15 for Goalies). Point categories: GP, G, A, PM, SHG, PPG, OTG, Hits, Blocked Shots, G Goals, G Assists, Save%, shutouts, G Wins, Saves.

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    Default Re: Forsbergfan's Mock Draft

    Great mock forsbergfan - better breakdown!

    I agree with Yohyoh - DET will grab Hughes. I also suspect TOR would grab Dellandrea - he is a born and bred Toronto boy and has the skills to move into the 2C position - eventually replacing Kadri with Kadri slipping into a checking line 3C.

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    Default Re: Forsbergfan's Mock Draft

    I hope you are wrong about Chicago since I wouldn't be happy with either pick. Nice job overall. Good explanations.
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    RW- Raymond, Stone, TWilson, Toffoli, KJohnson, Nyqvist, Zary
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    Default Re: Forsbergfan's Mock Draft

    Fun to read, rep given.

    Just a suggestion: would be helpful to put a space between names, or bold names, for those that just want to skim the list!

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    Default Re: Forsbergfan's Mock Draft

    Awesome breakdown but I think Coorado will be picking 4th overall, not Ottawa!!
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    Default Re: Forsbergfan's Mock Draft

    Thanks for the responses. Here r my thoughts...
    I can't see any scenario where the sens give up 4th overall. While we might not have much hope for the senators next year, their management has to. They've got to bet on their team, so they'll keep the high pick and bet on being better next season.
    Regarding Hughes and Detroit, there's a very good chance u guys r right about it. There's the hometown connection, plus the blashill connection. However, my thoughts process is that if they draft him, then their top 4 defence prospect all play a fairly similar game. If they r going D, I think they'll take bouchard. So once we've left the thought process of them taking Hughes based on off ice connections, then I think they take the potential top line center over the minute munching dman.
    Bit could definitely see it playing out the way u guys do. And I also agree that if the wings take Hughes, that Vancouver is taking Dobson.
    All this could be thrown for a huge loop I'd the habs take a center or a dman. Then everything changes. Sens take zadina, yotes take tkachuk, detroit takes who kotkaniemi or bouchard, vanxouver still takes a dman, either Hughes or Dobson, but Chicago or nyr takes wahlstrom instead of a dman.

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