NHL Mock Draft - PICKS

[Zorro]

5.9 Tuukka Rask G BOS

[SensArmy93]

5.10 - G Pekka Rinne - NSH

Might as well grab a top-tier goalie now before they're gone.

[hockeypoolfanatic]

5.11 - F Tom Wilson - WAS

I know this pick may seem like a reach but hear me out.

In leagues that counts PIMs and Hits, Wilson is a beast. With the new contract (how the hell did he get north of $5M!?!?) he’ll be out to prove the doubters wrong who don’t believe he’s worth the money (myself included).

Wilson spent 62% of his even strength ice time flanking either Kuzy/Ovy or Backstrom/Ovy. Them’s some plum linemates. If he sticks with them next season I’m confident he can maintain his offensive production and possibly surpass the 40-point barrier for the first time in his career. I can’t imagine Reirden moving Wilson off Ovy’s line. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Why else would they pay him $5+ mill per year? To play on the bottom 6? No way. He’s on Ovy’s line to stay.

Another top 5-10 finish in PIMs and Hits is also likely. If that is the case he is a top 20 player with the league cats, thus worth a pick in the 5th round.

[pmorrow]

Jonathan Quick
Torey Krug

[hockeypoolfanatic]

6.2 F Jonathan Marchessault - VGK

[SensArmy93]

6.3 - C Joe Pavelski - SJS

[Zorro]

6.4 Artemi Panarin LW CBJ

[The Comish]

6.5 G-Marc-Andre Fleury VGK

I was really hoping one of Rinne or Rask would make it back to my pick, but I'll settle for MAF.

[PenguinHunter]

6.6 John Gibson - Ducks

Young goalie on the raise, 2.43 and .926 last year... Give me more of that. A healthier ducks team makes me think they make the playoffs again and Gibson gets a decent amount of wins.

[StuntMan12]

6.7 Leon Draisaitl (F) - Edmonton Oilers

Draisaitl is going to pick up a lot of ppp since he is on the same PP unit as the best offensive player in the NHL.

[GinFizz]

6.8 Mitch Marner

#tradebait

[Pengwin7]

One of the recent trends in fantasy hockey is the death of goons (figuratively).
The 5-11 pick of Tom Wilson seems quizzical, but with PIM getting scarce, the value per PIM increases.
It IS a rare gem. PIM. Mass-PIM will no longer be laying around on the waiver wire.
It WILL be drafted, so Wilson was going to go in rounds 5-8, for sure.

I used to toot-my-horn about predicting fights... and while I can do it quite well, there's just less and less options.
One or two GMs roster the few remaining PIM hounds... and the strategy becomes... unavailable.

So - one must really push hard to get their PIM lumped in with some offense.
I'm not big on the Wilson pick because one simply can't sacrifice other early-round cats (scoring) just to stockpile two cats (PIM/HIT).
There was a better choice there, and fortunately he has fallen to me:

With the 6-9 pick, Pengwin's Penguins select roto-cat extraordinaire & possible (finally?!) 65+pt scorer, Evander Kane.
This is the team (/lockerroom) where he'll finally click.
[Of note: Dump Kane's abysmally sour Jan/Feb, where he knew he'd be traded, and perhaps he puts up 65 last year. He was pacing for it at the calendar turn.]



4 of last year's top 10 SOG-masters... owned by yours truly. (3.Burns, 4.EKane, 9.Kucherov)
Shoot 'em up!

[pmorrow]

Per Finny's list: William Nylander

[DusterDave]

Devan Dubnyk

[Eskimo Brother]

Damn I wanted Kane.

Dave you should also know you can pick goalies on the second half of the turn as I usually let them go.

For my pick, I'll take the older version of Kane, on the RW: Patrick Hornqvist.

And to kick off the 7th round, we go with a young, stat stuffing defenceman: Ivan Provorov.