Here’s my list of who I would select if it were up to me for each team, not my prediction or even ranking of how the draft will or should go:
1. New Jersey Devils – Jack Hughes – C – USNTDP – Gifted skater and playmaker with excellent vision and speed. Has skills to amplify those of teammates around him.
2. New York Rangers – Kaapo Kakko – RW – Turku (Finland) – Very well rounded multi-tooled player with excellent offensive possession and protection skills. Most physically mature and ready prospect in Draft.
3. Chicago Blackhawks – Bowen Byram – D – Vancouver Giants (WHL) – Offensive blueliner still has a ton of development to go and projects highly as a major anchor on the back end at the next level. Excellent shooting decisions and placement.
4. Colorado Avalanche – Matthew Boldy – LW – USNTDP – My biggest sleeper in this entire draft. Highly capable playmaking power forward can create from everywhere. Type of player teams need to win, bit of a matchup nightmare with tons of room to build on very projectable pro frame.
5. Los Angeles Kings – Cole Caufield – RW – USNTDP – Think Cam Atkinson, with perhaps better scoring instincts and release…yeah, that’s right. He’s a shorter player, not a smaller player.
6. Detroit Red Wings – Philip Broberg – D – AIK (Sweden) – Good sized puck rushing defender with very good rotational strength and use of reach. He’s a one man zone entry and a real threat on the PP from the point.
7. Buffalo Sabres – Kirby Dach – F – Saskatoon Blades (WHL) – Power forward potential and a dangerous net area presence. Fits nicely in Sabres developing lineup and fills a void.
8. Edmonton Oilers – Spencer Knight – G – USNTDP – Only real high-end goaltender in the draft to have emerged so far. Has the poise, maturity and potential to get to the league early (20-21 years old) but also best bargaining chip for an Oilers team who may try to expedite success through moves.
9. Anaheim Ducks – Alex Turcotte – C – USNTDP – Highly intelligent catalyst type playmaker with excellent instinct and vision around the puck.
10. Vancouver Canucks – Arthur Kaliyev – F – Hamilton Bulldogs (OHL) – Podkolzin the other real option here, Kaliyev is a Mark Stone-type offensive player with incredible hands around the net, very good size who would amplify the offensive dynamic the Canucks continue to build on through the draft and prospect development.
11. Philadelphia Flyers – Trevor Zegras – C – USNTDP – Highly skilled forward who shows some very good versatility and ability to mesh with high-end, high-speed players.
12. Minnesota Wild – Dylan Cozens – C – Lethbridge Hurricanes (WHL) – Explosive forward who still has a ton of room for physical and game sense growth. First steps and linear power are impossible to ignore. High character.
13. Florida Panthers – Vasily Podkolzin – RW – St. Petersburg (Russia) – Once regarded as a top 3, Podkolzin is a bit of a steal at 13 still. Highly competitive player with great skills, he may be one of the best net drivers in the entire draft.
14. Arizona Coyotes – Thomas Harley – D – Mississauga Steelheads (OHL) – Mobile defender with very good puck skills from the line, is not far off from the skill set, instinct or ability that led Rasmus Dahlin to go number 1 in 2018. High end potential with continued physical maturation and development.
15. Montreal Canadiens – Peyton Krebs – C – Winnipeg ICE (WHL) – Krebs is one of the most intelligent and versatile players in the whole draft. High work ethic with high end character, he has the potential to play up and down a line up including being a top line playmaker.
16 – Colorado Avalanche – Cam York – D – USNTDP – Perhaps the most complete defender available in the draft, Avs would smash a massive homerun with a Boldy/York or similar haul in the first round. Yikes!
17 – Vegas Golden Knights – Alex Newhook – C – Victoria (BCHL) – Incredible hands, has the long-term potential to be a Jonathan Marchessault type player who can electrify a crowd offensively and Vegas can afford to develop him properly for the next few years. Great fit.
18. Dallas Stars – Nicholas Robertson – F – Peterborough Petes (OHL) – Might have some of, if not the most creative moves in the entire draft class. He is really fun to watch around the puck and can really inject some life into the offense at times. At this stage of the draft, he’s a good pick up for a team like Dallas.
19. Ottawa Senators – Raphael Lavoie – W – Halifax Mooseheads (QMJHL) – I think it’s almost criminal for a player of his calibre and potential to fall to this spot, but this could be the Ottawa Senator’s lucky day. This kid has a ton of the same skills and perceived deficiencies that Mark Stone did coming into his draft year, great hands with lots of room to build his skating stride and acceleration mechanics. Pretty solid consolation prize for Sens fans if this happens to work out.
20. New York Rangers – Moritz Seider – D – Manheim (Germany) – Mature and near-NHL ready defender plays a very controlled style and excels at transitioning quickly into open lanes and up ice. Along with Kakko, these guys could realistically be the faces of the franchise in 3 years.
21. Pittsburgh Penguins – Jakob Pelletier – F – Moncton Wildcats (QMJHL) – Maybe my biggest stretch, but I gotta say, this kid impresses me and I think he fits well in the next phase of the Penguins prospect development. He has a great motor and dazzling puck skills and could be a player that really meshes with Crosby and Malkin at the twilight of their careers 4-5 years down the road (can’t believe I just uttered that sentence…)
22. Los Angeles Kings – Alex Vlasic – D – USNTDP – Big rangy defender projects very well and still has a ton of room to get bigger and stronger. Has a bit of a throwback feel to him but with new age instincts. Reliable and trustworthy on almost every shift, in almost every situation.
23. New York Islanders – Brett Leason – RW – Prince Albert Raiders (WHL) – Late blooming net-driving offensive power forward fits incredibly well into the Islanders 2-3 year projected lineup. Forces defensive schemes outside the dots and wins a ton of contested pucks. Add his nose for the net and his prospect and development trajectory speaks for itself.
24. Nashville Predators – Kaedan Korczak – D – Kelowna Rockets (WHL) – Korczak is the stereotypical Nashville draft prospect. An incredibly intelligent, gritty and hard working defensive minded defender, he can mitigate highly risky partners or lead a shutdown pair. He’s a warrior.
25. Washington Capitals – Victor Soderstrom – D – Brynas (Sweden) – Reliable, safe and mature defender with excellent mobility. Very much a what-you-see-is-what-you-get type defender, he has poise and composure well beyond his years. Already has the look of a 5-6 year veteran.
26. Calgary Flames – Lassi Thomson – D – Kelowna Rockets (WHL) – The intelligence and game reads this player made every time I saw him play this year left me really excited to track his development. It would not shock me at all if Thomson emerges as one of the steals of this draft wherever he goes. Really looks like he would be a good fit in the prospect mix and 3-4 year makeup of the Flames.
27. Tampa Bay Lightning – Ryan Suzuki – C – Barrie Colts (OHL) – Cerebral offensive playmaker who shows a real studious methodology to the way he plays the game. Excellent passer with emerging versatility. Type of player who doesn’t seem to stop learning, which seems to be a trend the Lightning prospects of recent years have in common.
28. Carolina Hurricanes – Connor McMichael – F – London Knights (OHL) – I can’t see this pick not being either McMichael or Jamieson Rees. They fit the Jerks mandate to a T…or a J….whatever…McMichael is an ultra consistent offensive player with high end skills and excellent pace to his game.
29 – Anaheim Ducks – Bobby Brink – F – Sioux City (USHL) – Very talented offensive player was a standout at almost every turn this season, be it in the USHL where he was named top forward, World Junior A Challenge where he was one of the most electrifying offensive players or U18s where made a dangerous US team that much more potent. Great release and quick reactions around puck make him incredibly deceptive to track defensively. Skating and foot mobility overall need to improve for next level.
30 – Buffalo Sabres – Brayden Tracey – LW – Moose Jaw Warriors (WHL) – Pure shooting winger has tremendous goal scoring instinct and vision. While projected to be more of a complimentary offensive player, paired with the right playmaker he could be a significant scoring threat at the next level in a few years.
31 – Boston Bruins – Matthew Robertson – D – Edmonton Oil Kings (WHL) – Versatile defender has strong poise with the puck, good skating foundation and two-way understanding to mix with very good puck distribution skills. He still has a ton of development left to do but he’s a pretty safe bet to make it to the next level and can be moulded to fit a variety of roles.
*** Don’t worry Blues fans or Bruins haters, I will edit this based on Game 7s result!
Best on the board in round 2: Jamieson Rees, Phillip Tomasino, Egor Afanasyev, Samuel Poulin, Tobias Bjornfot, Ilya Nikolaev, Vladislav Kolyachonok, Hunter Jones, Pyotr Kochetkov, Nathan Legare, Ville Heinola
Follow along on twitter on June 21-22 live from Vancouver @rossmaclean