Yesterday I brought you the first half of our NHL Mock Draft. You can read Part 1 (picks 1-14) here and Part 3 (picks 31-48) here and Part 4 (Picks 49-65) here
Before we move into the second half, lets quickly review the FAQs about this mock draft.
– Our draft Rankings are arrived at jointly, while the mock draft is my work alone. So if I go away from the rankings greatly that could be one reason why.
– The rankings are pure “Best Player Available”. The mock draft takes into account team style of play, the prospects already in the team’s system, and prior draft trends, this is another reason why I haven’t followed the ranks exactly.
Edit: June 13th, the New Jersey Devils have decided to keep their pick, so we will be adding them in.
– I am doing a mock draft with no trades (except those that have already been made).
– If you click the player’s name, you will get a link to their draft profile.
Got it? Good. Lets move to part 2 of the mock draft.
15) Ottawa Senators – Codi Ceci
Bryan Murray is thrilled to see the 67s defence product still on the board. Since Murray came aboard the team has acquired a number of former 67s and other local Ottawa area players, so this certainly fits with the local philosophy. Ceci is an excellent defence prospect in a draft full of them. Last year the Senators loaded up on forwards taking Mika Zibanejad, Matt Puempel, Stefan Noesen, Shane Prince, and Jean Gabriel Pageau with their 5 of their first 6 picks, with the only exception a 3rd rounder that was traded to Columbus for Nikita Filatov. After a draft like that, and the Rundblad for Turris trade, replenishing the D pipeline makes sense, especially with so many D available at this point in the draft.
16) Washington Capitals – Matt Finn
At pick 11 the Capitals took centre Radek Faksa, with the thinking being that George McPhee loves two way centremen. At pick 16 the Capitals follow another of their recent draft trends by taking a two way defenceman, who is a very good skater. The Capitals have depth on the main club and in their system at all positions, and adding a guy like Finn just adds to it.
17) San Jose Sharks – Zemgus Girgensons
The Sharks are pleased that the best available player is a forward. They are able to take Girgensons and add him to a position where they have needs. The Sharks may be deeper at Centre than at Wing, but this is a team that hasn’t been afraid to play centres on the wing in order to load up their forward lines.
18) Chicago Blackhawks – Derrick Pouliot
Pouliot already wheres a similar uniform playing for the Portland Winterhawks, so its easy to envision him in a Blackhawks jersey. Pouliot is a pure offensive defenceman with great skating, and while it may take time he could develop into a player similar to Brian Campbell who the Hawks traded away last year. With Picks of Mark McNeill and Brandon Saad last year, Pouliot fills an organizational need as well as being the best available player here.
19) Tampa Bay Lightning (from Detroit) – Malcolm Subban
The Lightning addressed the Defence Core earlier with Griffin Reinhart picked at 10. At 19 they take the best goalie in this draft, tabbing Malcolm Subban from the Belleville Bulls. Subban won’t fix the Lightning’s immediate need for a goalie, but he will allow them to develop a future starter.
20) Philadelphia Flyers – Slater Koekkoek
The Flyers made over the team’s offence in the last year with the additions of Brayden Schenn, Schenn Couturier, Matt Read, and Wayne Simmonds. At the back end, Kimmo Timmonen is still playing well, but he is getting older, and Chris Pronger’s career in jeopardy. Slater Koekkoek is a talented defender who would have been taken slightly earlier if not for a shoulder injury, so the FLyers are pleased to get him.
21) Buffalo Sabres (from Nashville) – Hampus Lindholm
The Sabres used their own pick to take Sebastian Collberg. They use the Nashville Predators pick to take Hampus Lindholm, giving them two Swedes in this year’s draft. The Sabres will hope that the talented PP QB will develop into someone who can dish passes to Tyler Myers and Christian Ehrhoff and allow them to be the trigger men at the point of the Sabres PP.
22) Pittsburgh Penguins – Pontus Aberg
The Penguins always seem to be on the search for wingers to play with their trio of talented centres. This year they take Aberg, the Swedish Sniper. He has speed to burn, and is a sharp shooter with a great one timer, and I’m sure he’ll look great converting passes from Malkin, Crosby, or even Staal.
23) Florida Panthers – Tomas Hertl
The Panthers have accumulated a ton of picks and prospects in recent years under Dale Tallon. This gives them the opportunity to draft for a pure best player available. The Panthers see the Talented Hertl as fulfilling that need, and a potential future linemate for the talented Jonathan Huberdeau.
24) Boston Bruins – Brady Skjei
The Boston Bruins go for an American Defencemen with offensive skills here. Skjei and Dougie Hamilton could form and effective PP tandem for the Bruins going forward, plus he’d give the Boston faithful an actual reason to chant “USA, USA” when Canadian based teams are in the Garden, while other than their goalie who doesn’t support the way the country is being run.
25) St. Louis Blues – Ludvig Bystrom
The Blues continue to build from the net out with the addition of the Swedish Defender Ludvig Bystrom. With Alex Pietrangelo, and Kevin Shattenkirk, Bystrom would give the Blues an excellent stable of puck movers on their blue line going forward.
26) Vancouver Canucks – Tom Wilson
Mike Gillis identified an organizational need for big, tough forwards and addressed this need by acquiring Zach Kassian at the trade deadline. Gillis continues the work of toughening up the Canucks forward lines by taking the hulking Wilson. Wilson and Kassian could team together in a few years to form a Vancouver chapter of the Bruise Brothers.
27) Phoenix Coyotes – Henrik Samuelsson
The Phoenix Coyotes are thrilled with this pick. They take the Best Player Available, and he fills an organizational need for a young power forward as well. On top of that, its a player who is a marketting dream, (a kid born in Scottsdale, Arizona) and someone they are very familar with as Ulf Samuelsson was a Coyotes’ assistant coach from 2006 through 2011.
28) New York Rangers – Colton Sissons
Glen Sather loves big, physical players, and as such takes the best prospect who possesses those attributes with the 28th overall pick. The young Sissons also oozes intangibles and leadership something the Rangers have been very big on in recent years. The Kelowna captain seems a perfect fit for the Broadway Blue Shirts.
29) New Jersey Devils – Michael Matheson
Lou Lamoriello has always believed in mobile defensive defensemen, and takes Matheson out of the USHL’s Fighting Saints. Matheson is an excellent skater who plays a solid two way game. The Devils were extremely pleased to get Adam Larsson in 2011, and hope that they have found another anchor to their defense core here.
30) Los Angeles Kings – Phil DiGiuseppe
Scott Howson and the Blue Jackets decline their option on taking the Kings pick and choose to take the 2013 selection from the Jeff Carter trade. The Kings take DiGiuseppe who played this season at the University of Michigan and is the best available player at this point in the draft. The Kings add the winger, and will look for him to continue to grow at the NCAA level before bringing him to the pros.
I’ve decided that 30 picks aren’t enough…. so I’m gonna give a freebie pick 31.
After the draft Columbus ownership is so upset with the decision to wait for the 2013 draft (Its a good decision, but they are upset anyway) and they fire GM Scott Howson immediately after TSN and the NHL Network go off the air in Pittsburgh. Needing an immediate replacement, they bring in Mike Keenan. His first act as GM is to make the Blue Jackets pick in the 2nd round of the draft. Keenan hasn’t been doing any draft preparation, obviously, but when he asks the Columbus scouts for a list of the 5 best available players, one name stands out to Keenan.
31) Columbus Blue Jackets (1st pick of the 2nd round) – Stefan Matteau
Keenan does what he always does when taking over a new team, he acquires Stefan Matteau. Of course I’m just joking with the whole Mike Keenan scenario, but I do believe that Matteau would be a good pick for the Blue Jackets here. A young power foward prospect to help build some up front depth amongst their prospects, especially with the possible trade of Rick Nash this summer.
Check in tomorrow as we will continue the draft prospect profiles with #52.
Part 4 (Picks 49-65) is available here.
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For a listing of NHL Mock drafts around the internet, please check out our friends at the NHL mock database.
…. and Thats the Last Word.
