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Now that the Stanley Cup has been won, I will be releasing the second round of my 3rd annual NHL mock draft.
For those who haven’t read the LWOS mock before here are the rules.
1) No trades except for those that have already been made by NHL teams.
2) A two-round Mock draft will be done in four parts. The first two parts (ie the first round) are published. The next two parts (ie the second round) will be done today and tomorrow.
3) Clicking the Player’s name will bring you to a full scouting report.
You can click here for part 1 (1-15)
You can click here for part 2 (16-30)
You can click here for part 3 (31-45)
So with that out of the way, I present.
The LWOS 2014 NHL Mock Draft Second Round
(Picks 46-60)
46. Nashville Predators (from Detroit) – Brett Pollock, C/LW, Edmonton Oil Kings, WHL
Previous Picks: Jared McCann, Chase De Leo,
Just four picks after his last selection, Predators GM David Poile returns to the draft podium. He continues his run on offensive skill taking Brett Pollock who has the versatility to play Centre or Left Wing, and was fantastic for the Oil Kings in the WHL playoffs, helping them to win the league, and eventually the Memorial Cup. He’s also a two-way player which certainly fits in Nashville.
47. Columbus Blue Jackets – Blake Siebenaler, D, Niagara Ice Dogs, OHL
Previous Pick: Sonny Milano
After going forward with their first pick, the Blue Jackets go for the slick-skating Siebenaler out of Niagara. He’s really improved as the season has gone on and may have been Niagara’s best defenceman down the stretch and into the playoffs. He’s still got some things to work on in his game, but the potential here is high and the Blue Jackets have a young defence already. They can afford to wait for Siebenaler and hope this project brings a big return.
48. Philadelphia Flyers – Spencer Watson, RW, Kingston Frontenacs, OHL
Previous Pick: Roland McKeown
The Flyers go for the pure offensive potential in Watson here. He’s a little undersized but scored a lot of goals off the wing for the Kingston Frontenacs. He’s cleary the best player left on the board at this point, and has slipped a little in this mock draft, but new Flyers GM Ron Hextall puts an end to that fall, and is very pleased to see him available.
49. Buffalo Sabres (from Minnesota) – Alex Nedeljkovic, G, Plymouth Whalers, OHL
Previous Picks: Sam Reinhart, Nick Schmaltz, Anton Karlsson
The Sabres are back to the draft board for the 3rd time in the round and the fourth time overall. They went centre, centre, winger with the first three picks. Here they go for a goaltender who had a tremendous season with the Plymouth Whalers before leading Team USA to the Under-18 Gold Medal this spring. The Sabres have so many picks (not just this year, but recent years) that they just have to keep accumulating talent and position concerns don’t really come into play.
50. Tampa Bay Lightning – Vladislav Namenev, LW/C, Magnitogorsk, KHL
Previous Picks: Adrian Kempe, Anthony DeAngelo
Steve Yzerman has never been afraid of the “Russian Factor” as the Lightning have drafted as many Russians as any other team in recent years. He again ignores the KHL threat and goes for the talented two way forward out of Magnitogorsk. Namenev is a pretty safe pick in terms of talent (ie if we ignore the political concerns). He is so good fundamentally, and has decent size, so even if he doesn’t make it in a top 6 role, he still has a decent chance to make the Lightning as a bottom line player in a few years time.
51. San Jose Sharks – John Quenneville, LW/C, Brandon Wheat Kings, WHL
Previous Pick: Kevin Fiala
As mentioned earlier, the Sharks prospect pool doesn’t have the depth of some other teams, so in rebuilding it they go for the best player available. There is no position that is so deep that they need to fill other needs first. Quenneville is the highest ranked player on the board so the Sharks take the two-way forward who is the cousin of Blackhawks head coach Joel Quenneville.
52. St. Louis Blues – Brayden Point, C, Moose Jaw Warriors, WHL
Previous Picks – Nikolay Goldobin, Jack Dougherty
With 91 points this season, Point was amongst the highest scoring draft eligible players in the CHL, so why does he go in the late second round? Really the one thing Point lacks is size at just 5’9″. He has all the skills though, skating, vision, shot, its all there. For the Blues who have a team and system full of big, physical forwards, having one small, skilled player shouldn’t be too big of an issue, especially one with Point’s abilities.
53. San Jose Sharks (from Pittsburgh) – Jayce Hawryluk, C, Brandon Wheat Kings, WHL
Previous Picks: Kevin Fiala, John Quenneville
Just two picks after taking Quenneville, the Sharks are back to the podium and they grab his teammate and often-times linemate Jayce Hawryluk. The two have chemistry and the two members of the Brandon Wheat Kings both bring the type of strong two-way play and grit that defines many of the successful western conference teams right now.
54. Calgary Flames (from Colorado) – Aaron Haydon, D, Niagara Ice Dogs, OHL
Previous Picks: Nick Ritchie, Travis Sanheim
After grabbing Travis Sanheim earlier in the round, the Flames continue to add blueliners to their prospect pool with Aaron Haydon of the Niagara Ice Dogs. Haydon is a stay at home defender, with great size at 6’3″ and he just loves to play a physical game. Don’t let the stat sheet fo0l you, he might be a -39 this season, but he played top minutes, against every other team’s best players, and was part of a rebuilding Ice Dogs squad. Haydon and the Ice Dogs got better as the season went on and squeaked into the playoffs giving eventual Eastern Conference Champions North Bay everything they could handle in a 7 game first round series.
55. Anaheim Ducks – Vaclav Karabacek, RW, Gatineau Olympiques, QMJHL
Previous Picks: Brendan Perlini, Robby Fabbri, Brycen Martin
Anaheim has their fourth pick of this draft. Already with a deep and varied prospect pool, they can also go best player available. The top team in the Western Conference this year, the Ducks should be good for a while with all the talent in the pipeline. Here they take a tenacious, gritty forward who scores points in a direct way by going to the net and winning battles. The Czech winger was very good at the Under 18s.
56. Boston Bruins – Nick Magyar, RW/C, Kitchener Rangers, OHL
Previous Pick: Jakub Vrana
Big? Check Physical? Check Two-Way Player? Check Versatile? Check. Once you check all those boxes and you have a player who fits into the Boston Bruins mold, and thats what you get in Nick Magyar who the Bruins will hope to develop into a power forward to add to their stable. The rich get richer here when it comes to being the biggest, toughest kids on the block.
57. New York Islanders (from Montreal) – Nicolas Aube-Kubel, RW, Val D’Or Foreurs, QMJHL
Previous picks: Michael Dal Colle, Brendan Lemieux
In 2012 the Islanders used every single pick they had on defence, so clearly going three straight wingers here isn’t going to be a big concern for them. They have a deep prospect pool and before the draft wing was the weakest position in it. Now, using the pick acquired from Montreal in the Thomas Vanek trade, they take another winger and the pool has depth and quality in all positions. The Islanders can really build a solid team around a budding superstar in John Tavares as they move into the Barclay Center.
58. Arizona Coyotes (from Chicago) –Michael Bunting, LW, Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds, OHL
Previous picks: Ryan MacInnis, Haydn Fleury
The Coyotes take a fast riser in Michael Bunting. His game shows sore really good fundamentals, especially for a player who has only played about 50 games of major junior hockey after being passed over in two OHL drafts, but doesn’t get passed over in the NHL draft. He may need some time as he will need to continue to get experience playing against other high calibre players.
59. New York Rangers – Jonas Johansson, G, Brynas, SHL
After trading away their first round pick, the Rangers make their first trip to the podium at 59th overall. The Rangers system is really lacking in goaltending. Obviously with Henrik Lundqvist in net they are set for a while and Cam Talbot was good as a backup this year, but beyond them, there just isn’t much there. Keep in mind that any 18 year old goalie drafted will take about 4 years before he is ready for NHL action, even as a backup and a lot can happen in that time, so its good to have another netminder on the way. Here the Rangers take a Swedish goaltender who plays a style that resembles Lundqvist. (Style, I am not saying he has that level of elite talent).
60. Columbus Blue Jackets (from Los Angeles via Buffalo) – Edgars Kulda, LW, Edmonton Oil Kings, WHL
Previous picks: Blake Siebenaler, Sonny Milano
The Blue Jackets ensure that this mock draft is “Kulda Approved” as they take the second time eligible winger who was absolutely dynamite in the Memorial Cup, helping the Oil Kings take home the title. At his age, he can go immediately to the AHL next year and this could speed up his development.
For a listing of NHL Mock drafts around the internet, please check out our friends at the NHL mock database.
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