Welcome to The Union Blue! For those of you discovering this for the first time, I am going to be doing mock drafts through the playoffs as the draft pick position changes (or is expected to change). You can check out v1.0 here. As an added bonus, I will also be including a quick rundown of the second round, as well as a few picks I expect to see in the third round. Once the conference finalists are set, I’ll fire off v3.0. Enjoy!
ROUND 1
| Pick | Team | Player | Upside | Downside | Ht/Wt | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Edmonton | Nail Yakupov | RW | All Star winger, deadly shooter, good playmaker, has a physical edge | Size and injuries are a concern | 5’10, 189 |
| 2 | Columbus | Alex Galchenyuk | C | Top line center with good two way play | May not have elite offensive skills, knee injury | 6’0, 198 |
| 3 | Montreal | Mikhail Grigorenko | C | All Star center with good scoring and playmaking skills | Effort and consistency have been a problem, huge upside but huge risk | 6’3, 200 |
| 4 | NY Islanders | Mathew Dumba | D | Top powerplay defenseman with a physical edge | Decision making needs work | 6’0, 183 |
| 5 | Toronto | Ryan Murray | D | Smooth skating top pairing defenseman | Has limited offensive upside and not very physical | 6’0, 201 |
| 6 | Anaheim | Filip Forsberg | LW | Top line power forward | Skating needs a lot of work to play first line minutes | 6’2, 181 |
| 7 | Minnesota | Radek Faksa | C | Second line power forward | Like Forsberg, his skating needs work | 6’3, 202 |
| 8 | Carolina | Jacob Trouba | D | Excellent two way second pairing defenseman | Decision making and discipline are a concern | 6’2, 198 |
| 9 | Winnipeg | Teuvo Teravainen | LW | First line playmaking winger | Needs to get significantly bigger to handle the NHL | 5’11, 165 |
| 10 | Tampa Bay | Morgan Rielly | D | Top pp defenseman, second pair at even strength | Defensive play is suspect, missed most of season with a knee injury | 6’0, 190 |
| 11 | Washington* | Griffin Reinhart | D | Physical shutdown defenseman, second pair at even strength | Consistency is an issue, limited offensive upside | 6’4, 207 |
| 12 | Buffalo | Zemgus Girgensons | C | Physical second line center | Offensive ability may be limited | 6’2, 198 |
| 13 | Dallas | Cody Ceci | D | Solid two way second pair defenseman | Doesn’t have high end offensive or defensive ability, not very physical | 6’2, 207 |
| 14 | Calgary | Sebastien Collberg | RW | Skilled second line winger with playmaking ability | Needs to improve strength, consistency and defensive zone play | 5’11, 176 |
| 15 | Ottawa | Matt Finn | D | Hard working second pair, two way defenseman | Could get bigger, skating needs to get better, puck skills need work | 6’0, 195 |
| 16 | Washington | Brendan Gaunce | C | Second or third line center, with good size and good all around game | Could improve physicality, skating needs work, can improve puck skills | 6’2, 215 |
| 17 | Columbus** | Pontus Aberg | LW | Creative, two way second liner with a good shot | Needs to get bigger, passing needs work | 5’11, 194 |
| 18 | San Jose | Derrick Pouliot | D | Second pairing puck moving defenseman | Undersized, suspect defensively, and can be careless with the puck | 5’11, 186 |
| 19 | Chicago | Olli Maata | D | Stay at home second pair defenseman with a good first pass | Skating needs improvement and has limited offensive skills | 6’2, 202 |
| 20 | New Jersey | Hampus Lindholm | D | Great skating, two way defender | Offensive and defensive upside are question marks, needs to bulk up | 6’2, 196 |
| 21 | Tampa Bay*** | Malcolm Subban | G | Starting goalie, quick pads and glove, solid rebound control | Inconsistency and injury concerns | 6’1, 188 |
| 22 | Buffalo**** | Tomas Hertl | C | Offensively skilled second liner with decent grit | A poor skater and questionable defensively | 6’2, 198 |
| 23 | Pittsburgh | Brady Skjei | D | Good skating, two way second pair defenseman | Is inconsistent, not physical, and may be limited offensively | 6’3, 200 |
| 24 | Florida | Stefan Matteau | C | Hard working, intelligent two way second/third liner | May not have the offensive skill to play top six | 6’2, 210 |
| 25 | Boston | Tom Wilson | RW | Bruising power forward, probably on the 3rd line, chance of 2nd | Skating needs a lot of work, puck skills are limited | 6’4, 203 |
| 26 | Vancouver | Scott Kosmachuk | RW | Hard working, physical second liner with some offensive punch | May not have top six skill, size may decrease impact of physical play | 6’0, 185 |
| 27 | Philadelphia | Slater Koekkek | D | Big, solid 2nd pair defenseman with decent puck skills | Decision making with the puck, skating needs a little work | 6’2, 184 |
| 28 | Phoenix | Ville Pokka | D | Defensive oriented second pair defenseman, with a chance of offensive upside | Offensive ability is debatable, skating needs work | 6’0, 196 |
| 29 | St. Louis | Mike Matheson | D | Good skater, offensive minded second pair defenseman | Needs to add size and improve skill to be an NHLer | 6’1, 178 |
| 30 | NY Rangers | Ludvik Bystrom | D | Intelligent, mobile, second pair defenseman | Not physical, offensive skills need improvement | 6’1, 208 |
ROUND 2
| Pick | Team | Player | Ht/Wt | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Columbus | Andrei Vasilevski | G | 6’3, 204 |
| 2 | Edmonton | Dalton Thrower | D | 5’11, 189 |
| 3 | Montreal | Martin Frk | RW | 6’0, 204 |
| 4 | NY Islanders | Colton Sissons | C | 6’1, 189 |
| 5 | Toronto | Scott Laughton | C | 6’0, 177 |
| 6 | Anaheim | Damon Severson | D | 6’2, 200 |
| 7 | Tampa Bay^ | Phil Giuseppe | LW | 6’0, 176 |
| 8 | Carolina | Nic Kerdiles | LW | 6’2, 201 |
| 9 | Winnipeg | Tanner Pearson | LW | 6’0, 198 |
| 10 | Tampa Bay | Anton Slepyshev | LW | 6’2, 187 |
| 11 | Colorado | Cristoval Nieves | C | 6’3, 184 |
| 12 | Buffalo | Jordan Schmaltz | D | 6’2, 189 |
| 13 | Dallas | Mike Winther | C | 5’11, 175 |
| 14 | Buffalo^^ | Daniil Zharkov | LW | 6’3, 197 |
| 15 | Columbus^^^ | Tim Bozon | LW | 6’0, 183 |
| 16 | Minnesota+ | Mikko Vainonen | D | 6’3, 205 |
| 17 | Dallas++ | Jarrod Maidens | LW | 6’0, 178 |
| 18 | Carolina+++ | Chandler Stephenson | LW | 5’10, 192 |
| 19 | Chicago | Oscar Dansk | G | 6’2, 186 |
| 20 | New Jersey | Troy Bourke | LW | 5’10, 156 |
| 21 | Detroit | Andreas Athanasiou | LW | 6’0, 179 |
| 22 | Montreal~ | Mark Jankowski | C | 6’2, 170 |
| 23 | Pittsburgh | Tomas Hyka | RW | 5’11, 160 |
| 24 | Florida | Brady Vail | C | 6’0, 195 |
| 55 | San Jose~~ | Nikolai Prokhorkin | LW | 6’2, 191 |
| 56 | Colorado~~~ | Gemel Smith | C | 5’10, 160 |
| 57 | Vancouver | Dane Fox | C | 6’0, 185 |
| 58 | Tampa Bay# | Patrick Sieloff | D | 6.0, 198 |
| 59 | Phoenix | Erik Karlsson | C | 6’0, 162 |
| 60 | St. Louis | Lukas Sutter | C | 6’0, 207 |
| 61 | NY Rangers | Calle Andersson | D | 6’2, 208 |
Honorable Mention & Notes
Christian Djoos, D, 5’11, 158
Brandon Whitney, G, 6’5, 193
James Melindy, D, 6’2, 191
Raphael Bussieres, LW, 6’1, 195
Samuel Kurker, RW, 6’2, 198
Matia Marcantuoni, C, 6’0, 194
Nick Ebert, D, 6’1, 195
Gianluca Curcurto, D, 6’0, 195
* from Colorado
**from Los Angeles
*** from Detroit
**** from Nashville
^ from Minnesota via San Jose
^^ from Calgary
^^^ from Ottawa via Phoenix
“+” from Washington via New Jersey
“++” from Los Angeles via Philadelphia
“+++” from San Jose
~ from Nashville
~~ compensatory selection for failing to sign Patrick White
~~~ from Boston via Toronto
# from Philadelphia
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