2019 Mock Draft

not a fan of hughes ,however he plays elite with the elite. kakko is more complete, reliably ,and also a elite player. cant see jersey taking him so he gos to rangers where he will do great

Hughes only gets all the hype because he plays on North America. If Kakko player in NA, you'd here about him more. Hughes has been compared to Kane, Kakko has been compared to Rantanen when he plays wing, and Matthews when he plays centre (yes he can play centre). So Kakko is the clear better player there.

I don't doubt that New Jersey takes Hughes because of all the hype around him. But if logic is to take the best player available, Kakko is far and away #1. And you can't use the debate that Hughes plays centre and Kakko doesn't. Kakko can and could easily play centre in a few years in the NHL, he's just playing against men right now so it's not smart to put a teen at centre against men and Kakko is already setting records. Hughes plays against teens, he should dominate like he has. Long term I doubt he stays at centre. His defence needs a lot of work and he needs to add quite a bit of weight to be effective at centre, he'll probably end up being a career winger and Kakko is the career centre.

Kakko >> Hughes

I admire your nerve in getting out there on #1, and sticking to it. More to the point, it's scary how the two of us agree on so many picks. I'm particularly impressed by your insight into my two local teams, where all four of your picks (although I don't agree) make great sense. My only disagreement worth noting is that I have a higher opinion of Zegras than you do. If Dallas and Colorado or Columbus win their second-round series, I can see Anaheim taking Zegras at #9 and hoping Soderstrom falls to #18 (where that St. Louis pick would go) or else taking Lassi Thomson. Great job overall.

P.S. I have Poulin to the Canes, too.

Anaheim's d-core is garbage and they don't have any studs coming up. On the other hand their prospects at forward are pretty good already with Terry, Steel, Sprong, Kase, Ritchie, Lundstrom, Jones, Comtois, Kopacka, and Morand all being legit scoring options for a future top 9 and are all under 23 years old. Plus Rakell is only 25 still too. I don't see them needing any top forwards currently. On the other hand they only have 3 legit NHL d-man in Fowler, Manson, and Lindholm and Fowler and Manson are both 27 already. Coming up in the system they don't have any real future top 4 options besides maybe Mahura (long shot at top 4) and Larsson. & a lot of their defence in the system are left handed where Soderstrom is right handed. I normally always say just go with the best player, regardless of position or handedness, but Soderstrom is seen as possibly the 2nd or 3rd best d-man in this class and has an all around play style to his game, and the rest of the forwards at this stage all kinda group together and not much sets them apart. Seems like the perfect fit for Anaheim to grab him at #9. They could always trade down if they feel like he'd be available later, but I don't think he'd slide past Philadelphia who also need a right handed d-man.

As for Zegras, like I said I don't see much of what he's done to separate himself from the group of Boldy, Caufield, Krebs, Lavoie, and Suzuki plus himself. Zegras has been pretty overshadowed by his US teammates. Both Boldy and Caufield score more goals and are seen as goal scorers in the future where Zegras is likely to be a 2/3 C with more of a two way playmaking game. A lot of the teams higher up need goal scoring so I can't see Boldy or Caufield sliding much more. Boldy fits Philadelphia's culture perfect being that power forward type of player, so that's why I have him going there. Minnesota desperately need goal scoring and a right handed forward, Caufield is also from Wisconsin which is close to Minnesota so I can see them running on stage to grab him if he's still available at #12 (think he might got o Vancouver at #10). Montreal takes the hometown kid in Lavoie at #15 and they need offence too, Lavoie can play C if needed. Krebs is arguably a top 10 talent in the draft playing on a terrible team in the WHL, and Arizona is in desperate, desperate need of scoring within the system, so he'd be a good fit there as well. Then Colorado already had their forward taken with the #4 pick so a d-man would be nice to add to the system for them at #16. Vegas has no goalie prospects within the system that project to be anything good and Fleury is getting up there in age. If I'm them I'm looking to trade up to take Knight rather than wait to see if he falls to #17. Then we come to Ryan Suzuki and Zegras at #18 and #19. Suzuki is one of if not the smartest players in the draft both offensively and defensively, so I'd give that the edge over Zegras. Suzuki is just a better player and fits Dallas more so Zegras drops to #19 and goes to Ottawa (good luck kid LOL). But Ottawa took Thachuk outta the USNDP so it could be a good fit for both the team and player

I'm the outlier on Knight. I can make a good argument/excuse for everyone up to Calgary taking someone else. I think Las Vegas is desperate for RhD in the system, too.

My thought process on my two local teams goes like this: Anaheim’s performance this year was an aberration, resulting primarily from bad coaching and injuries, whereas the Kings got to the bottom on merit, and rate to be there next year, too. Therefore, the window for the Ducks to pick a potential replacement for Ryan Kesler (and perhaps Ryan Getzlaf) may well be open only this year, which is why I see them drafting a center at #9. (Just imagine this team with Bo Horvat.) The Ducks’ only other hole is at RhD, because their left-hand side is pretty well covered with Fowler, Lindholm, Larsson, Mahura and Megna and, as you point out, they are pretty well stocked with fast, young forwards with promise. Los Angeles, on the other hand, has no quality defensemen on either side that anyone would want past Drew Doughty (who is beginning to show signs of wear and tear). They need a #2C as well as defensemen on either side. It will be interesting to see whether they take Byram if he is still available at #5. If they pick a forward, I don’t think that they have the time or patience to wait for Podkolzin to develop a North American game. It will also be interesting to see who is still on the table when the SoCal teams get their second first-round pick.

Good replacement for Getzlaf and Kesler is Sam Steel. Very good looking prospect and underrated. Not talked about much in the league but certainly has top line potential. I also don't see Byram sliding out of the top 3. He's been regarded as the best d-man in the class all season and he's only improved that statement with his WHL playoff performance. Chicago has tons of right handed d-man with top 4 upside (Boqvist, Jokijarju, Mitchell) and Byram would be the perfect compliment to them to form the type of future defence that won them cups. LA kinda then gets stuck in that group that's all forwards. Cozens has pushed himself ahead of the group so I think Colorado takes him, and then Dach becomes the best available at #5 for LA and with their need to rebuild I can't see how the justify positional needs over just the best player available