1 | | - | | No matter who gets the first overall pick, they will select this franchise-altering winger. |
2 | | - | | Although some draft rankings have Stuetzle dethroning Byfield for second overall, the Kings will likely take another center in Byfield. |
3 | | | | Ottawa has a pretty easy choice to make here. Their pipeline lacks a true future 1C, which I believe Stuetzle could be for them. |
4 | | - | | The Red Wings, and by association Steve Yzerman, are known for draft surprises (Moritz Seider comes to mind). I think they will surprise again and go off the board with Sanderson at 4. |
5 | | - | | Not only does Ottawa get their future 1C, they complete their future first line by drafting their future 1RW. Imagine Tkachuk-Stuetzle-Raymond in the future. Killer. |
6 | | - | | Anaheim has a strong-ish prospect pool. But they lack a true future option at center. Marco Rossi is the best center available at 6th overall. |
7 | | - | | New Jersey may finally end their streak of selecting centers in the first round and begin building up their defense. Drysdale has fallen a bit, and New Jersey gets a gift. |
8 | | - | | With Mittelstadt potentially entering bust territory, Buffalo may consider drafting another center to fill that void. Perfetti can also play the wing if Mittelstadt ends up panning out. Buffalo may also move this pick to get a top defenseman. Who knows what their new GM will do. |
9 | | - | | Montreal is kind of spoiled. They have a Kotkaniemi as their future 1C, they have a really good defensive prospect pool headlined by Alex Romanov, and Cayden Primeau and Michael McNiven are legitimate options in goal for the Canadiens moving forward. Drafting a scoring winger may be the icing on top for a future top-tier team in Montreal. |
10 | | - | | Chicago lacks a goalie of the future in the pipeline. Crawford continues to get hurt, Subban isn't a long-term solution, and I'm not sure of Delia's ability to be an NHL starter. Askarov just makes the most sense for a retooling Blackhawks team. |
11 | | | | A number of teams have Seth Jarvis very high on their draft lists. I too am high on the Winterhawks superstar. After drafting Drysdale at 7, New Jersey could go off the board and grab Jarvis at 11. |
12 | | - | | Minnesota's trend of mediocrity is in large part due to their poor draft luck. They lack a true option at center moving forward, much like many teams picking before them. Lundell has fallen quite a bit but I don't expect him to fall much further if he's available for Minnesota at 12. |
13 | | - | | Vancouver will likely go with the Swedish winger. They won't be drafting a center for quite a while now that they have Pettersson and Horvat down the middle, and unless they trade down, they won't go too far off the board to draft a defenseman. |
14 | | - | | Nashville needs some help at forward. I wouldn't be surprised if they tried to trade up to draft Askarov, but in the event that they cannot complete that trade, I could see them taking the versatile winger Dylan Holloway. |
15 | | - | | Jack Quinn is a polarizing prospect. I could see Florida taking Quinn at 15, I could see him going higher or falling a bit. I believe he'll be gone at least by 15th overall. |
16 | | - | | Braden Schneider is another candidate for a huge jump up from his ranking. Calgary could use a defenseman to replace some of their aging core (i.e. Giordano and Brodie). |
17 | | - | | Rodion Amirov has fallen a bit since the October 2019 rankings where he was around 11-13. Amirov is really good, and New York will be lucky to grab him. |
18 | | - | | Guhle is another defenseman that could rise. Winnipeg needs another defenseman to round out their prospect pool, and Guhle would really wrap up an already fairly deep defensive prospect pool. |
19 | | | | With this pick, I could honestly see Ottawa trading it away for immediate help. However, this mock draft does not allow me to do that, so I have them rounding out their defensive prospect pool with Justin Barron. |
20 | | | | I could see Carolina going for another winger at 20. They have Necas and Suzuki at center for the future, so to fill that right wing side would be a priority, I believe. |
21 | | | | The Rangers have one of the best prospect pools in the entire league, and it would not surprise me if they took Zary here to be developed into the 2C, should Chytil grow to be the 1C in New York. |
22 | | - | | The Stars are going to need to start filling out their prospect pool, as it isn't very deep, especially at forward. Someone is going to need to replace Jamie Benn on the left side down the line, and I believe Mysak, who has fallen a bit in this draft, could be that guy. |
23 | | - | | With the likely departure of Ryan Nugent-Hopkins next offseason, the Oilers may move to draft a true center to develop into a 2C, should they decide to keep Draisaitl on the wing. |
24 | | - | | I'm personally very high on Helge Grans. Vegas is still such a bizarre success story to me. In this draft, it makes sense for them to draft a defenseman, as their forward pool is pretty deep. Grans, in my opinion, is the best defenseman available at 24. |
25 | | | | The Wild don't have much certainty at center moving forward (Khovanov is currently their best bet), so drafting Lapierre makes some sense here. |
26 | | - | | The Flyers may be departing from Gostisbehere sooner rather than later. Drafting Poirier gives them the opportunity to develop a left defenseman into what they believed Gostisbehere would live up to after his phenomenal rookie season. |
27 | | - | | The Capitals clearly love Russians. Besides that irrelevent point, they could use another center. Connor McMichael could develop into Backstrom's replacement as the 1C down the line, and Khusnutdinov could become the 2C. And I just want to see Khusnutdinov play in Hershey some day. |
28 | | | | The Sharks will take what they can get at 28. I believe Perreault is the best player available here. |
29 | | - | | Now I'll admit, I am an Avalanche fan, so I kind of stretched some justifications so J.J. Peterka would fall down to 29. But, they kind of make sense, right? Anyways, the Avalanche have plenty of great prospects, but could use some more wingers, which Peterka can play. |
30 | | - | | The Blues will take a winger to replace some of the aging wingers they currently have. Reichel is the best available. |
31 | | | | The Ducks took a center at 6, and they'll add another forward with Zion Nybeck at 31. |