RONDE 1 | ÉQUIPE | ORIGINAL | JOUEUR | DéTAILS |
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1 | - | Macklin Celebrini | This one is obvious, Celebrini is a lock for 1st overall. Don't overthink it, take the best player available to build the franchise alongside Bedard. | |
2 | - | Artyom Levshunov | I believe Silayev is the better defender, but Levshunov is a player that Ducks fan seem to like. He will be a solid d partner to Mintyukov or Zellweger as soon as next season. | |
3 | - | Cayden Lindstrom | The Blue Jackets have a lot of young pieces, but one thing they lack is size and speed. Lindstrom addresses both of those traits. | |
4 | - | Anton Silayev | The Sharks address their clear need of a RD. Yes, I said RD, Silayev may be a left shot defender, but he actually plays on the right side for Torpedo. He will fit in perfectly, get the potential out of him and he will immediately become the anchor of the Sharks future blue line. | |
5 | - | Cole Eiserman | I don't see Eiserman slipping out of the top 5, his offense is too good to pass up on. He has a ridiculously insane shot and can command offense. He does need to improve his skating and effort without the puck, but other than that, Eiserman will pair up nicely with Slafkovsky and Suzuki. | |
6 | - | Charlie Elick | A big reach here, especially with Demidov and Connelly still on the board, but for the past few drafts, Arizona has taken risks that has so far paid off. 2021: They took JJ Moser, who was a 4th year draft eligible, now he's become a top pairing option in the NHL. 2022: They went for Cooley over Wright, so far Cooley is clearly the better prospect. 2023: They reached for Simashev and But, those two have done well in the KHL. This year they do a similar thing to last year, except Elick doesn't have the Russian factor. Its speculated that Arizona is trying to build a tall and gritty defensive core. Elick is a strong defensive defender with above average puck control. Won't score many goals in the NHL, but will become a DeMelo type player: top pairing defensive defender. ALSO, the sixth overall pick has always been a reach since the Seider pick. | |
7 | - | Ivan Demidov | The Flyers get a true blue chip in Demidov. The 2nd best player in the draft does fall to 7th because of the Russian factor. But he's been dominant this season and expect him to play a pivotal top line role for the Flyers. | |
8 | - | Trevor Connelly | Connelly has been on teams "do not draft" list, but Washington doesn't value character in many of their prospects. Based off talent alone, Connelly is a top 5 player in the draft, expect him to go early come draft day. | |
9 | - | Michael Brandsegg Nygard | A Stevie Y type pick. MBN is from Norway, but he plays in Sweden, and we all know how much Detroit loves the Swedish talent. | |
10 | - | Sam Dickinson | The Blues will be cheering finding out that Buium and Dickinson are both on the board. Dickinson fits the Blues system more than Buium does, so Dickinson is the pick. Expect the Blues to draft a D with this pick no matter what. | |
11 | - | Zeev Buium | Vancouver has shown that they are a deep team top to bottom, they go BPA. There's very little chance that Buium falls outside the top 10, so its a no brainer for the Canucks. | |
12 | Berkly Catton | Catton doesn't fall past here, its as simple as that. | ||
13 | - | Carter Yakemchuk | Imagine a top 4 of Byram, Dahlin, Power, and Yakemchuk? That would look gritty and electric in the future. | |
14 | - | Igor Chernyshov | The Penguins get an Evgeni Malkin type player: power forward with insane mitts, speed, and size. Pretty much a worse version of Lindstrom and a high risk option. But if Chernyshov can make the jump to NA, he can be mentored by a guy that plays a similar style to him. | |
15 | - | Konsta Helenius | Drafting Helenius will give Kemell a true playmaker. Helenius also has decent defensive instincts, making for a more well-rounded player. | |
16 | - | Liam Greentree | The Flames value size in a lot of their prospects, Greentree uses his size very well and brings a lot of offense. His skating needs improvement and his effort defensively can be lackluster sometimes. | |
17 | Tij Iginla | Detroit at this point has a lot of young prospects, so I opted to give them BPA at this spot. That's Iginla. Offensively gifted power forward, has good NHL bloodlines, and can play well defensively. Just needs to improve his skating, I could see Iginla going even higher than this. | ||
18 | - | Zayne Parekh | The Jets will go one of two ways with this pick: RD or C. And with Parekh on the board, its an easy choice. Plays a style similar to Zach Werenski: insane offensively, booming shot, dynamic puck mover, and agile skater. The defensive game is getting better, but still not consistent enough to become a top 10 player in the draft. But either way this is a player that will easily fit into the Jets lineup and play with Morrissey or Heinola. | |
19 | Emil Hemming | The Blackhawks would have Celebrini-Bedard-??? You need a defensive forward there. Hemming is the best defensive forward in the draft, he can play in all situations for Chicago. | ||
20 | - | Adam Jiricek | The injury concerns around Jiricek worry me, but Seattle hasn't taken a defender in the first round during their tenure so far. Jiricek is the best available. | |
21 | - | Henry Mews | The Wild need a defender more than they need a forward. Bit of a reach, but Mews happens to be the best D available. He could wind up being a steal even, he once had the pedigree of being a top 10 player coming into the season. | |
22 | Aron Kiviharju | Kiviharju once had the pedigree of being the best player in the draft but injuries and bouncing around different leagues took a toll on his rankings. But teams should have learnt their lessons after Raty and Lambert. Kiviharju has the most potential to become the steal of the draft. | ||
23 | - | Terik Parascak | A bit of a steal here, Parascak does give me Gabe Perreault, and we all know how good of a pick that was. Parascak is a rawer version of Cole Perfetti, skilled playmaker with insane smarts. | |
24 | Teddy Stiga | Another minor steal here, the Predators nab the high rising Stiga. The Predators need defensive forwards in the pipeline, Stiga happens to be that type of player. Barkov type player, skilled two-way forward. | ||
25 | Matvei Shuravin | A bit of a gamble here, but I expect the Blues go double down on defenders. | ||
26 | Andrew Basha | Biggest steal of the draft. Basha is 19th on my board, he's been consistent enough to be a 1st round selection. | ||
27 | - | Kamil Bednarik | I've projected this pick many times before, Bednarik has a lot of Rantanen qualities, he will develop perfectly in Colorado. | |
28 | Anthony Cristoforo | The Leafs don't have many picks, I expect them to go the same route as last year: pick the guy they are targeting. I don't expect Cristoforo to be drafted this early, to me he's more of a third rounder. But the Cowan pick paid off, maybe this pick could as well. | ||
29 | Will Skahan | The Blues will triple down on D if the draft goes this way. | ||
30 | - | Michael Hage | Its clear that the Hurricanes need a center, they get that in Hage. | |
31 | Dean Letourneau | Colorado goes for BPA here, they are a deep team. | ||
32 | - | Bennett Sennecke | It really doesn't matter who Vegas picks here cause they normally trade their first round player the next year. Expect whoever they draft to be traded to another team next year, in this case its Sennecke. |