Whether it be the Philadelphia Flyers going off the board to take Samuel Morin, the rapid rise of a Swedish blueliner’s stock, or Anthony Duclair slip sliding to the third round, a mock draft can go off the rails quicker than Connor McDavid can execute a wraparound. This draft class could be one for the ages with many pundits comparing it to the revered class of 2003.
2015 NHL Mock Draft: The Next Ones New Year’s Edition
The draft order is based on each team’s points per game played as of January 9th, 2015 taking into account the differing number of games played by various clubs.
1. Edmonton Oilers: Connor McDavid
Ht/Wt: 6′ 0″/185 lbs
Position:C
Team: Erie (OHL)
Prospect Profiler Notes: Dynamic forward; generational talent
2. Buffalo Sabres: Jack Eichel
Ht/Wt: 6′ 2″/193 lbs
Position: C
Team: Boston Univ. (NCAA)
Prospect Profiler Notes: High octane, cornerstone franchise centre
3. Carolina Hurricanes: Noah Hanifin
Ht/Wt: 6′ 2″/200 lbs
Position:D
Team: Boston College (NCAA)
Prospect Profiler Notes: Phenomenal skating ability, high hockey IQ, mature game
4. New Jersey Devils: Dylan Strome
Ht/Wt: 6′ 2″/177 lbs
Position: C
Team: Erie (OHL)
Prospect Profiler Notes: NYI’s Ryan’s brother; creative, visionary offensive centre, defensively responsible
5. Arizona Coyotes: Mitch Marner
Ht/Wt: 5’10″/164 lbs
Position: C
Team: London (OHL)
Prospect Profiler Notes: A hockey magician with exceptional acceleration and highly creative; after slow start, perhaps most impressive CHLer.
6. Philadelphia Flyers: Lawson Crouse
Ht/Wt: 6′ 3″/200 lbs
Position: LW
Team: Kingston (OHL)
Prospect Profiler Notes: Burgeoning power forward impressive as draft eligible prospect at World Juniors
7. Columbus Blue Jackets: Oliver Kylington
Ht/Wt: 6′ 0″/180 lbs
Position: D
Team: Farjestads BK (SHL)
Prospect Profiler Notes: Outstanding skating, puck-moving dman; youngest player to score a goal in the SHL.
8. Ottawa Senators: Mikko Rantanen
Ht/Wt: 6′ 4″/195 lbs
Position: C/RW
Team: TPS Turku (a) (SM-liiga)
Prospect Profiler Notes: Great size, high hockey IQ, tough on the boards, good puck protections skills
9. Colorado Avalanche: Ivan Provorov
Ht/Wt: 6′ 0″/191 lbs
Position: D
Team: Brandon (WHL)
Prospect Profiler Notes: Highly skilled, versatile defender with laser-like precision passing skills
10. Minnesota Wild: Pavel Zacha
Ht/Wt: 6′ 3″/200 lbs
Position: C/LW
Team: Liberec (CZE)
Prospect Profiler Notes: Tantalizing combination of size, skill, shot & work ethic
11. Calgary Flames: Zack Werenski
Ht/Wt: 6′ 1″/206 lbs
Position: D
Team: Univ. of Michigan (NCAA)
Prospect Profiler Notes: Versatile combination of size, skating, strength, two-way blueliner
12. Dallas Stars: Kyle Connor
Ht/Wt: 6′ 1″/170 lbs
Position:C
Team: Youngstown (USHL)
Prospect Profiler Notes: Two-way, intelligent playmaking centreman
13. Toronto Maple Leafs: Nick Merkley
Ht/Wt: 5’10″/175 lbs
Position: C/RW
Team: Kelowna (WHL)
Prospect Profiler Notes: Catalyst for positive plays all over the rink
Here’s FC Hockey’s head WHL scout on Merkley:
Nick Merkley makes the game easy for himself. Feet always pumping, fearless towards the puck. Confident in his ability to impact the game.
— Zenon Herasymiuk (@ZenonHerasymiuk) December 15, 2014
14. Boston Bruins: Mathew (Matt) Barzal
Ht/Wt: 5’11″/174 lbs
Position: C
Team: Seattle (WHL)
Prospect Profiler Notes: Cerebral, visionary playmaking centreman
15. Winnipeg Jets: Jansen Harkins
Ht/Wt: 6′ 1″/177 lbs
Position: C
Team: Prince George (WHL)
Prospect Profiler Notes: Bloodlines (son of Todd), character, extremely smart two-way playmaker
16. Los Angeles Kings: Colin White
Ht/Wt: 6′ 0″/175 lbs
Position: C/RW
Team: USA U18 NTDP
Prospect Profiler Notes: ?Patrice Bergeron 2.0 – does all the small things coaches covet
17. San Jose Sharks: Travis Konecny
Ht/Wt: 5’10″/172 lbs
Position: C
Team: Ottawa 67’s (OHL)
Prospect Profiler Notes: Picasso-on-ice – sensational creativity and speed
18. Florida Panthers: Jeremy Roy
Ht/Wt: 6′ 0″/183 lbs
Position: D
Team: Sherbrooke (QMJHL)
Prospect Profiler Notes: Offensive, great puck skills, puckmoving defenseman, powerplay QB
19. Washington Capitals: Brandon Carlo
Ht/Wt: 6′ 5″/198 lbs
Position: D
Team: Tri-City (WHL)
Prospect Profiler Notes: Desirable monster sized defenseman who skates really well; understands defensive side of the puck, developing offensive side
20. Vancouver Canucks: Nicolas Meloche
Ht/Wt: 6′ 2″/202 lbs
Position: D
Team: Baie-Comeau (QMJHL)
Prospect Profiler Notes: Eastern hockey bird-dog, Eldon MacDonald:
“Mr. Poise – NHL size, NHL meanness – effective on the power play.”
21. Buffalo Sabres*: Brock Boeser
Ht/Wt: 6′ 1″/192 lbs
Position: RW
Team: Waterloo (USHL)
Prospect Profiler Notes: High hockey IQ and lethal shot
22. Detroit Red Wings: Daniel Sprong
Ht/Wt: 5’11″/175 lbs
Position: RW
Team: Charlottetown (QMJHL)
Prospect Profiler Notes: Flying Dutchman; electrifying offensive spark-plug originally from Amsterdam
#ICYMI Daniel Sprong (@sprong97 ) @Sportsnet "Possibilities" clip from @DraftYear https://t.co/PPcd8eWHEJ @IslandersHKY #NHLDraft2014
— 🇨🇦 Jonathan Dunphy 🇨🇦 (@Jonathan_Dunphy) December 12, 2014
23. Tampa Bay Lighting*: Timo Meier
Ht/Wt: 6′ 1″/209 lbs
Position: RW
Team: Halifax Mooseheads
Prospect Profiler Notes: Good size, strong, responsible Swiss winger with excellent puck skills
24. Chicago Blackhawks: Matthew Spencer
Ht/Wt: 6′ 2″/190 lbs
Position: D
Team: Peterborough (OHL)
Prospect Profiler Notes: All around blueliner with very good skating, physicality and puck skills
25. Buffalo Sabres: Thomas Novak
Ht/Wt: 5’11″/172 lbs
Position: C
Team: USA U18 NTDP
Prospect Profiler Notes: See ISS scouting report:
http://t.co/NpWH0tZaAn
#25 Tom Novak @paraloschicos15
Unmatched tempo on the puck. Great skater with natural playmaking ability off the rush— ISS Hockey (@ISShockey) December 29, 2014
26. EdmontonOilers*: Paul Bittner
Ht/Wt: 6′ 4″/201 lbs
Position: LW
Team: Portland (WHL)
Prospect Profiler Notes: Prototypical power forward with a good shot
27. Montreal Canadiens: Evgeni Svechnikov
Ht/Wt: 6′ 1″/180 lbs
Position: LW
Team: Cape Breton (QMJHL)
Prospect Profiler Notes: Ridiculous upside; smooth North American transition for big, skilled forward
28. Tampa Bay Lighting: Jakub Zboril
Ht/Wt: 6′ 1″/184 lbs
Position: D
Team: Saint John (QMJHL)
Prospect Profiler Notes: Well rounded defender with offensive flare
29. Anaheim Ducks: Jordan Greenway
Ht/Wt: 6′ 4″/214 lbs
Position: LW
Team: USA U18 NTDP (USHL)
Prospect Profiler Notes: Mobile power forward
30. Nashville Predators: Jeremy Bracco
Ht/Wt: 5′ 9″/156 lbs
Position: C/RW
Team: USA U18 NTDP
Prospect Profiler Notes: Undersized but limitless offensive upside – creative, energetic, slick puck skills
#NHLDraft Jeremy Bracco broke NTDP's career assist record co-held by J.D. Forrest and Patrick Kane. Took Forrest 3 years, Kane 2, Bracco 1.3
— Chris Peters (@chrismpeters) November 24, 2014
*1st Round Traded Draft Picks
# 21 – Sabres receives Blues’ 2015 1st round pick, Jaroslav Halak, Chris Stewart and William Carrier for Ryan Miller and Steve Ott
# 23 – Lightning receives NYR a 2015 1st & 7th round picks, 2014 1st round pick and Ryan Callahan for Martin St. Louis and a 2015 2nd round pick.
# 25 – Sabres receives the NYI 2015 1st and 2nd round pick and Matt Moulson for Thomas Vanek.
#26 – Oilers receives Penguins’ 2015 1st round pick and Rob Klinkhammer for David Perron.
Draft Day Off the Board Candidate
GIF: Jakob Forsbacka-Karlsson (@OmahaLancers) with an incredible deke to score #USHL pic.twitter.com/OQlQ0UtWxM
— USHL (@USHL) December 1, 2014
Omaha Lancers forward Jakob Forsbacka-Karlsson, JFK, has one of the best names of draft eligible prospects. He also has game, on display in the video/GIF above with a nifty deke. He was forward of the week in the USHL in December at one point registering 9 points in 3 games. There’s quite a degree of uncertainty as to where the Boston University commit ends up on draft weekend.
Chris is THW’s senior draft/prospect analyst and a Managing Editor. Watch for “The Next Ones” Prospect Profile series, exclusive rankings, mock drafts, as well as the annual THW NHL Entry Draft Guide. Follow @ChrisRalphYQ on Twitter as he infiltrates, dissects and analyzes all happenings of hockey prospects and the NHL entry draft. Email: cralph[at]thehockeywriters[dot]com
I can’t wait to see if McDavid refuses to report to the Oilers, like Eric Lindros did to Quebec all those years ago.
McDavid’s rights,if held by the Oilers, should be traded to a big market team where he can capitalize on his marketability. Rangers or LA would be a good fit. The Oilers could undoubtedly get several good players for him, but they do NOT need another first round scoring wizard,already have three of those who aren’t performing.
those other forwards are nowhere near the level of mcdavid, they need to move one of them not mcdavid if they get him
As tough it will be for many hockey fans and pundits to picture the Oilers having yet another 1st overall pick, this year of all years, I have to agree that unless he forces Edmonton’s hand, you would have to deal another of the previously drafted high end forwards – you don’t trade a guy like Connor and win the trade.
McDavid doesn’t seem the type to refuse to report, but who knows. I’m sure the NHL would love to see him in a big US market.
Habs need skilled fowards with size, Trevor Timmins does a lousy job.
Svechnikov would be a great fit.
Good analysis, not sure if Paval Zacha will go that late, but fun to look at.
Thanks Gary! With a plethora of quality prospects, conceivable he falls to 10th or beyond (but not much beyond!).
Nooooo, not Edmonton again
Many hockey pundits and fans alike feel the same way. One of the reasons I’ve written about overhauling the NHL draft on a couple of occasions (this one I edited, from a colleague), for instance: https://thehockeywriters.com/suggested-nhl-draft-system-honour-for-connor/