2015 NHL Mock Draft: New Year’s Edition

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 9^th, 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

 

*1^st Round Traded Draft Picks

# 21 – Sabres receives Blues’ 2015 1^st round pick, Jaroslav Halak, Chris Stewart and William Carrier for Ryan Miller and Steve Ott

# 23 – Lightning receives NYR a 2015 1^st & 7th round picks, 2014 1^st round pick and Ryan Callahan for Martin St. Louis and a 2015 2nd round pick.

# 25 – Sabres receives the NYI 2015 1^st and 2nd round pick and Matt Moulson for Thomas Vanek.

#26 – Oilers receives Penguins’ 2015 1^st 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.