The fifth mock Hockey Buzz mock draft driven by the readers and a few special guests is underway. Zach Jarom did not go off the board with the Blackhawks pick, selecting Connor Bedard first overall, WHILE Ryan Armstrong, climbdenali12, selected Adam Fantilli with Anaheim's pick, Zak McMillian, HB Blue Jackets blogger, went with Leo Carlsson's with Columbus' selection. Ken Peterson, Hockeygm. selected Matvei Michkov with Karine Hains making the pick for Montreal..TJ Reilly is up for Arizona with Bill Meltzer on deck for Philly. Below is the selection and voting poll, please weigh in with your view.
First, some logistical information just for this blog: Thanks to all who have agreed to participate. All teams are spoken for, meaning we have a full complement of General Managers. As a reminder, when you have your pick, rationale for the selection, who else you considered and if you weighed a trade, please send that to me via email to
[email protected]. As said previously, for those who agree to participate, please make sure I have your real name to go with your Hockey Buzz ID.
In terms of trades, I am happy to have them proposed, but for ease of purpose of the draft, I would prefer not to slow down the making of picks and the voting by waiting for a vote on if the deal is fair. Due to the late start for the draft, my view for this year's iteration is no trades.
The draft is June 28 and we are starting the draft Thursday, June 15 in the morning. That will give us 13 days or so to complete the draft, even factoring in the Sabbath. For weekdays and Sunday, I will post a pick in the morning, then a second in the evening with voting in between, for at least the first half or so of the draft. The second half or so, we can run three per day if needed so we get all 32 picks by or on the morning of June 28.
As a reminder, for each pick, included should be: a) Selection and reasoning/scouting report, and b) Alternatives considered(both players and trades). Please provide me via email your pick with the aforementioned information following the posting of the prior pick on the site. If I become aware of a pick or a few picks in a row, I will email you to help facilitate moving the mock draft along. I will post the blog with the pick and the voting poll within each blog.
Overall Rules and Process
As mentioned previously, there is a little kicker. After the pick or trade is made, a poll will be posted to rate the selection or deal. If the majority of people like the pick or trade, that selection stands and it moves on to the next team’s picks. If not, the majority rules and that’s what happens with that team and pick. I have the last right of refusal to keep everything on the up and up and avoid ballot box stuffing. My request to you is that you take this seriously and not make a mockery of the mock draft, because that would be an insult to the others who are participating and makes the whole process a sham. But by playing this out, we get to have healthy debate and conversation to remain engaged up and possibly beyond the draft. If teams make deals and they occur before a team’s selection is due, that deal will play a part as to when each person’s selection occurs.
Here how this will work: each evening (for now, one pick per day, but we will go to two when we get to second half of the mock draft and possibly even before that, so that we complete on time) the team’s selector will email me at [email protected] their pick and their rationale for that selection. If making a trade, the same applies, and all the selectors have been listed below along with their screen name if from this site or their twitter handle if external to help facilitate making trades. I will post that pick and rationale on the site and create a voting poll. For now, I was thinking solely just a yes or no vote for the poll, but if people want me to list other options for the selection at that pick number in cases of a no vote, I am happy to do so, to help make it more robust.
With the 5th overall pick of the Hockeybuzz mock draft, the Montreal Canadiens, represented by Karine Hains, are proud to select, from the USNTDP, center Will Smith
For years, Canadiens fans have been told that trading for a center is hard, the Habs are all too happy to have the opportunity to draft a talented center with the 5th overall pick. Smith is 6’00” tall and weighs in at 181 lbs. A talented playmaker that can also score goals, Smith possesses all the skills necessary to make the transition to the pro game. Adding him to a center line that already features Nick Suzuki and Kirby Dach will allow the Canadiens to be set at center for years and it’s a big steppingstone in their rebuild.
In the last year, Smith has been used as the USA under-18 team’s first line center and he has put up impressive numbers scoring 51 goals and gathering 76 assists for 127 points in only 60 games. He also led the USA to the IIHF Under-18 World Championship gold medal and was named the tournament’s MVP. In the 9 games of the tourney, he racked up 20 points including 9 goals. The year before at the same tournament, he grabbed a silver medal and got a pair of goals and a pair of assists in 4 games as an underaged player.
Smith’s skating is very good, and so is his acceleration which allows him to have plenty of time to create scoring opportunities for both his teammates and him. He’s not afraid to go in the corners to collect loose pucks and can also hold his own in puck battles.
His puck handling skills are impressive, and he can stickhandle in very tight quarters, meaning he doesn’t need a lot of space to be dangerous on the attack, especially with his vision and high hockey IQ.
On top of being an impressive offensive weapon, he plays a solid 200-foot game. He backchecks with a purpose and always gives his all in any situation. He could use adding some muscle to his frame and that’s just what he’ll do next year in the NCAA as he’s already committed to play with Boston College, a team for which Johnny Gaudreau, Keven Hayes, Chris Kreider and Thatcher Demko have all played.
Furthermore, Smith was coached by now Canadiens General Manager Kent Hughes when he played for the Boston Jr. Eagles for a couple of years, meaning that the Habs executive knows both the young man and his family pretty well. Smith is not expected to stay in college for too long and if his development goes well this year with Boston, he might be ready to join the Canadiens for the 2024-2025 season.
2023 NHL DRAFT ORDER
1 Chicago - Zach Jarom, HB Blackhawks blogger, Connor Bedard, C, Regina (WHL)
2 Anaheim - Ryan Armstrong - climbdenali12, Adam Fantilli, C, Univ. of Michigan
3 Columbus - Zak McMillian, HB Blue Jackets blogger, Leo Carlsson, C, Orebro HK, (SHL)
4 San Jose - Ken Peterson, Hockeygm, Matvei Michkov, RW, SKA, KHL
5 Montreal - Karine Hains, HB Canadiens blogger, Will Smith, C, US NTDP
6 Arizona - slimtj, TJ Reilly, Sunday, June 18, am
7 Philadelphia - Bill Meltzer, HB Flyers blogger, Sunday, June 18, pm
8 Washington - optimus-reim, Monday, June 19, am
9 Detroit - Feds91Stammer, Monday, June 19, pm
10 St. Louis - aecliptic, Tuesday, June 20, am
11 Vancouver - David Wong, OrcaBlue, Tuesday, June 20, pm
12 Arizona via OTT - slimtj, TJ Reilly, Wednesday, June 21, am
13 Buffalo - Paul Schott, lonsabres, Wednesday, June 21, pm
14 Pittsburgh - mkrisnosky, Matt Krisnosky
15 Nashville - eichiefs9
16 Calgary - Trevor Neufeld, HB Flames blogger
17 Detroit via NYI - Feds91stammer
18 Winnipeg - Jacob Billingham, HB Jets blogger
19 Chicago via TB - Zach Jarom, HB Blackhawks blogger
20 Seattle - NYRangers1124
21 Minnesota - TC88, Todd Piepho
22 Philadelphia via Columbus via LA - Bill Meltzer, HB Flyers blogger
23 NY Rangers - Jan Levine
24 Nashville via EDM - eichiefs9
25 St. Louis via TOR - aecliptic
26 San Jose via NJ - Russ Cohen
27 Colorado - John Ryan, jryan88
28 Toronto via BOS - Michael Augello, HB Maple Leafs blogger
29 St. Louis via DAL - aecliptic
30 Carolina - BINGO!, Chris Cole
31 Montreal via FLA - Karine Hains, HB Canadiens blogger
32 Vegas- Brendan Smith, tbsmith
Looking forward to running this again. We had a ton of fun the last few seasons. That should be the same again this year with New York having the 23rd pick in the first round.
New York Rangers Blogger • 
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