The fifth mock Hockey Buzz mock draft driven by the readers and a few special guests rolls into the next 10 picks. David Wong, OrcaBlue, selected Axel Sandin-Pellikka for Vancouver with TJ Reilly adding Dimitri Simishov for Arizona. Paul Schott, lonsabres, picked Tom Willander for Buffalo with mkrisnosky, Matt Krisnosky's went with Matthew Wood for Pittsburgh. eichiefs9 added Colby Barlow for Nashville while Trevor Neufeld, HB Flames blogger, snagged Eduard Sale for Calgary. Feds91stammer selected Nate Danielson for Detroit, and Jacob Billingham, HB Jets blogger, picked Andrew Cristall Winnipeg. Zach Jarom, HB Blackhawks blogger, for Chicago, and NYRangers1124, for the Kraken, have made their choices to close out the next 10 picks. TC88 and Bill Meltzer, HB Flyers blogger, are up for Minnesota and Philadelphia, respectively, with the Rangers, represented by me, and eichiefs9, for Nashville, on deck.
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 picking Will Smith Montreal..TJ Reilly selected David Reinbacher for Arizona while Bill Meltzer grabbed Ryan Leonard for Philly. Optimus-reim picked Zach Benson for Washington, Feds91stammer took Oliver Moore for Detroit while aecliptic closed out the top-10 with Dalibor Dvorsky for St. Louis, 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 19th overall pick in the 2023 NHL Entry Level Draft, the Blackhawks, represented by Zach Jarom, HB Blackhawks blogger, select out of the USNTDP, Right Winger Gabe Perreault
The 17-year-old is 5 feet 11 and currently weighs 165 pounds. He is the son of former NHLer
Yanic Perreault. He is a highly skilled winger with a great offensive hockey IQ, which always
makes him a threat when his team is on the attack. While he has great playmaking abilities and a very good shot, he tends to be more of a pass-first type of player, which could set him nicely to be a Patrick Kane-type player on one of the powerplay units. Scouts have nothing but praise for his creativity and vision on the ice and fully anticipate him becoming a top-6 forward once he is ready to make the jump to the NHL
As good as he is on the front end, his defensive play could use a bit more work as he tends to
take shifts off on the backcheck, but this is something that will be fixed if he wants to truly
become a top-tier NHL player. Other things he needs to improve on are his skating abilities and
bulk up a bit, as he is a bit smaller, but again, this will begin to change as he gets his career
going. He is going to have plenty of opportunities to improve in these areas as he has committed to Boston College next season, and playing a year or two at the college level will do wonders for him.
Other Players Considered: Quentin Musty, Calum Ritchie, and Andrew Cristall (original pick
before the Jets drafted him 18th).
With the 20th overall pick in the 2023 NHL Entry Level Draft, the Kraken, represented by NYRangers1124, select Quintin Musty, LW, Sudbury (OHL)
After a stellar 100 point 3nd season in the league, the Kraken chose Quentin Musty to bolster their scoring on the wing. I had Perreault earmarked for this pick as he was falling down the board but happy to choose Musty here. He put up numbers in the OHL, after being the #1 pick in his draft year.
None of Seattle's top 15 prospects are natural LW's, so this was an obvious position of need. There should be some open slots on the left in a few years w/ bjorkstrand and schwartz's contracts expiring.
Musty is a player with a lot of offensive touch in his game. He's a highly-skilled puckhandler who can make difficult plays with the puck at a high rate. He tries to make things happen and shows a strong level of creativity. Musty is a good passer who can hit open lanes and has the patience to pull up and make plays. He can score goals and is a shot threat from range but is certainly a player with a pass-first mentality. His effort is fine, he can use his big body to win battles but his game-to-game consistency isn't the best. He's a one-way winger, which combined with his so-so skating ability, is a concern for higher levels. There may be times you want more from him, but I think he will score so much that he will be a top-six wing.
Other players considered:
Perreault was my main focus, with him falling the way he was he was going to be the pick. Otto Stenberg was also considered, but honestly I didn't know too much about him. Some reports stated he's played wing but is mostly a center. With Wright & Goyette both playing the middle it would be hard to justify taking another natural center with this pick.
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, David Reinbacher, D, Kloten (SWISS)
7 Philadelphia - Bill Meltzer, HB Flyers blogger, Ryan Leonard, RW, US, NTDP
8 Washington - optimus-reim, Zach Benson, LW, Winnipeg, WHL
9 Detroit - Feds91Stammer, Oliver Moore, C, US NTDP
10 St. Louis - aecliptic, Dalibor Dvorsky, C, AIK, Slovakia
11 Vancouver - David Wong, OrcaBlue, Axel Sandin-Pellikka, D, Skelleftea Jr. (SWEDEN-JR.)
12 Arizona via OTT - slimtj, TJ Reilly, Dimitri Simishov, D, Yaroslavl Jr. (RUSSIA-JR.)
13 Buffalo - Paul Schott, lonsabres, Tom Willander, D, Rogel BK, Sweden
14 Pittsburgh - mkrisnosky, Matt Krisnosky, Matthew Wood, RW, University of Connecticut
15 Nashville - eichiefs9, Colby Barlow, LW, Owen Sound
16 Calgary - Trevor Neufeld, HB Flames blogger, Eduard Sale, LW, Bryno (Czech)
17 Detroit via NYI - Feds91stammer, Nate Danielson, C, Brandon (WHL)
18 Winnipeg - Jacob Billingham, HB Jets blogger, Andrew Cristall, LW, Kelowna, (WHL)
19 Chicago via TB - Zach Jarom, HB Blackhawks blogger, Gabe Perreault, RW, US NTDP
20 Seattle - NYRangers1124, Quintin Musty, LW, Sudbury (OHL)
21 Minnesota - TC88, Todd Piepho,
[email protected], Saturday, June 24 pm
22 Philadelphia via Columbus via LA - Bill Meltzer, HB Flyers blogger, Saturday, June 24, pm
23 NY Rangers - Jan Levine, Sunday, June 25 am
24 Nashville via EDM - eichiefs9, Sunday, June 25 am,
25 St. Louis via TOR - aecliptic, Sunday, June 25 pm
26 San Jose via NJ - Russ Cohen, Sunday, June 25 pm
27 Colorado - John Ryan, jryan88, Monday, June 26, am
28 Toronto via BOS - Michael Augello, HB Maple Leafs blogger, Monday, June 26, am
29 St. Louis via DAL - aecliptic, Monday, June 26, pm
30 Carolina - BINGO!, Chris Cole, Monday, June 26, pm
31 Montreal via FLA - Karine Hains, HB Canadiens blogger, Tuesday, June 27, am
32 Vegas- Brendan Smith, tbsmith, Tuesday, June 27, am
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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