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Mockable Mock Draft : Climax (Picks 29-31)

June 22, 2018, 9:31 AM ET [25 Comments]
Adam French
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Welcome to the end of this fun little venture. I hope you enjoyed following along and that it was as much fun for you as it was for me. I know Detroit fans will be coming for me with pitchforks. Sorry lads, he's your GM and I'm trying to pick who he would. I will be posting in the afternoon a few write ups on guys I don't have on this list. Guys I feel have some potential and are overlooked. Plus some players that probably will go in the first round, but that I didn't put on here.


What came before.

1. The Buffalo Sabres - Rasmus Dahlin

2. The Carolina Hurricanes - Andrei Svechnikov

3. The Montreal Canadiens - Noah Dobson

4. The Ottawa Senators - Filip Zadina

5. The Arizona Coyotes - Quinn Hughes

6. The Detroit Red Wings - Jesperi Kotkaniemi

7. The Vancouver Canucks - Evan Bouchard

8. The Chicago Blackhawks - Brady Tkachuk

9. The New York Rangers - Oliver Wahlstrom

10. The Edmonton Oilers - Adam Boqvist

11. The New York Islanders - Ty Smith

12. The New York Islanders - Vitali Kravtsov

13. The Dallas Stars - Martin Kaut

14. The Philadelphia Flyers - Barrett Hayton

15. The Florida Panthers - Mattias Samuelsson

16. The Colorado Avalanche - Rasmus Sandin

17. The New Jersey Devils - Jonatan Berggren

18. The Columbus Blue Jackets - Joseph Veleno

19. The The Philadelphia Flyers - Joel Farabee

20. The Los Angeles Kings - Isac Lundestrom

21. The San Jose Sharks - Jared McIsaac

22. The Ottawa Senators - Bode Wilde

23. The Anaheim Ducks - Dominik Bokk

24. The Minnesota Wild - K’Andre Miller

25. The Toronto Maple Leafs - Rasmus Kupari

26. The New York Rangers - Akil Thomas

27. The Chicago Blackhawks - Martin Fehérváry

28. The New York Rangers - Nils Lundkvist


29. The St. Louis Blues

Ryan McLeod
, Centreman, 6’2 190lbs, 18 Years Old, Mississauga Steelheads in the OHL
68gp 26 g 44a 70p

McLeod is the brother of the Devils 12th Overall Selection Michael and while bloodlines shouldn’t matter in an ideal world…they do. That will give him an artificial boost over more unknown players. Speed, speed and more speed. Regardless of whether you think he has the offensive skills to be a scorer in the NHL, his effortless and elite skating ability will almost certainly carve out a career for him. His skating is not the usual buzz word of “great,” it’s elite. Grabner, Larkin, Hagelin, Raymond etc. levels of speed. He’s not a shooter and is definitely more of a playmaker. Though with some of the options he had on the ice, it’s hard to see why he would be the triggerman. Tippett, Hague, his brother and Fox are all shooters. This is a bit counterintuitive when it comes to a player that plays at his speed level.

McLeod did a lot of his damage on the PP garnering 27 of his 70 points with the man advantage. Though his production varied as Mississauga had roster changeovers throughout the year. While personally I don’t think he has the offensive acumen to become a top-6 forward, I can see him finding his way into the NHL as a bottom-six special team’s specialist. The Blues have already drafted a lot of very high-end skilled players like Thomas, Kyrou, Kostin and Fabbri to name a few. They could use a versatile player that can take some of the heavy competition away from their stars. McLeod projects to be that guy. Plus, who knows, with his speed, if he develops a better shot, he could maybe end up being a Mikael Backlund style player. That responsible two-way centre that you wouldn’t be afraid to send out to protect a lead.

Potential : 3rd Line All Purpose Centre
Comparable : Mikael Backlund


30. The Detroit Red Wings

Serron Noe
l, Right Winger, 6’5 205lbs, 17 Years Old, Oshawa Generals in the OHL
62gp 28g 25a 53p

They weren’t afraid to go big when they drafted Rasmussen and I think they take this drafts biggest wildcard. Ranked from as high as 12th to as low as the third round, Noel is a very galvanizing player to say the least. Noel was born in August and is on the younger side of this draft. That will probably give teams hope that he will grow even more. Which would be frightening since he’s already a huge player already.

Noel is a physical goal scorer and plays the classical power forward game. He gets in hard on the forecheck and gets to the net and hopes things can happen. Noel finished 5th on the low scoring Generals in points and second in goals scored. He’s very dangerous around the net and has decent hands. I think his game honestly translates better to the pros than it does in the OHL. Which might sound odd. There is a lot less puck possession in junior hockey compared to the NHL. In the NHL there would be more time to set up and allow him to grind and force things. He’s not suited to a free flowing game.

His draft stock has risen after a solid performance for Canada at the U18’s. Having watch 3 of the 5 games Canada competed in, I would tepidly agree. His numbers though are a bit more misleading in terms of on ice play vs production. He scored 2 goals and added 6 points and played a dangerously physical game. He had a few borderline hits that were probably due to the different ice surface and not being used to having that much extra time.

If Jeff Blashill didn’t seem to hate his best goal scorer in Anthony Mantha, I’d imagine most teams would be salivating at the thought of the “Hulk Line” of Mantha-Rasmussen-Noel. Obviously they would all need to make the NHL and hit their “potential.” Otherwise that could just be a very freakish fourth line.

With two first rounders and the 33rd and 36th pick, I think they can take the gamble and then pick up some of the other interesting players that will be there at one of those slots. Be it a Dellandrea, Denisenko, Lundqvist, Ginning, Alexeyev, McShane, Woo or O’Brien.

This just seems like too much of a Holland pick for it not to happen.

Potential : 3rd Line Goal Scorer
Comparable : Wayne Simmonds


31. The Washington Capitals

Grigori Denisenko
, Left Wing, 5’11(generous, looks like he's 5'9) 172lbs, Loko Yaroslavl in the MHL
31gp 9g 13a 22p

What is there to say about Denisenko other than that he is volatile. Denisenko is a small dirty pest of a player with high-end individual skills. You can already see the comparison can’t you? He has great skating ability and elite hands. He makes defenseman look silly with an extra gear that he can shift to. He’s very good at making plays in tight and can stick handle in a phone booth. One of Denisenko’s issues is retaliatory penalties. Something he has become known for in international tournaments. In the MHL playoffs it’s a well-known secret that he was purposefully left off the U18 squad due to a game misconduct which involved spitting on a player after he had headshot the player from behind. Regardless his tenacity and skill are commendable for a player his size. It’s the type of edge you need to play with when you’re a smaller player in the NHL.

The Capitals coming off their Cup win can afford to gamble on a Russian player that might just need a little guidance. Who better than Captain Party and the Leg Man? In all seriousness though, Denisenko would be a smart pick for any team looking to add a potential homerun pick. I think the Capitals have proven that they can recruit Russian players to commit to North America and Denisenko should be no different.

I muddled back and forth over the “Mad Russian,” “McGuire’s Latest Crush” and “Future Captain Man” in this slot. I’m going with Denisenko and the Capitals need for more cheap forward depth going forward.

Potential : Top-6 Pest
Comparable : Brad Marchand
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