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 made his pick for Detroit, and Jacob Billingham, HB Jets blogger, did the same for Winnipeg. Zach Jarom, HB Blackhawks blogger, is up for Chicago, joined NYRangers1124 picking for the Kraken to close out the next 10 picks. TC88 and Bill Meltzer, HB Flyers blogger, are on deck for Minnesota and Philadelphia, respectively.
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 17th overall selection in the Hockeybuzz Mock Draft, the Detroit Red Wings, represented by Feds91stammer, select Nate Danielson, C, Brandon (WHL)
Rationale: Although not fundamentally sound Danielson is described as being one of the better skaters in this draft. Danielson is an adequate playmaker and possesses a willingness to be a strong backchecker. He does not appear to have high end potential but is once again compared stylistically to players Yzerman is very familiar with in Gourde and Cirelli. Danielson projects to be a great all around middle-six center that can hopefully help Detroit become a championship contender in the relatively near future.
Trades: I briefly discussed trades targeting Lawson Crouse and Alex DeBrincat. We never got into things enough to agree to an actual mock trade but these are players I believe Yzerman would consider if the value makes sense.
With the 18th overall selection in the Hockeybuzz Mock Draft, the Winnipeg Jets, represented by Jacob Billingham, HB Jets blogger, select Andrew Cristall, LW, Kelowna, (WHL)
While the Jets may look to take a defenseman, at this point if Cristall is on the board it should be a no-brainer. He is a very skilled winger and is poised to be at the top of WHL scoring next season. He has incredible play-making skills and an underrated shot. The Jets picked up McGroarty and Lambert last year who are both projected to be high-skill top-six players, and the Jets have no shortage of winger prospects, but Cristall is by far the best player available and will sit close to the top of the Jets' prospect pool.
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 Simashev, 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, Friday, June 23 pm
20 Seattle - NYRangers1124, Friday, June 23 pm
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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