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. Ryan Armstrong, climbdenali12, is up for Anaheim's pick with Zak McMillian, HB Blue Jackets blogger, on deck for Columbus' selection. Below is the 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 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 1st overall pick in the 2023 NHL Entry Level Draft, the Chicago Blackhawks, represented by Zack Jarom, are proud to select from the Regina Pats of the Western Hockey League, center Connor Bedard.
This might just be the one no-brainer in this year's draft, as Connor Bedard has been seen as the runaway 1st overall pick in this draft class. He has an NHL-caliber wrist shot, and the second he takes the ice, he will be considered one of the best shooters in the league. On top of this, he has already shown elite-level stick handling, passing, skating ability, and speed. With all of that on top of his high hockey IQ, Bedard is going to be a game changer for the rebuilding Hawks.
The one thing that might be an issue is his size; at last week's NHL Combine, he came in at 5-9 and weighed 185. He will put on weight over time as he is still only 17, but the question will beif he can compete as a true 1C at his size. Does Coach Richardson move him to the wing? If this is the worst thing to come out of this pick, I think the Hawks will be over the moon.
2023 NHL DRAFT ORDER
1 Chicago - Zach Jarom, HB Blackhawks blogger, Connor Bedard, C, Regina (WHL)
2 Anaheim - Ryan Armstrong - climbdenali12, Thursday, June 15, pm
3 Columbus - Zak McMillian, HB Blue Jackets blogger, Friday, June 16, am
4 San Jose - Ken Peterson, Hockeygm, Friday, June 16 pm
5 Montreal - Karine Hains, HB Canadiens blogger, Saturday, June 17, pm
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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