The fourth mock Hockey Buzz mock draft driven by the readers and a few special guests is underway. Hank Bailing did not go off the board with the Sabres pick, selecting Owen Power first overall, while Sean Maloughney took Matthew Beniers as the first ever Seattle draft pick and Ryan Armstrong completed the Michigan trifecta with Kent Johnson. Zabber selected Luke Hughes with the Devils' pick. Slimtj selected Simon Edvinsson for Columbus with fed91stammer's grabbing William Eklund for Detroit.
Hockeygm traded San Jose’s pick to Ottawa, who, represented by optimus-rein, selected Dylan Guenther. Dudestar's pick for LA was Brandt Clarke. Nucker101's selected Mason McTavish for Vancouver while Hockeygm's pick for San Jose was Cole Sillinger and Theo Fox's pick for Chicago was Chaz Lucius. ShallowLarynx selected Fabian Lysell for Calgary while Flyersfan328 pick for the Flyers was Aatu Ray and NYRangers1124’s choice for Dallas was Matthew Coronato. My pick for the NY Rangers at 15 was Fedor Svechkov and Tommycasino's selection for St. Louis at #16 was Xavier Bourgault.
Ross77 traded Winnipeg's pick to Columbus, represented by slimtt, who selected Jesper Wallstedt for the Blue Jackets. Russ Cohen's pick for the Predators is below, as 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. Almost all teams are spoken for, meaning we have close to a full complement of General Managers, but need a few more. 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.
The draft is July 23 and we will start the draft July 8 in the morning. That will give us 15 days or so to complete the draft, even factoring in the Sabbath. For weekdays and Sunday, I will post a pick in the am, theen a second in the pm with voting in between, for around the first 20 picks. The last 11, we will run three per day so we get all 31 picks by or on July 23.
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 morning and evening (for now, two picks per day, but we will go to three when we get to latter third of the mock draft, 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 18th Overall Pick in the 2021 NHL Entry Draft, the Nashville Predators represented by Russ Cohen, select Corson Ceulemans – Defense – Brooks Bandits – AJHL
Rationale for the selection with scouting report along with alternatives considered (both players and trades):
The AJHL was in session for a short time and the 6-2, 201-pound defenseman is what the Preds are looking for. He won a gold medal with Team Canada in the U18s. They shed one under six-foot defenseman already in Ryan Ellis and by the time Ceulemans is ready, Just six-foot, Dante Fabbro could be gone if they continue on that path.
Scouting: He skates great and has excellent vision. Does a lot to keep the puck in the offensive zone. The puck leaves his stick quickly with his wrist shot. Not physical but has great catchup speed and a good stick on defense.
2021 NHL DRAFT ORDER
1. Buffalo Sabres - Hank Bailing, Owen Power, D, Michigan (73%, 267 votes)
2. Seattle Kraken - Sean Maloughney, Matthew Beniers, C, Michigan (85%, 144 votes)
3. Anaheim Ducks - climbdenali12, Ryan Armstrong, Kent Johnson, C, Michigan (20%, 192 votes)
4. New Jersey Devils - Zabber, Luke Hughes, D, USDP (U-18) (81%, 239 votes)
5. Columbus Blue Jackets, slimTJ, TJ Reilly, Simon Edvinsson, D, Frolunda (49% of 140 votes)
6. Detroit Red Wings - fed91tstammer, William Eklund, LW, Djurgardens (SHL) (72%, 162 votes)
7. San Jose Sharks - hockeygm, pick traded to Ottawa who selects Dylan Guenther, RW, Edmonton (WHL) (83%, 82 votes)
8. Los Angeles Kings - dudestar, Nicholas Plazio, Brandt Clarke, RHD, HC Nove Zamhy (87%, 130 votes)
9. Vancouver Canucks - Nucker101, Mason McTavish, C, Peterborough (89%, 168 votes)
10. San Jose from Ottawa- hockeygm, Cole Sillinger, C, Sioux Falls (59%, 68 votes)
11. Chicago Blackhawks - Theo Fox, Blackhawks blogger from site, Chaz Lucius, C, US-NTDP (50%, 109 votes)
12. Calgary Flames - ShallowLarynx, Fabian Lysell, RW, Luleå HF (SHL) (77%, 121 votes)
13. Philadelphia Flyers - Flyersfan328, Phil Brunner, Aatu Raty, C, Oulun Kärpät (Liiga) (58%, 172 votes)
14. Dallas Stars - NYRangers1124, Matthew Coronato, LW, Chicago Steelheads (51%, 43 votes)
15. New York Rangers - Jan Levine, Fyodor Svechkov, C, Ska-1946 (Russia) (59%, 67 votes)
16. St. Louis Blues - Tommycasino, Tom Dueck, Xavier Bourgault, C, Shawinigan (39%, 46 votes)
17. Columbus Blue Jackets (from Winnipeg Jets) - slimTJ, TJ Reilly, Jesper Wallstedt, G, Lulea (61%, 122 has Winnipeg winning deal) (67%, 66 votes)
18. Nashville Predators - Russ Cohen, Corson Ceulemans – Defense – Brooks Bandits – AJHL
19. Edmonton Oilers - maximumbone, Silas Bengtsson Sunday July 18 am
20. Boston Bruins - Anthony Travalgia, Bruins blogger on site, Sunday, July 18 afternoon
21. Minnesota Wild - jryan88 - Sunday, July 18 pm
22. Detroit Red Wings (from Washington Capitals) - fed91tstammer, Monday, July 19 am
23. Florida Panthers - jimbo, Jimmy Reilly - Monday, July 19, afternoon
24. Winnipeg Jets (from Columbus Blue Jackets from Toronto Maple Leafs) - Ross77, Darren Ross, Monday, July 19, pm
25. Minnesota Wild (from Pittsburgh Penguins) - jryan88, Tuesday, July 20, am
26. Carolina Hurricanes - Bingo, Chris Cote, Tuesday, July 20, afternoon
27. Colorado Avalanche - TommyGTrain, Tuesday, July 20, pm
28. New Jersey Devils (from New York Islanders) - Zabber, Wednesday, July 21, am
29. Las Vegas Golden Knights - Burnt_Juice, Clay Arseniuk, Wednesday, July 21, afternoon
30. Montreal Canadiens - Karine Hains, Montreal blogger on site, Wednesday, July 21, pm
31. Winnipeg Jets (from Columbus Blue Jackets from Tampa Bay Lightning) - Ross77, Darren Ross,Thursday, July 22, 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 15th pick in the first round.
The
Rangers had what can be called a mildly eventful day as the team determined their protection list for the expansion draft. New York made one trade that reduced the pool to choose from in that population and a second deal that won't impact the list but could drastically impact the roster. In addition, a rumored third deal - which as of now is pure speculation and has not been confirmed by more established sources - failed to occur while our hopes for additional blue line return options remain the same.
Heading into free agency,
Goodrow or a Goodrow-type was believed to be a major target for the Rangers and GM Chris Drury. Acquired by Tampa Bay two trade deadlines ago for a first round pick. Goodrow was a key performer in the Lightning's two Cup runs. Making just 925K, Goodrow was in line for a major pay raise and will get it.
Giving up a 2022 seventh rounder to obtain Goodrow's rights was a no-brainer. New York has exclusive rights to negotiate with Goodrow until July 28. At that point, he'd become a UFA. The two sides are rumored to already be discussing terms of a contract.
New York didn't acquire and are potentially signing Goodrow for his scoring prowess. Coleman plays the hard-nosed brand of hockey that Drury has said he wants to add to the lineup. In addition, he brings grit, leadership, toughness and playoff experience along with the ability to play center or wing, the latter his likely best position.
Now for the contract, @EvolvingWild’s contract projections have been pretty on point, and they project the most likely deal for Goodrow being 4 years, $3.15 million per. In addition, some speculation is that Goodrow could get six years if he makes it to free agency, Drury has his work cut out for him. If going six years, which I don't necessarily advocate, then the AAV needs to be reduced from that projection to make it worthwhile. But, Rick Carpinello noted that it will likely take five years at $4.5 million per, and that might be on the light side, to persuade Goodrow to sign before reaching the open market. To me that is an overpayment, but that figure doesn't shock me in the slightest.
Where Goodrow plays, presuming he signs with New York, also remains to be seen. He could skate on the fourth line, but that will blunt his impact to a certain extent. He was a member of Tampa's relentless third line, along with Yanni Gourde and pending UFA Blake Coleman, which would look to be his best landing spot for the Rangers, If that happens, room has to be created in that trio, meaning one or more of Filip Chytil, Vitali Kravtsov or Pavel Buchnevich could be on the move at some point. Goodrow could center the third line with Chris Kreider and maybe Gauthier. If on the fourth line, he could be paired with Morgan Barron and possibly Rooney or another free agent signing or trade acquisition, possibly Lawson Crouse.
With the second deal, the Rangers reduced the number of possible options for the seventh protected spot from four to three in
trading Howden to Las Vegas , With Howden dealt, now the seventh forward spot will be one of Julien Gauthier, Colin Blackwell or Kevin Rooney, more on that below. Howden never panned out in New York, but he could be a decent fourth liner in Vegas.
For the Rangers, as noted in the blog when he signed the one-year deal facilitating his trade, he had lived off his performance the first two months in New York, but hadn't done much since then.Howden drew the ire of most of the Blueshirts' faithful. First, for his failure to develop. Second, for his inclusion in the Ryan McDonagh/J.T. Miller rather than the myriad of other names we all preferred. Yet, despite that, he still put his head down and came to work nightly, even though the results were not there.
As Vince Mercogliano, regarding Nick DeSimone, Vegas had to include a player to be compliant on their reserve list. He'll be a UFA next week and won't sign with the Rangers. But New York gets a future fourth rounder for a player in Howden that really had no future with the team.
The rumored deal was Pavel Buchnevich for Bo Horvat, Vancouver is looking to shake up the team, but I would be a bit shocked if they dealt their captain. Signed for two more years at $5.5 mil per, Horvat was selected ninth overall in 2013, using the pick the Canucks acquired from New Jersey for Cory Schneider.
Horvat would certainly help New York down the middle between the dots. He has never won below 50% of his draws and was on the positive of almost 53% of his faceoffs this year. He peaked in 2018-19 with 61 points, falling to 53 points in 69 games and 39 points in 53 games this season. Horvat would slot in as a 3C with the potential to be a 2C next season. But I put the likelihood of this deal as somewhat remote, though where there is smoke there is a fire. I have been a huge Horvat fan for years and he does have the ability to score while filling a huge role as a true third-line center for now with the potential for more.
You all know my view on Buch. I think dealing him would be a huge mistake as he still has more growth in him. Buch is becoming the player we hoped he would be. The key question is terms of the next deal, both $ and years. If he was signed to a deal with a similar term to Horvat for six years, would that make you happy or still be viewed as an overpayment after he made $3.2 mil this year?
Expansion Draft
Goodrow was probably left exposed in anticipation that the Kraken wouldn’t want to take the risk of selecting an impending free agent. If a contract is signed with New York, hopefully it will be shortly after that draft. Artemi Panarin, Mika Zibanejad, Chris Kreider, Buchnevich, Chytil and Ryan Strome are locked in as six of the seven protected forwards. The final slot is up for grabs as noted above.
Arguments can be made to protect any of three from Blackwell, Gautieir and Rooney. Of the three, the most likely to be exposed is Rooney, who while solid in New York doesn't present the same upside and cache as the other two, In addition, Goodrow - if signed - can replace Rooney on the penalty kill. Gauthier has the most offensive upside of the three, but as we have seen, offset by his defensive issues. Blackwell showed the willingness to do the dirty work on the second line, after he was moved onto that trio. But he was left with Panarin and Strome for too long, as his usefulness there waned. Blackwell is best served on the fourth line and moved up periodically as needed.
I do think it will be a coin flip between Gauthier and Blackwell. I am leaning towards the Rangers protecting Blackwell but would not be shocked if it's Gautheir. If Gautheir is left exposed and drafted by Seattle on Wednesday.
In terms of the blueline, I think we all had hoped that Drury made a deal for Vince Dunn or even Brett Kulak. Neither deal came to fruition. As a result, the three New York d-men keepers should be Jacob Trouba, Ryan Lindgren and Libor Hajek. The first two are givens, the third could be Anthony Bitetto, but I think we all believe that Hajek will be the one protected.
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