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 Vancoiuver while Hockeygm's pick for San Jose is below and Theo Fox is now on the clock for Chicago. 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. 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 10th Overall Pick in the 2021 NHL Entry Draft, the San Jose Sharks, represented by hockeygm, select Cole Sillinger, C, Sioux Falls (USHL)
Rationale for the selection with scouting report along with alternatives considered (both players and trades):
Scouting Report: Cole has been described as having a world class shot; few fall as neatly into the "pure sniper" category as he does. He has stellar off the puck instincts, an often over-powering wall game and a penchant for driving the centre lane (that's center lane for Americans who spell properly) of the offensive zone. He is able to attack soft spots, change the angle on his shot to fool goalies, has a good backhand shot that will beat goalies, great vision and intelligence on the ice. He has been classified as a 200ft forward because he is an aggressive forechecker, kills penalties and has shown a willingness to throw his weight around in the offensive zone. Another notable trait is his ability to read plays, anticipate puck travel and has a quick strike mentality to pick off lazy passes, particularly in the neutral zone.
His coach had this to say about him: “What I learned about him is really that he’s a great leader. He doesn’t just bring his game to the table, he changes culture because he’s such a good kid and a hard-working player,” Desjardins said. “It’s his compete. Some guys they just play. For him, when the game’s on the line he always plays his best. And that’s something you can’t see from the outside.”
NHL Comparable: Logan Couture..and he has worked out pretty well for the Sharks
Rationale: If you go back 3 years, Doug Wilson correctly identified the need to get a younger #1C and tried to get John Tavares as a Free Agent, Failing that, he made the trade for Erik Karlsson and traded away his best Center prospect in Josh Norris as well as a solid #3C in Chris Tierney. This has created a significant hole in the lineup with only Logan Couture and Tomas Hertl as being legitimate Top Tier Centers. Both of them are oft injured and Hertl becomes a UFA in 2 years. Dylan Gambrell has been a disappointment and the Sharks have tried several others (Noah Gregor, Joel Kellman, Alex True, Maxim Letunov) with no one sticking.
The need for Center is greater than the need for a young goalie (Wallstedt) to take the place of Jones. Goalies also take longer to develop and can be Hit and Miss. The Sharks can't afford a Miss here. Cole needs to develop physically and improve his skating , along with his D Play, which means letting him pay one more year in Juniors and then the AHL the following year would not be an impediment. Logan Couture followed this route and he's turned out pretty well. Plus, he comes from an NHL family, knows what it takes to make it in the league and has good character. The Sharks have drafted prospects in years past who had fallen due to character issues and they've been burned every time.
Others Considered:
Jesper Wallstedt...for the reasons mentioned above plus the Sharks have Zach Edmond and Alexei Melnichuk as prospects. They are closer to competency here than they are at Center. Poor team defense has been a big reason why Goals Against have been as high as they are. I don't want to expose a young goalie to a team with a poor defense and have him lose confidence.
Chaz Lucius: A Center with a strong shot and good skills but who has already suffered a serious knee injury
My original choice was going to be Mason McTavish but I was offered a trade to move from #7 to #10 and pick up an early 2nd Round pick at #38. Since the Sharks don't currently have a 2nd Round pick, I felt that this was best for the Organization as a whole. Cole was my backup plan and still an excellent prospect.
Long Term Prospects: The kids I have been watching on the Barracuda are Sasha Chmelevski, Ivan Chekovich, and Joachim Blichfield..Joachim is a gifted sniper who needs to improve his 200ft game. Having him and Sillinger on a line together could be very interesting.
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
11. Chicago Blackhawks - Theo Fox, Blackhawks blogger from site, Tuesday, July 13 pm
12. Calgary Flames - ShallowLarynx, Wednesday, July 14 am
13. Philadelphia Flyers - Flyersfan328, Phil Brunner, Wednesday, July 14 pm
14. Dallas Stars - NYRangers1124, Thursday, July 15, am
15. New York Rangers - Jan Levine, Thursday, July 15 pm
16. St. Louis Blues - Tommycasino, Tom Dueck, Friday, July 16 am
17. Winnipeg Jets - Ross77, Darren Ross, Friday, July 16 pm
18. Nashville Predators - Russ Cohen, Saturday, July 17 pm
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. Columbus Blue Jackets (from Toronto Maple Leafs) - slimTJ, TJ Reilly, 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. Columbus Blue Jackets (from Tampa Bay Lightning) - slimTJ, TJ Reilly, 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.
New York Rangers Blogger • 
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