Well, the 2nd round of the playoffs is over, and a few more draft positions (most notably the Flames' #22) are set in stone. I only did 2 mocks last year, but it's fun and stuff, so I decided to do another one RIGHT NOW. Only this time, there's a twist. I decided (pretty much right after I posted the last one) that I wanted to do something different. Something... interesting. You can go anywhere (to many sites much more useful than mine) and find mock drafts littered with sensible picks. Informative, but boring (well, not really).
No. This time, I wanted to gift my readers (yes, all six of you!) with something you won't find anywhere else. A mock draft that's littered with insanity from start to finish. (You know, as if every team was run by Scott Howson).
In every draft, someone does something ridiculous (2007: Los Angeles takes Thomas Hickey 4th overall for no apparent reason), sometimes many someones (2012: Garth Snow offers Howson ALL of the Islanders' picks in order to move up TWO spots; Howson, when offered ALL the Islanders' draft picks for his 2nd overall (which would move him down to 4th) TURNS DOWN THE OFFER; the Islanders take Griffin Reinhart 4th; Carolina trades their 8th pick and a lot of other great stuff for Jordan Staal; Pittsburg drafts Derrick Pouliot 8th; Grigorenko drops to 12th; Teravainen drops to 18th; Calgary, after trading down, drafts Mark Jankowski) and makes the rest of the draft supremely interesting. It always happens. No one sees it coming. So, I thought I'd try my hand at predicting some of these reaches (not trades, because that would mess up the draft order). All at the same time. In one mock draft.
So, without further wasting of time, here is my 2013 NHL Entry Draft: First Round Mock II.
And Madness Ensued. (Disclaimer: someone (a GM perhaps) might be offended by this. I say suck it up, this is a blog).
- Colorado: Jonathan Drouin, LW - Jones or MacKinnon? That's been the question all season long. MacKinnon has a talent package that is impossible not to like (plus he's a center), Jones is a big, toolsy defender with few holes in his game. Either (particularly Jones) would be a great fit for the Avs. Which is why they take Drouin just to mess everyone up (also, he'd be a great linemate for Duchene).
- Florida: Nathan MacKinnon, C - A great all-around center who will be an NHL allstar. Imagine him with Jonathan Huberdeau on his LW. Terrifying.
- Tampa Bay: Seth Jones, D - They need D. I don't really have to explain this one, do I?
- Nashville: Sean Monahan, C - The Preds make the incredibly astute observation that Monahan and Barkov are the same size, play the same position, and actually have similar skillsets. They also note that Barkov is currently injured, and Monahan is Canadian. That matters, right?
- Carolina: Darnell Nurse, D - Jim Rutherford, hung over from a bout of heavy drinking the night before, forgets part one of his brilliant plan to move down in the draft and snag Nurse around 7th or 8th. Still, a potentially elite shutdown defender who can move the puck and skate? Yes, please.
- Calgary: Sasha Barkov, C - The totally-not-Russian center somehow falls to the Flames. They're happy, we're happy, everyone else is pissed. Yay franchise center! Feaster's blustering will be warranted for the first time ever.
- Edmonton: Nikita Zadorov, D - "He may be ranked lower, but he's big. Big is good, right? Scott [Howson] told me we have to go for this guy, and we all know he did a great job in Columbus..." - Craig MacTavish.
- Buffalo: Valeri Nichushkin, RW - "Well, what do you know? That went rather well, didn't it? The giant Russian power forward will make a great linemate for Mikhail Grigorenko. Who'd have thought this would happen for us two years in a row?" - Darcy Regier.
- New Jersey: Zach Fucale, G - The Devils need a goalie (I guess), since Brodeur and Hedberg are both getting on in years. Apparently no one told the GM that goalies are a bad bet in the first round, and take forever to develop, anyway. Still, full marks for bullheadedness.
- Dallas: Elias Lindholm, C - So yeah. That happened. Lindholm is somehow still on the board. That went well. Hopefully the Stars don't have a collective heart attack in their shock when this definitely happens.
- Philadelphia: Bo Horvat, C - A good Memorial Cup performance is enough to catapult Horvat into draft fame.
- Phoenix: Max Domi, C - The fiesty little center will look funny following the giant Martin Hanzal on shifts. There'll be no mixing them up, that's for sure.
- Winnipeg: Hunter Shinkaruk, RW - Everyone forgot about the scoring winger because... well, everyone always seems to for some reason. The Jets' gain, I guess.
- Columbus: Alex Wennberg, C - The BJ's reach on the slick Swedish center.
- New York Islanders: Rasmus Ristolainen, D - So um. How did he get here?
- Buffalo: Curtis Lazar, C - The fanbase says "enough is enough with the small scoring forwards." Regier says. "Fine." Then does this.
- Ottawa: Lucas Wallmark, C - The Sens wanted Wennberg, but settle for the next best thing. I guess.
- Detroit: Ryan Pulock, D - I guess I can only do crazy picks for so long before the good guys start piling up.
- Columbus: Adam Erne, RW - Good Curtis Glencross type powerforward.
- San Jose: Andre Burakovsky, RW - The fanbase thinks their team went for a Russian. Little do they know that Andre is actually Swedish somehow.
- Toronto: Kerby Rychel, RW - Tyler Biggs was great, right? Let's do the same thing again (exept less bad).
- Calgary: Steve Santini, D - The Flames envision Santini manning a terrifying defensive pair alongside Pat Sieloff.
- Washington: Frederik Gauthier, C - The Caps want some size up the middle, I guess.
- Vancouver: John Hayden, C/RW - The Canucks' search for a physical, punishing power forward continues. No one seems to be asking why they're looking for one, though.
- Montreal: Jordan Subban, D - The fans swell with anticipation as Bergevin approaches the podium. With a handful of excellent QMJHL forwards still on the board--Mantha, Zykov--surely the pick will be one of them. Instead... well, at least it's a familiar name.
- Anaheim: Samuel Morin, D - Giant defensemen who can skate don't grow on trees, you know. Well, in principle, anyway. There seem to be a lot of them in this draft though.
- Columbus: Henrik Haapala, RW - I guess Jarmo Kekalainen was feeling homesick or something. Needed to pick at least one guy from Finland.
- Dallas: Madison Bowey, D - This draft seems to have worked out rather well for the Stars, no? Mobile 2-way defender has lots of upside.
- Calgary: Taylor Cammarata, C - I have to admit, the Flames 2nd and 3rd picks are a little bit to make up for the first one. Feaster, still drunk on glory from the Gaudreau pick two years ago, reaches for the somewhat similar Cammarata. I guess no one told him he could have waited until the 3rd round.
- Chicago: Anthony Mantha, RW - So yeah. The rich get richer, and all that. Mantha is a similar pick to Saad. We'll see if it works out as well.
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