The Stanley Cup Final is officially over, and if you’re a hockey fan consuming sports around the calendar, your focus should probably shift toward the draft.
There is no shortage of storylines around the draft this season. After the 2022 draft where, for the first time in a while, there was no consensus for the first overall pick, we switched to just the opposite in 2023. If you’re a hockey fan, and in 2023, you don’t know who Conor Bedard is, I think it’s safe Say you’ve been living under a rock.
At the head of the lottery is Bedard, from which the Chicago Blackhawks came out The right to choose it First overall, there is an abundance of forward talent eliminating players expected to step up, including University of Michigan’s Adam Fantelli, Sweden’s Leo Karlsson and the highly skilled but polarizing Matvey Michkov from Russia.
With the June 28th draft fast approaching, this marks the start of a new mock draft streak for The Leafs Nation. The series will be divided into four parts, and because the Maple Leafs don’t pick up until the 28th, we won’t get to it until the end of the four parts. That said, if you’re interested in how I think the rest of the draft will shape up, I’m glad you’re along for the ride.
Please note that this mock draft does not take into account any potential trades. There are always deals in the draft, so this mockery almost certainly won’t reflect the bottom line. Without further ado, let’s get things started with what could be the only selection I get right.
1. Chicago Blackhawks – Conor Bedard (C, Regina Pats, WHL, 5-foot-10, 185 lbs)
I’ll do my best to provide some analysis here, but really, there’s nothing I can say about Bédard that hasn’t been said 1,000 times already. He’s the first player since Conor McDavid in 2015 to bring up the term “generation” when describing it, and with good reason. The North Vancouver native became the first player to receive exceptional status from the Western Hockey League (WHL), which gives him the right to debut at the age of 15 instead of 16.
The numbers speak for themselves, as well as his play when you watch him. Bédard scored a ridiculous 71 goals and 143 points over 57 games for the Regina Pats, a pace of more than 2 points per game, and he single-handedly pulled Team Canada to the gold medal at the 2023 World Junior Championships, finishing the race. Championship with nine goals and 23 points in seven games.
The last two key members of the Blackhawks in the early 2010s in Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews left the organization, and the team would almost immediately have the chance to pick its most talented player since McDavid. It’s not a hard time being a Blackhawks fan.
2. Anaheim Ducks – Adam Fantilli (C, U of Michigan, NCAA, 6-foot-2, 187 lbs)
It’s a bit of a cliché, and we hear it a lot of the time when there’s an obvious first overall pick, but if Fantilli didn’t have the misfortune of sharing a class with Bedard, he would undoubtedly be a worthy first overall pick. The Toronto product took the unorthodox route of playing his NCAA draft year instead of playing in the OHL as most Ontario-born players do, but the decision proved to be a good one for him.
In 36 games, Fantilli scored 30 goals and 35 assists for 65 points by season’s end. The numbers are comparable to what Jack Eichel did in his draft year, and given his solid all-around game, it’s hard to envision a scenario in which he doesn’t develop into the top spot in the NHL. He has a natural touch to score goals, plays with physical superiority, and has strong defensive instincts. Should the Ducks pick him up, he would add a huge boost to an already talented young squad with the likes of Trevor Zegras and Mason McTavish up front.
3. Columbus Blue Jackets – Leo Carlsson (C, Orebro HK, SHL, 6ft-3, £195).
The Blue Jackets have been out of contention since their bubble year, when they eliminated the Maple Leafs and fell to the Tampa Bay Lightning in the first round. After a few years of amassing talented prospects including the likes of Cole Selinger, Kent Johnson, and David Jereczek, the Jackets are ready to take the next step, and Carlson may be the ideal choice in the team’s transition from rebuilding the squad into the bubble. qualifying team.
While Carlson may not be ready to go for the first game of the 2023-24 season, he will likely be in the NHL sooner rather than later. He scored 25 points in 44 games with Orebro HK of the SHL, which is an impressive pace considering he’s been playing against grown men, and his hockey IQ is ready for the big league. He’s going to put together a very strong crop of young talent who will definitely be looking to stay out of the draft lottery next season, and whether or not he makes the NHL next year, it won’t be long before he’s part of one of those groups, whether it’s with the Jackets or another team. .
4. San Jose Sharks – Matvey Michkov (RW, SKA St. Petersburg, KHL, 5ft-10, 172lbs)
Of all the choices I’ll be making over the coming days, I’m the least confident about where I think Mitchkov will end up. If it weren’t for a number of factors, including his contract with Kirill Kaprizov in the KHL (he signed with SKA St. Petersburg until 2026) and the teams difficulty when it came to meeting him or knowing anything about him, he would be far and away the second overall pick behind Bedard. . Dare I say, it might even challenge him to make the best choice.
However, the amount of uncertainty surrounding him would likely cause his inventory tank. It’s unknown how low it will go, because it’s really about teams looking to take a risk with a prospect that can reap some intense rewards. Michkov is already nearly a point per game in the KHL, amazing for an 18-year-old, scored 20 points in 27 games for HK Sochi, and basically has everything you could want in a high-octane offensive wing.
The Sharks have the circumstance of being a lottery team without a lot of potential, so if I were general manager Mike Greer, who was just hired as general manager of the Sharks this past summer, I’d do a big job. The Sharks have nothing to lose and likely won’t be on the cusp of contention for a few more years, so it’s a good opportunity for them to add more dynamic players to the draft. However, Meshkov could finish second overall or he could fall out of the top ten. It is almost impossible to say at this point.
5. Montreal Canadiens – Will Smith (C, USNTDP, USHL, 6-foot-0, 172 lbs)
Even if the Habs miss out on picking Bedard, Fantelli, Carlson and Michkov, the fact that they would theoretically have a chance to pick a player like Will Smith fifth overall says a lot about how deep this draft is. The Lexington, Mass., native set video game records with the US National Team Development Program this year, scoring 51 goals and adding 127 points over 60 games for the U18 team, along with 42 points in 20 games for the USNTDP Juniors.
The truth is, if it were the Carlson Blue Jackets, Smith would be next. And if the Blue Jackets draft Smith, Carlson will be next. And somewhere in between all of this lies Mechkov. If the draft plays out the way I think it will, I can’t see the Canadiens passing up the opportunity to take Smith. He has the ability first in the center to create a promising young core of strikers including Nick Suzuki, Cole Caufield and Juraj Slavkowski.
6- Arizona Coyote – Zack Benson (LW, Winnipeg Ice, WHL, 5-foot-10, 163 lbs)
You’ll see plenty of dummy drafts forming together the same way early on, and in this case, the matchup between Benson and the Coyotes is perfect. He’s a teammate of Conor Geekie, who was drafted 11th overall by Arizona last season, and that’s the same team that hasn’t drafted a left winger in the first round since Brendan Berlini in 2014.
With a very promising group of future centers that include the likes of Geekie and third pick Logan Cooley, and potential winger fit for the future in Dylan Guenther, the fit with Benson is perfect. While he lacks size, he is a tenacious striker with a good shot and good playmaking abilities. He’ll praise Geekie and potential teammates well ahead of him down the road assuming everything goes according to plan with his development.
7. Philadelphia Flyers – David Reinbacher (D, EHC Kloten, Swiss League A, 6-foot-2, 187 lbs.).
It’s not often that I say a team like the Flyers should draft a need rather than go with the best player available, but they do need a stable defensive prospect who might quite literally transcend the logic of a walkout. talent instead. Lucky for them, Reinbacher is about as strong as it gets at the back end, and while he may not be the seventh most talented or skilled prospect in the draft, you can still justify him taking the position.
The Austrian Hohenems native will be the highest drafted player in that country since Tomas Vanek, and will join Minnesota Wild’s Marco Rossi as another one of the young studs from there who have been drafted in recent memory. Reinbacher is a solid home defenseman who provided some offense from the back end last season, with 22 points in 46 games. It’s going to be a bit of a project, but it’s probably worth the wait for the pilots.
8. Washington Capitals – Ryan Leonard (C, USNTDP, USHL, 5-foot-11, £181)
The Capitals managed to snag left winger Ivan Miroshnichenko in 2022, who was a top-ten talent before his Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma diagnosis, and was heavy on defense the year before, so I had them switch to center here. And believe me, Leonard is more than just a “center”. Like many top 10 prospects, he set some video game numbers in 2022-23, scoring 51 goals and adding 43 assists for 94 points in 57 games with the USNTDP U18 team.
The Amherst, Massachusetts native is committed to Boston College next season, so it will be at least a year before he joins the team, but it’s well worth the wait. Not only does he possess some elite goal-scoring abilities (which Washington loves, as we all know), he can play in any of the three forward positions and has the ability to kick opponents off the puck despite not being the biggest of the players. He will be a solid addition to the Capitals’ next wave of young strikers to succeed the era of Alex Ovechkin and Niklas Backstrom.