Tonight is the first round of the NHL draft. As anyone who knows me is aware of, I'm a huge draft junkie and follow prospects a lot. This will be the third draft I've attended here in Buffalo, along with Florida last year and LA in 2010. It's an incredibly exciting experience to see everyone in the hockey world gathered in one place. You see all kinds of GMs and coaches around the hotels and obviously at the rink. It's fun to see trades conceived right before your eyes.
This particular draft is even more exciting for us Leaf fans because they hold the #1 pick for the first time since 1985 (Wendel Clark) and will almost certainly be taking Auston Matthews, a superstar first line centre in the making from Arizona. The Leafs have lacked this kind of player since Mats Sundin.
There is real drama shaping up over the #2 pick, as it appears the Jets may take Jesse Puljujarvi instead of the consensus #2 (and contender for #1) Patrik Laine. I've seen a Kevin Cheveldayoff interview that appeared to support this theory.
Here's my mock draft:
1. Toronto - Auston Matthews, C
2. Winnipeg - Jesse Puljujarvi, RW
3. Columbus - Patrik Laine, RW
4. Edmonton - Matthew Tkachuk, LW
5. Vancouver - Pierre-Luc Dubois, LW
6. Calgary - Olli Juolevi, D
7. Arizona - Mikhail Sergachev, D
8. Buffalo - Jakob Chychrun, D
9. Montreal - Alex Nylander, LW
10. Colorado - Logan Brown, C
11. New Jersey - Clayton Keller, C
12. Ottawa - Michael McLeod, C
13. Carolina - Jake Bean, D
14. Boston - Luke Kunin, C
15. Minnesota - Charlie McAvoy, D
16. Detroit - German Rubtsov, C
17. Nashville - Kieffer Bellows, LW
18. Philadelphia - Max Jones, LW
19. NY Islanders - Dante Fabbro, D
20. Arizona (from NYR) - Tyson Jost, C
21. Carolina (from LAK) - Julien Gauthier, RW
22. Winnipeg (from CHI) - Alex DeBrincat, LW
23. Florida - Logan Stanley, D
24. Anaheim - Pascal Laberge, C
25. Dallas - Rasmus Asplund, C
26. Washington - Riley Tufte, LW
27. Tampa Bay - Tyler Benson, LW
28. St. Louis - Libor Hajek, D
29. Boston (from SJS) - Sam Steel, C
30. Anaheim (from PIT via TOR) - Vitaly Abramov, RW
As a bonus pick, I'll say Toronto picks Carter Hart (G) at #31.
