With the Dallas Stars throwing $8 million a year for eight years in the direction of Miro Heiskanen on Saturday, it seemed a good time for a quick Top 15 NHL Entry Draft selection guessing game.
If you are going to set the stage for long-term deals at $8 million plus per year than you better be picking some solid, young, inexpensive talent in the draft this week.
There are teams going into a rebuild, some in the midst of one and others just emerging with heavy expectations awaiting them in October.
Let’s give this a go and see what we can drum up starting with the top 10 picks.
Buffalo Sabres – The Sabres traded Taylor Hall away at the deadline and became more competitive, they seem ready to part ways with Jack Eichel (or is he parting with Buffalo), and they will likely get better long-term after that move. The surgeon excised one problem this season, now for a sharpened scalpel blade.
For this draft, the Sabres would be foolish to select anyone other than defenseman Owen Power of the Michigan Wolverines. In 26 games, Power had 16 points on three goals in 26 games and 40 blocked shots for Michigan in the Big Ten. Where he sold his placement at No. 1 was in the 2021 IIHF World Championship. He played with poise and a full-ice awareness for Canada in their gold medal win.
Seattle Kraken – The Kraken will have broken hearts across the NHL on the expansion draft, but now have the real choices ahead of them. Ron Francis is general manager and Dave Haxstol is the first year head coach. Everyone is scratching heads over that one.
Matthew Beniers is the consensus No. 2 pick in this year’s draft. He also comes out of Michigan, with Power. The forward collected a point-per-game in first college season. Through 24 games he had 24 points off 10 goals. He cemented his status in the 2021 IIHF World Junior Championship (goal and three points) for the US team’s gold medal win.
Anaheim Ducks – The Ducks pick third in this year’s draft and need help, well, everywhere. Age, buy outs, retirements, and poor play leave Anaheim with a raft of roster slots to fill, a decent stable in San Diego with the American Hockey League Gulls, but where to start?
John Gibson needs help if he is going to find his better form this coming season. Standing around admiring the play of the opposition is the low slot is no way to win friends and influence anyone. That’s what the Ducks’ defense did most of this past season, leaving Gibson and Ryan Miller to fend for themselves.
No one draft is going to fix Anaheim. The 2021 Entry Draft can be a first step in a rebuild. The Ducks have some talent on the Gulls to call up, but the future ought to be built from the blue line out. Swedish defenseman Simon Edvinsson can be the next generation of stand out blueiners for Anaheim. Edvinsson is a strong skater and can clear the zone quickly while creating offensive chances. Edvinsson might well be the future pairing with Jamie Drysdale who was called up from San Diego this year by the Ducks. Edvinsson would most likely be a year away, but the Ducks need the time to bulk him up (6’4″, 198#) and give him time either in Sweden or in San Diego.
New Jersey Devils – The Devils made an early push this past season and seemed ready to make prognosticators look foolish. Well, that did not end well, though the Devils were fast, energetic and annoying in the final weeks of the season.
The cute pick for the Devils would be Luke Hughes, another of those Hughes boys coming to the NHL. Brother Jack Hughes is entering his third season with the Devils. A reconstituted Metropolitan Division will mean the Devils need help now and their better pick for defense will be Brandt Clarke out of the Ontario Hockey League where he iced for Barrie Colts before the COVID-19 pandemic shut down the OHL. Clarke also has a brother with the Devils, Graeme, selected in the 2019 entry draft. Brandt Clarke helped Canada in the U-18 championships this year. The Devils would well with Clarke and have bulk up an extra year in Utica in the AHL.
Columbus Blue Jackets – John Davidson, fired by the New York Rangers for not producing quickly enough on Broadway, is back in Columbus and ready to make selections. John Tortorella is gone as head coach and so young players will not need to fear the dog house.
Luke Hughes would seemingly be a good pick for the Blue Jackets at this spot. Like many teams, Columbus needs a rebuild and what better time to start than with Hughes and his offensive game. He picked up 34 points this past season off six goals in 38 games. It took some time for his offense to kick in with the USA Hockey National Team Development Program Under-18 team, but when it did, he was a stand out. Davidson is of the ‘take the best player available’ mold. Hughes would be a good fit for the Blue Jackets in 22-23.
Detroit Red Wings – The Red Wings have been, well, terrible. Take a dart, blindfold yourself and throw it anywhere in a room. Wherever it lands, that’s where the Red Wings need help. They had flashes of decent play this season separated long losing streaks bereft of competition. How much bravado and off the books dealing can Steve Yzerman do in Detroit when so much needs fixing?
Adding a bit of flashy offense might wake up the Little Caesar rink. Dylan Guenther is available at the sixth pick. Guenther ice for the Edmonton Oil Kings of the Western Hockey League and posted two points per game (24 points in 12 games). In the U-18 Worlds he posted seven points in seven games off four goals.
San Jose Sharks – San Jose is another looking to quietly rebuild or risk losing some of their aging talent. Very few skaters had good seasons for the Sharks. In fact, many nights it seemed were scrimmage matches. The AHL Barracudas across the street from the SAP arena have a host of talented forwards ready to make the arduous trek across the street.
The Sharks are old, really old, and need some youth injected in the mix, now. They cannot afford to wait for drafted talent to bulk up and mature. Mason McTavish can be that injection. McTavish iced for the Peterborough Petes of the OHL before the pandemic and then was loaned to Olten in the Swiss League where he posted 11 points off nine goals in 13 games. He added the same of points off five goals in seven games to help Canada win the U-18s this year. At 6’1″ and 207 pounds, McTavish is closer to being NHL-ready than most at this position.
Los Angeles Kings – The Pacific Division teams seemed to go bad all at once, and the restructured NHL this season, left the have nots battling with the up and coming clubs in the season. Jeff Carter was traded to the Pittsburgh Penguins where he flourished before the Pens were knocked out by the New York Islanders. Like their brethren Ducks and Sharks, the Kings need help across the lineup. Jonathan Quick’s best days in goal my be behind him and the club doesn’t get any better in front of him.
Staples Center needs a bit of flash and speed to over shadow the plodding skating of the Kings’ line up. William Eklund would be an excellent path to reversing the slow down game that LA is now playing. Eklund was rookie of the year in the Swedish Hockey League posting 23 points off 11 goals in 40 games. He averaged 15:29 of ice time in those 40 games.
Vancouver Canucks – So much hope was placed on the Canucks this past season. They faltered out of the gates and then Covid-19 decimated the club and forced them into lockdown for weeks. They played out a lost season in a hyper-compressed schedule that left them flailing down the “stretch”. Michael Holtby needs a better season than he put up in 2021, a lot better. Thatcher Demko is ready for the No. 1 spot.
The skaters need to step up as well for Vancouver and maybe a little pressure from a younger center is the answer. Kent Johnson is available in this position. Another Wolverine, Johnson is a talented offensive threat. In Michigan, he picked up 27 points off nine goals in 26 games. Johnson, 6’1″ 167 pounds in a bit trim, but his production in points (1.04 per game), goals and assists lead the NCAA draftees this season. That kind of production would do Vancouver well.
Ottawa Senators – When you have prognosticators on the PHN staff picking against the Ottawa Senators regardless of the opposition, there are issues. That philosophy may not always have been the best, but it was close. Goalie Matt Murray was not the goalie for the Senators that played for the Penguins. True, there is little in front of him to make a difference in the low slot, but good goalies make the unnecessarily spectacular saves to pump up a team. Murray is not the reason the Sens were picked to lose every week, but he also wasn’t the reason for hope every week.
If Yzerman goes less splashy, then goalie Jesper Wallstedt will be available in the the number 10 spot. Wallstedt is called calm in most scouting reports. The 18-year old has been scouted as the best Swedish-born goalie for half a decade. His numbers are good at 11-8 this season with three ties, a 2.23 goals-against average and .908 save percentage in 22 games.
Arizona Coyotes – The Coyotes forfeited their pick at 11 for violation of NHL Combine Testing policies during 2019-20 season. Because, of course they did.
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