Welcome to the Thursday prospect ramblings. They say “it takes five years to know if a team won the draft or not” and well it has been five and change years since the 2014. Well here is me re-drafting the first round of the 2014 draft. I am drafting on player and no team need.

 

But First! Here is my #GoodTweet of the week:

{source}<blockquote class=”twitter-tweet” data-lang=”en”><p lang=”en” dir=”ltr”>Am I the only one thinking this isn't a long term thing? <a href=”https://t.co/a9zrYGDy7m”>https://t.co/a9zrYGDy7m</a></p>&mdash; Pat Quinn (not that one) (@FHPQuinn) <a href=”https://twitter.com/FHPQuinn/status/1196480785215188992?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>November 18, 2019</a></blockquote>{/source}

 

 

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Florida Panthers – 1^st overall

Pick: Aaron Ekblad

Who I would choose: Leon Draisaitl (#3)

I mean how can you not choose Draisaitl with his current production. It is tough to really put him at #1 for me though because I want to see him play a long streak carrying his own line, but with 149 points over his last 105 games he has to be #1.

 

Buffalo Sabres – 2^nd overall

Pick: Sam Reinhart

Who I would choose: David Pastrnak (#25)

This could be another case of “really good/perfect line mates” for his game but Pasta is awesome. It is crazy that he went 25^th overall.

 

Edmonton Oilers – 3^rd overall

Pick: Leon Draisaitl

Who I would choose: Dylan Larkin (#15)

I mean the choice game between him and Point. Larkin has had a lot less to deal with in Detroit, not to mention a coach that prefers bad vets to good rookies, and still puts up solid numbers across the board. He is a good 1C centre for any team that would need him but would be an even better 2C on a team with a top flight 1C.

 

Calgary Flames – 4^th overall

Pick: Sam Bennett

Who I would choose: Brayden Point (#79)

He is awesome, a perfect pick at #4 for 2014. Remember when he was “too small” to be a top 60 talent?

 

New York Islanders – 5^th overall

Pick: Michael Dal Colle

Who I would choose: Nikolaj Ehlers (#9)

So much skill, just trapped on line 2 and 2PP in Winnipeg. Imagine him on the 1PP and top line with Mat Barzal. $$$

 

Vancouver Canucks – 6^th overall

Pick: Jake Virtanen

Who I would choose: William Nylander (#8)

A top line winger instead of a bottom six banger, who would you chose?

 

Carolina Hurricanes – 7^th overall

Pick: Haydn Fleury

Who I would choose: Sam Reinhart (#2)

An extremely smart player that you never really notice how good he is because he is not great at one thing that stands out. He can help any line he is on

 

Toronto Maple Leafs – 8^th overall

Pick: William Nylander

Who I would choose: Viktor Arvidsson (#112)

This tenacious high-volume shooting forward was somehow selected 112 by Nashville and is a top six winger

 

Winnipeg Jets – 9^th overall

Pick: Nikolaj Ehlers

Who I would choose: Aaron Ekblad (#1)

Take the top three defenseman here. I am one that would take top line forwards before a top three dman.

 

Now we get to the tougher selections (for me anyway)

 

Anaheim Ducks – 10^th overall

Pick: Nick Ritchie

Who I would choose: Jakub Vrana (#13)

Well the underutilized winger they drafted originally went early, well why not take the underutilized winger on the Capitals

 

Nashville Predators – 11^th overall

Pick: Kevin Fiala

Who I would choose: Alex Tuch (#18)

A big scoring power winger that has had recent injury issues hold back his break out

 

Phoenix Coyotes (aka Arizona Coyotes) – 12^th overall

Pick: Brendan Perlini

Who I would choose: Jared McCann (#24)

I am a huge McCann fan. He can play anywhere in the line up and had he not been rushed to the NHL he would likely be more talked about that he is

 

Washington Capitals – 13^th overall

Pick: Jakub Vrana

Who I would choose: Kevin Labanc (#171)

The Sharks got him in the 6^th round with pick 171 and looking at this draft, he really should have been a top 60 pick

 

Dallas Stars – 14^th overall

Pick: Julius Honka

Who I would choose: Nick Schmaltz (#20)

The next three players are all very close for me so it is just preference, but Schmaltz shows himself to be a good top six player that just never shoots.

 

Detroit Red Wings – 15^th overall

Pick: Dylan Larkin

Who I would choose: Travis Sanheim (#17)

He would be another great building block for a team that has a few young dmen, remind you of the team he went to originally

 

Columbus Blue Jackets – 16^th overall

Pick: Sonny Milano

Who I would choose: Kevin Fiala (#11)

Still a very good player but he needs to hit the confidence level that seems to allude him for long stretches of time

 

Philadelphia Flyers – 17^th overall

Pick: Travis Sanheim

Who I would choose: Robby Fabbri (#21)

Take away the knee injuries and he is probably higher on my list, but because that has brought everyone down on him

 

Minnesota Wild – 18^th overall

Pick: Alex Tuch

Who I would choose: Kasperi Kapanen (#22)

A solid middle six forward who would be a smart get for any team

 

Tampa Bay Lightning – 19^th overall

Pick: Tony DeAngelo

Who I would choose: Brandon Montour (#55)

He might be better at offence than defense but he is still a solid top four defenseman

 

Chicago Blackhawks – 20^th overall

Pick:  Nick Schmaltz

Who I would choose: Christian Dvorak (#58)

Injuries also took a chuck of time away from Dvorak, and I think had those not been a factor he would be a more prolific scorer than he is now. Also being on Arizona where no one line is a top line really holds his production down

 

St. Louis Blues – 21^st overall

Pick: Robby Fabbri

Who I would choose: Igor Shestyorkin (#118)

Thankfully I have the power of hindsight now because I would rarely pick a goalie in the first round, but Shestyorkin is going to be one of the best goalies in the NHL soon

 

Pittsburgh Penguins – 22^nd overall

Pick: Kasperi Kapanen

Who I would choose: Oskar Lindblom (#138)

He is a solid two-way middle-six winger that can score and play defense. A great pick

 

Colorado Avalanche – 23^rd overall

Pick: Conner Bleackley

Who I would choose: Ondrej Kase (#205)

If not for injuries Kase would be a household name at draft, instead of a name in the “sleeper” category and who you pick in hopes he does not get injured this season

 

Vancouver Canucks – 24^th overall

Pick: Jared McCann

Who I would choose: Thatcher Demko (#36)

Demko looks fantastic but just cannot get in to full time duty because Markstrom is also fantastic. Same goaltending rule from above applies

 

Boston Bruins – 25^th overall

Pick: David Pastrnak

Who I would choose: Danton Heinen (#116)

Heinen is a solid middle six winger, he is no Pastrnak but he is still a Bruin

 

Montreal Canucks – 26^th overall

Pick: Nikita Scherbak

Who I would choose: Ilya Sorokin (#78)

He is only this low because he has not come over yet. Sorokin will be a top goalie when he is in North America, we all just hope the wait is not and longer than the end of this season.

 

San Jose Sharks – 27^th overall

Pick: Nikolay Goldobin (If given an opportunity on an NHL squad he would make my list)

Who I would choose: Sam Bennett (#4)

I mean he is an NHLer and with better development might have been a top six player instead of a bottom six winger

 

New York Islanders – 28^th overall

Pick: Josh Ho-Sang (see Goldobin)

Who I would choose: Marcus Pettersson (#38)

He has turned in to quite a solid defenseman. Now I will search for tweets saying Anaheim won this trade to “like” and “retweet” because there is no way I could be wrong about this in four years. Nope. None

 

Los Angeles Kings – 29^th overall

Pick: Adrian Kempe

Who I would choose: Nick Ritchie (#10)

He is a solid player that is slowly developing and eventually may see himself become a top power forward in the NHL

 

New Jersey Devils – 30^th overall

Pick: John Quenneville

Who I would choose: Victor Olofsson (#181)

A scorer through and through. How much of it is being on the Sabres top powerplay though is the question that will come out over the long term

 

 

Just missing the cut (in this order):

• Adrian Kempe (#29)
• Samuel Blais (#176)
• Elvis Merzlikins (#76)
• Ivan Barbashev (#33)
• Tony DeAngelo (#19)
• Anders Bjork (#146)
• Devon Toews (#108)
• Ryan Donato (#56)
• Ville Husso (#94)
• Alex Nedeljkovic (#37)
• Lucas Wallmark (#97)
• Brendan Perlini (#12)
• Vitek Vanecek (#39)
• Kaapo Kähkönen (#109)

 

 

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Thanks for reading! Follow my twitter: @FHPQuinn

 

Also put Mogilny in Hall of Fame already!!!!

 

{source}<blockquote class=”twitter-tweet” data-lang=”en”><p lang=”in” dir=”ltr”>Mogilny dammit <a href=”https://t.co/yMqWWxD9wG”>https://t.co/yMqWWxD9wG</a></p>&mdash; Pat Quinn (not that one) (@FHPQuinn) <a href=”https://twitter.com/FHPQuinn/status/1196609633948856320?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>November 19, 2019</a></blockquote>{/source}