Prospect Ramblings: NHL 2020 Re-Draft

 

 

Welcome to the Thursday prospect ramblings and coincidentally the first ever on the internet: NHL 2020 Re-Draft.

 

I have been to the future, five years exactly, and I can tell you what every player looks like development-wise in the 2025 off season, which is coincidentally where I wrote a majority of the re-draft profiles (also the New Jersey Devils have won the team’s third straight Stanley Cup, I am for sure not a homer). I will identify where they would be drafted in 2025 if the draft was to be held again. Obviously, I do not want to give away the draft order of teams as it would ruin your draft watching experience, but I will let you know the trade speculation from Sportsnet and TSN was again over-hyped.

 

This is actually how the 2020 draft went because a super genius wrote it: https://dobberprospects.com/prospect-ramblings-februarymarch-2020-draft-rankings/ 

 

First though, here is my #GoodTweet of the week:

 

 

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Remember this is the First Ever 2020 NHL Re-Draft, so do not use this when drafting in your NHL prospect draft whenever we get the draft or else your rival GMs will know you cheated

 

 

1^st overall: Alexis Lafreniere

• Surprise, the top player of the draft remained the top player five seasons later
• He puts up the points, shoots, and hits, but holy does he put himself in some bad spots driving to the net, it explains why he has missed an average of 10 games over the last three seasons
• He has become the second best LW to own in fantasy though, it is amazing how Ovechkin is still putting up 45+ goal seasons at 39!

 

2^nd overall: Quinton Byfield

• To think everyone thought he was a bust when he was drafted and then sent to Europe for his D+1 season, instead of heading back to the CHL
• All it took was two NHL seasons for him to become the #1 centre for [draft team] and is he not slowing down one bit
• There is still plenty of contention over who should have been first overall in 2020, but I still give the edge to Lafreniere as he still puts up the better points per game

 

3^rd overall: Cole Perfetti

• It is still crazy that Perfetti was saved for the latter part of the top 10 picks when he has out-produced and out-played them all (except the top two of course)
• He has sure solidified himself as a great 2C and powerplay producer, and really make the [team that drafted him] look smart for nabbing him before he fell any further
• I just wish they came up with a better nickname for him than “Perfecti” as it was lame. Wish my nickname of “Cole’s Spaghetti” stuck…

 

Side note: Whenever I hear Cole Perfetti I hear this song:

 

4^th overall: Alexander Holtz

• Looks like everyone was right when they said he would be a top goal scorer. I mean he has not ascended to the consistent levels of players battling for top goal scorer like Ovechkin, Matthews, A. Svechnikov, Zibanejad, and Connor (It is also so crazy how Laine retired out of nowhere in 2024 to become the Deputy Prime Minster of Finland) but he is almost there
• He only moves up a couple of spots but who does not want a top scoring winger on their team who can play both ends of the ice very well

 

5^th overall: Marco Rossi

• Mighty Marco (another weak nickname this once references Mighty Mouse) is still so skilled, the extra wait was worth it but he probably could have been in the NHL the in his D+2 season instead of his D+3.5 as the [team name] obviously felt they wanted him to play in the AHL for a bit
• The back to back 70-point full NHL seasons make them seem like geniuses, but I wonder if he was 6-2 if he would have been in the NHL immediately

 

6^th overall: Jan Mysak

• He is usually up there with Rossi and Perfetti in points, and he really has turned in to the Pastrnak of this draft going so late in the first round
• Many of us in the scouting community raved about his skill so it is great to see him really break out and make the 25+ teams that skipped him look silly, and if you got him late in your draft you are loving what he brings to your team

 

7^th overall: Tim Stutzle

• Plenty of people with Stutzle would shoot and drive to the net more but he appears to be fine weaving in and out of traffic and setting up the open player routinely
• Who would have thought he would become to the pass first, second, third, and then maybe shoot if all else fails type of player for his early career, and then randomly this year was a shooting machine and popped in 33 goals like that
• Will he evolve his play goings forward now to give fantasy GMs more production in other categories

 

8^th overall: Lucas Raymond

• Raymond is the solid, skilled player we knew he would be. Since coming to the NHL he has been a great player that shuts down the other team considering you can rarely get the puck away from him when he is on the ice
• Really there is an argument for him to be as high as 5^th on this list but four to nine here are a toss up in preference for sure

 

9^th overall: Rodion Amirov

• Since coming over from the KHL he has been as advertised, a great second line skilled winger that can really control a powerplay (the added PIMs are a nice bonus too)
• The three seasons he was gone sure felt like a long time but he is rewarding owners now

 

10^th overall: Noel Gunler

• Points, points and more points is what Gunler is, it is unfortunate that so many fans of the [team] blame him for so many problems on defense. He really has become the new William Nylander/Eeli Tolvanen/Alex DeBrincat who were all traded eventually despite not having this flaw at all
• Hopefully the team realizes Gunler is much better than the negativity towards him online and in the opinion pages, but who knows he may become the new Phil Kessel (as in blamed for problems then go and win Stanley Cups)

 

11^th overall: Jacob Perreault

• Initially thought of as a second line centre, Perrault is a good top six winger who can make plays in any amount of ice time given to him
• It is still crazy to think he cannot get on the top powerplay, but it is hard to oust the established and at least he can still chip in on PP2

 

12^th overall: Seth Jarvis

• A really exciting player, but occasionally it appears as though he can disappear for stretches. A real frustrating own for fantasy owners in H2H formats where can win you weeks on his own, and also lose you weeks on end with zero production
• At the end of the season he always posts a solid 55-65 points, but has he become the new Kristian Huselius in fantasy

 

13^th overall: Anton Lundell

• Lundell is always involved in plays and really pushes the game in to the opponents end but somehow comes up shorter than he should in the production area. He is the first player in NHL Advanced Stat history to put up such good possession and play-involvement numbers but come up short on the score sheet
• Eventually it he has to break through though, an anomaly like this surely cannot last forever

 

14^th overall: Yaroslav Askarov

• The goalie market in still so oversaturated with every NHL team seemingly splitting all goalies in a 50/32 style split, but it worked for the last two Stanley Cup winners so you can expect to continue until it fails
• Askarov’s stats should put him higher on the list, yet he does not play enough to really move up the list but a 1A goalie is a 1A goalie

 

15^th overall: Jamie Drysdale

• As crazy as the run on defensemen was in 2020 none of them have really stood out as the offensive juggernaut we have seen in previous drafts, that is why they are all later on the draft here
• If this was a recap without the fantasy aspects Drysdale would be much higher but his lack of powerplay time really kills his value
• His solid peripherals (thankfully all fantasy leagues no longer allow plus minus) and routine 30-35 points make him a great late round add

 

16^th overall: Justin Barron

• Barron has become one of the better defensemen from this draft and always seems to be in the mix offensively, the problem has been health. He may have surpassed Drysdale had he not missed half of 2023, and a third of 2024, since his points per game is 0.2 higher and he gets PP1 time when he is in the line up as the [team name] loves to run two defensemen on the powerplays despite 77% of all other teams going for one per powerplay unit

 

17^th overall: Connor Zary

• Zary has become the epitome of awesome middle six centre
• He is never though of as a top guy but he does everything right on the team, and the fact he routinely can post 20+ top cheddar clap bombs a year sure helps the fantasy owners that draft him late

 

18^th overall: Antonio Stranges

• Stranges really fell in the draft going all the way to the 5^th round due to perceived lack of work ethic and interest if he did not have the puck, but he really took that to heart and improved his game once he was drafted so low
• The skill was always there but the commitment was needed and it really came through. He could be higher on the list but he spent 2020-2023 in the minor leagues as the [team name] really wanted him to work on his game, and 2024 saw him spend time as a healthy scratch or with low TOI with his coach having the same trust levels in rookies as Ken Hitchcock and Barry Trotz combined

 

19^th overall: Dawson Mercer

• Mercer has really developed in to a dependable middle-six winger, and although the point totals keep incrementally improving, he really has not turned the corner yet
• He is great at driving to the net, and playing in front of the net, but there is just something there where the dam needs to break for him or he will linger around the 20 goal and 45-point marks forever. The hits keep him a solid fantasy asset though

 

20^th overall: Kaiden Guhle

• A middle pairing defenseman who runs the PP2 is maybe not what everyone envisioned of the third defenseman taken in the top 12 picks but he is still a very good defenseman, and posts modest points

 

21^st overall: Jake Sanderson

• The skating is there, the hockey IQ is there, but the points are not. It is like Sanderson is allergic to posting over 30 points a season despite playing over 20 minutes a game
• Sanderson has really become the new type of shut-down defenseman as he is not a big hitter, or one who will fight, but he is near impossible to get by one-on-one and routinely breaks up powerplays

 

22^nd overall: Lukas Reichel

• Reichel’s production would likely be higher if the team he was on was not the worst in the NHL for offense over these past two seasons
• You can see the ability to put up points but the [team name] are all about defense and rolling lines and have three different powerplays, it is tough for him to see more than 13 minutes a game

 

23^rd overall: Jack Quinn

• I think he may have been over-hyped at the NHL draft as it is still a head scratcher today that he was selected fourth overall
• I mean he is not a bad player by any means but in his third season he has still yet to eclipse 40 points; though he has gotten as close as he can this year with 39 (20 goals too)
• There is an upwards projection though, as he still is a skilled skater and scorer

 

24^th overall: Dylan Holloway

• Speaking of “becoming as good as Patrice Bergeron at shutting the opposition down” Holloway has already finished top three in Selke consideration this season. It is too bad points do not follow that though.
• Thankfully, the PHWA instituted a rule where the voting members have to watch all the players when voting, 70% of all NHL games, and cannot vote for their own teams’ players so the voting system has become much less political and stronger altogether (ok this is too far fetched to become true, I just always wish that could happen… I was still disappointed with the voting in 2025 when I saw the future)

 

25^th overall: Braden Schneider

• Perhaps he was drafted too high for fantasy leagues but he has become a solid defenseman, so I cannot mock the team that took him in the top nine

 

26^th overall: Ozzy Wiesblatt

• Wiesblatt is doing all he can to move up the line-up as he has become the new Ondrej Kase, except if you take away the injuries and drastically lower the time on ice
• All the metrics say he will explode soon, and using Dobbers 4^th year magic idea that could be in the 2026 season

 

27^th overall: Hendrix Lapierre

• Lapierre is a very solid middle-six centre but this was his second season and it was a pretty big sophomore slump, so hopefully that does not hurt him in the long term

 

28^th overall: Eemil Viro

• The second-round pick has become a solid third-pairing blue liner and there is likely room to still grow, but it is early in his career so we will see where it goes. All signs point towards a steady improvement

 

29^th overall: Jake Neighbours

• Neighbours missed the 2023 season entirely as he was implicated in the fifth largest grocery meat robbery ring in Canadian history, but thankfully the [team name] gave him a second chance. Thankfully the Canada prison has an ice rink in it because they all do since we live in igloos here in Canada
• 2025 was he rookie year and he posted a respectable 37 points while mainly skating on the third line, but he looks to have a bright future after a tumultuous 2023

 

30^th overall: Zion Nybeck

• A solid but raw scorer
• Nybeck had been going up and down from the AHL since 2023 but for 2025-26 he has a one-way deal and an open roster spot on the third line as long as he does not lose it in camp

 

31^st overall: Marat Khusnutdinov

• Considering he has been dominating the KHL for five seasons he should be higher on the list, but he is coming over to the NHL this season and no one knows how well that will go. Remember he disliked his AHL time so much for those two weeks he signed a two-year KHL deal in mid-October 2022 that created so much legal work and headache for the NHL and KHL it created a whole new agreement between the two leagues

 

32^nd overall (Seattle is finally here, and they finished dead in the first two seasons trying the Las Vegas drafting method): Daniil Gushchin

• His first season did not go to well with him being sent back to the AHL for the latter half. He really came a long way after being the last player in the 2020 NHL Draft to be selected
• There is still a lot of skill there but Gushchin just needs to put it all together at once, and not just in spurts

 

It is a crazy time out there in this world today, so I hope you all are safe wherever you are! 

 

 

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Thanks for reading and hopefully you enjoyed this lighthearted piece. Follow my twitter: @FHPQuinn

 

FYI: Jake Neighbours is a good person (I hope/assume) and as far as I can tell is not involved in any meat robbery organizations, but those grocery stores sure are with the prices they charge!

 

Put Alex Mogliny in to the hall of fame