NHL Draft Winners and Losers

With the NHL draft all wrapped up, it’s time to analyze. While we don’t know how things will work out until a handful of years down the road, it’s always fun to react immediately and rip some teams to shreds.

Winners

Anaheim – The Ducks had Cam Fowler, who I think was the best defenseman in the draft (and at worse 2nd) fall into their laps at 12, and then grabbed Emerson Etem at 29. I wasn’t a huge fan of the rest of their draft, but with a 1st round like that who needs it.

LA Kings – Giving up the pick that turned out to be Nick Bjugstad, the Kings traded up to 15 and grabbed Derek Forbort, who was definitely a top 10 player in this draft I think. Forbort could look pretty nice next to Drew Doughty in a few years. They followed that up by taking Tyler Toffoli, who I also really like, at 47.

Edmonton – Taking Taylor Hall means you’re pretty automatically going to be a winner in the draft, but the Oilers getting Tyler Pitlick 31st overall was an absolute steal. Pitlick wasn’t overwhelming in his Freshman year at Minnesota State, but he was the best all around player on a team where he received a lot of opponents’ attention. Expect him to have a very good year next year in the WHL.

Detroit – The Wings were able to grab Riley Sheahan at 21, which, while it might not seem like a flashy pick, is a great great pick for the Wings. Sheahan has #2 center ceiling, and there is almost no conceivable way he isn’t a productive NHL player.

Losers

Pittsburgh – I’m a Pens fan, so this hurts to have to put them in this column. I know the Penguins are set at center, but in the NHL draft you never draft for need early in my opinion. With Riley Sheahan sitting on the board, the Pens instead went with Beau Bennett, who had a great year stats-wise, but in the BCHL. He has an opportunity to make this pick look good when he goes to Denver, but I think Pens fans will wind up wondering what could have been.

New York Rangers – Instead of taking Cam Fowler or Brandon Gormley (or even Forbort), the Rangers went with Dylan McIlrath. McIlrath is a big defenseman who should be a hard hitter, but so was Joe Finley. The Rangers passed over more dynamic and more talented players to pick a 4th defenseman.

Dallas – I love Jack Campbell, but the record of taking goalies early isn’t great, and with the fungibility of NHL goaltenders’ value, using an asset like a top 15 pick on a goalie is a bad bad move. The difference between an elite goaltender and an average one is much smaller than for a forward or a defenseman.

Phoenix – If taking the best goalie on the board (Campbell) in the top 15 was a bad move, taking the 3rd best goalie on the board, by a wide margin, with the 27th pick is a disaster. The Coyotes took Brandon Gormley 13th overall, which was a nice pick, but after taking Mike Lee last year the Coyotes took not one but two goalies in this draft. Absolutely awful.