Now that the lottery portion of the 2018 NHL draft has clarified, TSN’s Craig Button has already released his first mock draft. No surprise, the Buffalo Sabres are projected to take defenseman Rasmus Dahlin. The Carolina Hurricanes are projected to take winger Andrei Svechnikov at No. 2, who Button compares to Marian Hossa and who could walk in and join Carolina immediately next season, aiding their struggling offense.
Wingers Filip Zadina and Brady Tkachuk are targeted to be taken at No. 3 and No. 4 by the Montreal Canadiens and Ottawa Senators, respectively, while the Arizona Coyotes are projected to select defenseman Quinn Hughes with the fifth pick, rounding out the top five.
- While there is no shot at getting Dahlin, the New York Rangers have made it clear they want to move up in this year’s draft. With the eighth-worst record in the NHL this past season, the team moved back a spot in Saturday’s draft lottery. The Rangers have the ninth-overall pick in the 2018 NHL draft, but have after tearing down their team at the trade deadline, the team has quite a few assets to offer a team willing to trade down. The New York Post’s Larry Brooks writes the team is focusing on two teams, including the Ottawa Senators and Arizona Coyotes, two former trade partners, as potential landing spots at No. 4 and No. 5. While it’s considered to be a deep draft and the Rangers would get a quality player at No. 9, there is said to be a drop off around No. 4 or No. 5. The Rangers not only have the ninth-overall pick, but also have two other first-round picks, including the Tampa Bay Lightning and the Boston Bruins’ first-rounders, which could fall anywhere between 24 and 31. They also have two second and two third-round picks.
- The Montreal Canadiens might also be a trade possibility for teams looking to move up. While the team had a couple of extra hours to imagine winning the lottery when they were among the top three first announced Saturday, the team ended up at No. 3. While there are plenty of high-quality wingers that would be available to the team, it doesn’t really help with the team’s top need, which is a big center, writes Stu Cowan of the Montreal Gazette. One interesting option would be if the Canadiens trade down or just reach for center Joe Veleno from the Drummondville Voltiguers of the QMJHL and was coached by Dominique Ducharme, who was just hired by Canadiens as an assistant coach. Cowan compares this situation to the 2016 draft when the Columbus Blue Jackets shocked everyone when they took Pierre-Luc Dubois with the third-overall pick, although no one is complaining now.
- An interesting note from the Buffalo News’ Mike Harrington, the Buffalo Sabres won the lottery twice Saturday. They initially won the No. 1 pick and then again won the No. 3 pick. The No. 3 pick was then was redrawn, which allowed the Montreal Canadiens to move up.
Leave it to the Montreal media to suggest the Habs make a MAJOR reach to take the hometown kid. Veleno isn’t even a consensus top 10 prospect. Some experts have him pegged as a mid-20’s talent. Fact is Veleno used to be thought of as a probable top 10 guy but he just never lived up to his exceptional status.
If the Rangers traded up and they got 9 and 24, would you like him at 24?
If he’s there at 24, absolutely. But I think he’ll be going top 15-17 based mostly on his reputation as an exceptional Junior and I’m not sure I’d be comfortable with him at 9.
Would be nice to see the Rangers move up high enough to get Tkachuk. They certainly have enough picks to get it done.
forget picks. give Ottawa 9 and take Bobby Ryan and they will run
Ryan O’Reilly to Montreal for the 3rd pick
I love O’Reilly but he isn’t worth a Top 5 pick.
Put NOTHING out of the realm of possibility with Bergevin. He’ll find a way to screw this up.
Hawks trade the #8 and Anisimov to Montreal for the #3. Calling it now.
Rangers trade 9 overall and this Boston or Tampa’s first to either Arizona or Ottawa and get Matt Tkachuk and trade the other first to Calgary for Brady Tkachuk
Brady is the one available in the draft and Matthew is the one playing for Calgary. Just a little mixup.
Thanks tim2826. When I was typing that I was thinking I was wrong.
don’t worry it doesn’t matter. the flames won’t give up Matthew Tkachuk for a beard of the first round pick.