The 2012 NHL Draft is just a few hours away and the anticipation is mounting. Prognostication is a tricky business, and at this hour no one is sure if Nail Yakupov will even go first, because the internet is such a wacky place. Will the Dallas Stars get one of the top tier centers they want? Will they go defense with Jacob Trouba, Cody Ceci or Morgan Reilly? Will Scott Howson make some other bad deals?
The internet and it’s many mock drafts help us attempt to see into the future, scarcely mentioning several of the names we feel likely to go to Dallas at #13.
We’ll have a live discussion thread up shortly for the first round. Remember tonight’s coverage starts at 6:00pm CST on NBC Sports Network and shifts to the NHL Network Saturday morning at 9:00am.
After the jump we take a look at 13 mock drafts from around the internet to see who the consensus pick at #13 is for your Dallas Stars…
Mock Draft Roundup:
| Outlet | Stars’ Selection | Comment |
| TSN | Cody Cedi, D | “Dallas passed on Dmitry Kulikov and Cam Fowler, there’s no way they’ll pass on Ceci.” |
| MyNHLDraft.com | Cody Cedi, D | NA |
| NHL Mock Draft.org | Zemgus Girgensons, C | NA |
| Canada.com | Radek Faksa | “at six-foot-three and 203 pounds, is a blossoming power forward. The Czech native, as a rookie, produced 67 points in 62 games for OHL Kitchener.” |
| The Hockey News | Zemgus Girgensons, C | “Dallas is yet another team that likes size, and they’re looking to add a forward who can eventually take up a top-six forward spot. Girgensons may ultimately wind up as a third-line center, but the Stars could use that as well.” |
| Roto World | Zemgus Girgensons, C | “Doesn’t go around the opposition – he goes through them, even his own team mates loathe playing against him in practice due to his compete level and bull in a china shop approach. Tough and extremely difficult to play against” |
| NHL.com – Kimelman | Derrick Pouliot, D | “Highly skilled blueliner stands out on a talented Winterhawks team” |
| NHL.com – Hoffner | Teuvo Teravainen, LW | “Put up big points in 2011-12; needs time to develop, but has great skill set” |
| NHL.com – Morreale | Cody Cedi, D | “Michael Del Zotto clone has size, a hard shot and great awareness; 17 goals, 60 points in 64 games” |
| SB Nation | Morgan Reilly, D | “you don’t always have the chance to draft a player like Rielly in the middle of the first round. While there are some questions regarding the health of his knee after tearing his ACL last season, Rielly is perhaps the most offensively gifted defenseman in the draft” |
| SI.com | Cody Cedi, D | “They might be tempted to nab Grigorenko here, but you know that the Stars regret having passed over some highly viable two-way defenders in the past couple of drafts” |
| Fox | Brendan Gaunce, C | “The Stars have a big whole in the middle left by the departure of Brad Richards and Gaunce has the size to fill it.” |
| The Hockey Writers | Olli Maatta, D | He was the first overall pick in the 2011 CHL Import Draft by the London Knights, and Maatta showed why in the playoffs. Maatta tied for the team league in playoff points with 23 in 19 games, and was a key part of London’s OHL championship-winning squad. A native of Jyvaskyla, Finland, Maatta really put himself into top fifteen talk with his play in the postseason. |
Assuming no movement the internet seems to be leaning toward Cody Ceci heading to the Stars at 13 if he makes it that far, and that would have to be a move that most fans would find generally agreeable.
The idea that Faksa will fall to 13 is borderline laughable, and Girgensons feels like a bit of a reach in this position, as does Gaunce, but many outlets have it in their heads that the Stars will take a center no matter what. The question is if the Stars do. The NHL.com mock with Teravainen falling to 13 is downright hilarious considering that there’s talk now of Montreal taking him at #3.
Do any of these places have it right? Is there a name completely absent from this list that’s heavy on your radar?
Just a few more hours until we find out how incredibly wrong all of this (including our mock) is…