With the Draft fast approaching on Sunday I’ve decided to do my last mock draft before the actual draft starts at 2pm Central on the 30th June. The Draft is unpredictable and theres no real way of knowing how it will unfold, especially in a draft as talented as this one appears to be. Heres my current suggestion on how it could all go down.
Its highly likely that due to trades that the first round will not look like this, and potentially could look very different. The order is accurate to when I wrote the piece.
| Draft Position | Team | Player | League | Explanation |
| 1 | Colorado Avalanche | Nathan MacKinnon (C) | QMJHL | Passing on Jones they go for the uber talented forward. |
| 2 | Florida Panthers | Seth Jones (D) | WHL | The Panthers need help on the backend so taking Jones is a no brainer. |
| 3 | Tampa Bay Lightning | Aleksander Barkov (C) | FIN | With the buying out of Lecavier they choose their next franchise centre. |
| 4 | Nashville Predators | Jonathan Drouin (LW) | QMJHL | The Predators take the player with some of the most skilled hands in the draft. |
| 5 | Carolina Hurricanes | Darnell Nurse (D) | OHL | The Hurricanes don’t have any defensemen like Nurse. Big, mean and with offensive potential. |
| 6 | Calgary Flames | Bo Horvat (C) | OHL | The Flames love this all around player with bags of leadership potential. A perfect piece to rebuild around following the departure of Jarome Iglnia. |
| 7 | Edmonton Oilers | Sean Monahan (C) | OHL | Oilers decide to go after the big talented centreman to add to their already impressive forward group. |
| 8 | Buffalo Sabres | Valeri Nichushkin (LW) | RUS | The Sabres are perfectly happy to take another falling talented Russian. He helps put the Sabres back on the path towards contention. |
| 9 | New Jersey Devils | Hunter Shinkaruk (LW) | WHL | The Devils are apparently in love with Shinkaruk and decide to take him with the 9. |
| 10 | Dallas Stars | Elias Lindholm (C) | SWE | The Stars are very happy to take this talented Swede with the 10th pick. It helps their centre depth a lot. |
| 11 | Philadelphia Flyers | Ramus Ristolainen (D) | FIN | Its common knowledge the Flyers need defensemen and they take this big mean Finn to help solve their blueline problems. |
| 12 | Phoenix Coyotes | Samuel Morin (D) | QMJHL | The Coyotes have some talented offensive and two way defensemen but they decide to go after this top defensive defenseman. |
| 13 | Winnipeg Jets | Alexander Wennberg (LW/C) | SWE | The Jets need some talented wingers and Alexander Wennberg is that. |
| 14 | Columbus Blue Jackets | Curtis Lazar (C) | WHL | The Blue Jackets need some big power forwards and Lazar is certainly that. |
| 15 | New York Islanders | Max Domi (C) | OHL | The Islanders have a lot of depth at centre but BPA is BPA when it comes to the draft. |
| 16 | Buffalo Sabres (From Minnesota Wild) | Andre Burakowsky (LW) | SWE | The Sabres shore up their left wing depth even more with this talented Swede. |
| 17 | Ottawa Senators | Nikita Zadarov (D) | OHL | The Senators have plenty of offensive defensemen but Zadarov provides a defensive defensemen element that they lack. |
| 18 | Detroit Red Wings | Frederik Gauthier (C) | QMJHL | The Red Wings go for the giant centreman out of the QMJHL. The Red Wings have been getting bigger recently and they continue that with Gauthier. |
| 19 | Columbus Blue Jackets (From New York Rangers) | Ryan Pulock (D) | WHL | Pulock has been falling through the draft but the Blue Jackets are willing to add to their overflowing blueline with this top offensive defenseman. |
| 20 | San Jose Sharks | Valentin Zykov (RW) | QMJHL | The Sharks go for this big physical but all around Russian who has been playing in the QMJHL for the past season. |
| 21 | Toronto Maple Leafs | Anthony Mantha (LW) | QMJHL | The Leafs go after this talented goalscorer who is developing his physical and defensive game well. |
| 22 | Calgary Flames (From St Louis Blues) | Shea Theodore (D) | WHL | The Flames use their second first rounder to take a talented offensive defenseman out of the WHL. |
| 23 | Washington Capitals | Kerby Rychel (LW) | OHL | The Capitals take this big power forward out of the OHL who has some excellent sniper ability. |
| 24 | Vancouver Canucks | Emile Poirer (LW) | QMJHL | Speedy talented playmaking forward who is excellent at dishing the puck. The kind of player the Canucks would love. |
| 25 | Montreal Canadiens | Ryan Hartman (RW) | OHL | The Canadiens need to get some grit in their prospect system and they love what they get from Hartman. |
| 26 | Anaheim Ducks | Morgan Klimchuk (C/LW) | WHL | Speedy offensively talented forward who helps improve the Ducks already impressive depth on forward. |
| 27 | Calgary Flames (From Pittsburgh Penguins) | Zachary Fucale (G) | QMJHL | The Flames decide to help use their last pick in the first round to select the most talented goaltender in the draft. In the future he could be in the Flames for the longterm. |
| 28 | Columbus Blue Jackets (From LA Kings) | Adam Erne (RW) | QMJHL | The Blue Jackets take this gritty two way forward who has the potential to be a scoring forward, he’s a safe pick who at least will be able to play a gritty role. |
| 29 | Dallas Stars (From Boston Bruins) | Nic Petan (C) | WHL | The Stars take this small but very talented centreman from the Portland Winterhawks. |
| 30 | Chicago Blackhawks | Josh Morissey (D) | WHL | The Blackhawks take this speedy and very talented defenseman. With the depth they have they can afford to let him develop. |
We’ll find out by the end of Sunday how the First Round will go down.