Picks 6 – 10
Here is where we start to see the draft rankings unravel. Many sports writers still stayed relatively withing Central Scouting’s rankings. However, you could tell they were starting to second-guess GMs because a lot of “best player available” starts becoming subjective at this point.
Yeah, I’m old-school so I still associate Detroit with a lot of Russian forwards. And former Wings great Steve Yzerman has taken over the helm, so maybe he’s in that camp, too.
Trevor Zegras seemed like a true example of best player available at the #7 position.
Leave it to the Oilers to continue picking the same kind of undersized offensive player regardless of what they need. That said, Caulfield did rise through the ranks based on some strong play late in the season.
Pucks of a Feather: “Ducks GM has said he’s basically going to take the best players available in the first 3 rounds and then fill needs after that. But, a center would be ideal. One that could potentially fill the role as a first or second line C, depending on the development of Sam Steel.”
They wanted a center, so I gave them the best center still available. Cozens is one of those players who could have been top-five, but it’s not unreasonable to think he’d drop to #9. Plus, he’s big, and the Ducks like ’em big.
Poor Vancouver Canucks — they lost their Swedish twins. I couldn’t give them a set of twins back, but they can enjoy a single Swede, this a pretty talented defenseman. The team needs to rebuild everywhere, so they could use this help.