My First Round NHL Mock Draft

With the draft just one night away, here is my mock draft for the first round. This mock does not include trades, but there almost certainly will be some. It's very hard to predict big surprises when doing any draft predictions, and most of the ones below are nothing that would be earth shattering. The selections I made mostly line up with team fit as well as best player available when such a player is on the board.

1. Blackhawks - Connor Bedard, C

2. Ducks - Adam Fantilli, C

3. Blue Jackets - Leo Carlsson, C

4. Sharks - Matvei Michkov, RW

5. Canadiens - Will Smith, C

6. Coyotes - Ryan Leonard, RW

7. Flyers - David Reinbacher, RD

8. Capitals - Zach Benson, LW

9. Red Wings - Oliver Moore, C

10. Blues - Colby Barlow, LW

11. Canucks - Axel Sandin Pellikka, RD

12. Coyotes - Dalibor Dvorsky, C

13. Sabres - Eduard Sale, LW

14. Penguins - Brayden Yager, C

15. Predators - Nate Danielson, C

16. Flames - Gabriel Perreault, LW

17. Red Wings - Calum Ritchie, C

18. Jets - Samuel Honzek, LW

19. Blackhawks - Dmitri Simashev, LD

20. Kraken - Otto Stenberg, C

21. Wild - Matthew Wood, RW

22. Flyers - Tom Willander, RD

23. Rangers - Riley Heidt, C

24. Predators - Ethan Gauthier, RW

25. Blues - Mikhail Gulyayev, LD

26. Sharks - Oliver Bonk, RD

27. Avalanche - Andrew Cristall, LW

28. Maple Leafs - Gavin Brindley, RW/C

29. Blues - Gracyn Sawchyn, C

30. Hurricanes - Lukas Dragicevic, RD

31. Avalanche - Tanner Molendyk, LD

32. Golden Knights - Danny Nelson, C

It is very difficult to predict any draft, and with one as stacked as this one, it may be even harder to predict with teams wanting to make trades to get back onto the board. It will be exciting to see where everybody ends up and just how different reality will look to the predictions that are made!