With the Seattle Expansion Draft firmly in the rearview mirror and the news that Carey Price will remain with the Canadiens, let us shift our focus to the first round of the 2021 NHL Entry Draft. Six of us A Winning Habit writers came together to make our yearly mock draft, last year our mock draft got just 5 out of 31 picks spot on and in 2019 that tally was 6, all of those correct guesses came within the top 18 picks as well.
Hopefully this year’s mock will yield more accurate results, though its main purpose is not to predict but to demonstrate which prospects we writers like the most. Without further ado, let us begin with the first overall selection belonging to Ken MacMillan and the Buffalo Sabres!
1. Buffalo Sabres (Ken MacMillan) – Owen Power, 6’5″, 214 lbs, LD.
The Sabres select the consensus top prospect in the NHL Draft. Power is a towering two-way presence on the blue line and though it is rumoured he will return to Michigan for one more season, he will form a formidable tandem on the Sabres blue line with Rasmus Dahlin for many years to come.
2. Seattle Kraken (Scott Cowan) – Matthew Beniers, 6’1″, 174 lbs, C.
If the Seattle Kraken’s initial Expansion Draft roster is anything to go by, it wouldn’t hurt to have some additional scoring, and thankfully for them, Matthew Beniers provides just that. While Owen Power is the consensus No. 1 pick leading up to the 2021 draft, Beniers brings a lot of offensive upside, to go along with solid playmaking abilities and defensive awareness, with a quick call-up from the USNTDP’s U-17 to U-18 team serving as an early example of Benier’s potential.
Beniers produced solid 10-14-24 totals to go along with a +21 rating over 24 games at the University of Michigan this past season. He benefited from a highly talented cast around him, including top prospects Thomas Bordeleau, Cam York, Kent Johnson and Owen Power on a talented Michigan team. While it could be a year or two before he truly comes into his own, Beniers brings a lot to the table for the youngest NHL franchise and a long-term top-6 asset is a valuable asset that a certain recent expansion team couldn’t hold on to.
3. Anaheim Ducks (Maria Bouabdo) – Simon Edvinsson, 6’5″, 207 lbs, LD.
The Ducks have built a solid group of young players, headlined by future top centre Trevor Zegras and potential future top-right-defenseman Jamie Drysdale. Here, the Ducks swing on upside to find their top pick from last season a long-term partner. Edvinsson is huge but is a graceful skater and played very well defensively against very good pro competition in the SHL.
While there are some concerns about his consistency when carrying the puck, there are true flashes of brilliance from this player and he just may be the best defenseman to come from this class. Considering that the Ducks are rebuilding, this type of homerun swing early in the draft is worth the risk.
4. New Jersey Devils (Patrick Lortie) – Dylan Guenther, 6’1″, 181 lbs, LW/RW.
Guenther is a pure goal scorer with an explosive shot, a similar mould of player to Alexander Holtz, who the Devils drafted last year. He’s great at positioning himself in the right areas and plays even harder on the bigger stage. While his otherworldly statistics in the WHL this season were inflated by playing a dominant Oil Kings team, Guenther would be yet another addition to the young and dynamic forward corps the Devils are building and would play with either Nico Hischier or Jack Hughes.
5. Columbus Blue Jackets (Joshua Rosa) – Mason McTavish, 6’2″, 207 lbs, C.
The Blue Jackets are at a very weird stage as a team and will add a reliable future top-6 centreman to the fold in McTavish. He plays with physicality and grit and is adored by his coaches. He has a very good shot and his playmaking is also a real asset in the offensive zone, but it is his constant bulldog-like effort that makes him invaluable to his team. McTavish is a true 200-foot centreman and a relatively safe pick. The Blue Jackets need some certainty from this pick as they are in desperate need of good, reliable players.
6. Detroit Red Wings (Sebastian High) – William Eklund, 5’10”, 172 lbs, C/LW.
The interesting thing about this year’s draft class is how even the top 10 or 12 prospects are, almost any order of that top tier would be unsurprising on draft day with the exceptions of Beniers and Power. Eklund would be a great addition to Steve Yzerman’s rebuilding Red Wings, his pure offensive skill can only be rivalled by Fabian Lysell in this year’s class, but his consistent SHL production and lack of off-ice issues make him the better pick, he produced 11 goals and 23 points in 40 games in arguably the third-best hockey league in the world, outperforming Alexander Holtz and Lucas Raymond this season.
Eklund is a high-end playmaker with a good shot and great hands, a combination that makes him lethally unpredictable in the offensive zone. While Eklund’s floor is lower than Beniers’, his ceiling as an All-Star top-line winger is higher. A line consisting of Eklund, Larkin and Zadin surely would be fun to watch a few years down the road.