Gothenburg jumps up to #1 pick spot in draft lottery; picks forward Jack Hughes
The Frolunda made Jack Hughes the first pick in the Season 11 draft Saturday. The American center gives Gothenburg three sure-fire young forwards that will be the nucleus of the team for years to come in Hughes, Russian Andrei Svechnikov (19) and Canadian Dylan Sikura (22).
Hughes, from Florida, is already playing full-time in the NHL with New Jersey and is on pace for a 37-point season. He tallied more than 2 points per game last season with the USA developmental squad.
Gothenburg finished 19th last season but won the lottery to pick first overall. Roster fixtures Adam Henrique and Jordan Eberle led the team in scoring, with Sikura placing 5th on the team.
2. Edinburgh – Kirby Dach, C
Dach is a big Alberta native with great hockey sense and good hands. He is playing in the NHL right out of the draft and he has 5 goals and 10 points through 20 games. If he can maintain that pace, look for very good WSH attributes in a virtual evolution league like ours. When Dach is a regular, he will have a ton of talent around him in Scotland. He and Filip Zadina will join a roster that has two 85 PO forwards who are currently just 21 years old as well as two right wings who 84 PO players aged 25 and 24.
3. Dublin – Kaako Kakko, RW
Dublin’s new GM Jack Eichel looked to the New York Rangers and Finnish flash Kakko, who like Hughes and Dach is playing directly out of his draft year. Kakko will offer good size and stamina and he is on a pace for 21 goals as an 18-year-old. The Irish really needed a good young right winger and were no doubt thrilled when Edinburgh went with the center they needed more. Dublin already has Elias Pettersson. Pierre-Luc Dubois and Dylan Strome listed at center and all three have PO ratings of 85 or higher ans they are all 22 or younger. Calvin Thurkauf looks to be a prime candidate to grow up in Ireland with Kakko as his linemate unless one of the three young centers can be moved outside.
4. Prague – Bowen Byram, D
The best all-around defenseman available in the 2019 NHL draft goes to the Czech republic and Byram joins 14 other prospects in the Sparta system. Some of them are likely to get their WSH attributes after this season. Michael Dal Colle and Alexandre Texier will for sure. Look for Byram to join Mikhail Sergachev, Miro Heiskanen and Dennis Cholowski as regulars on the Prague blueline a few years from now.
5. Geneva – Anthony Cirelli, C
The Generals was the first team to go for a guy who already has his attributes and they get Cirelli, whose first year in the NHL earned him an 89 PO rating in Websim. Known as an excellent defensive center, Cirelli was able to stuff 19 goals into opponents’ nets last year as a 21-year-old. He might step right into the Geneva lineup as a rookie who will kill penalties and play the 4th line behind Nazem Kadri, Riley Sheahan and Victor Rask.
6. Athens – Erik Cernak, D
Cernak, a Slovak, will play in Greece. He will bring size, checking and solid defensive play to the Gods’ lineup although a lack of offensive skills should make him the stay-at-home guy in his future defensive pairings. Nicolas Hague, a Canadian, plays the same way and he will also be available to the Gods, but not until next season, when he gets his attributes from the Vegas Golden Knights’ season. When veterans Alex Edler and Erik Johnson slide out of the lineup, youngsters like Esa Lindell, Robin Grossman and Cernak will be asked to fill the void and become the defensive foundation of the team.
7. Moscow – Cole Caufeld, RW
The Dynamo went with a small winger who can really shoot the puck and reminds many of Alex Debrincat. Caufeld is in the Montreal Canadiens system and GM David Reichel will be praying the Habs take their time and train him well before sticking him in the lineup. Logan Brown, who is a foot taller than Caufield, and Cody Glass are two young Moscow centers who might get their attributes this season and one might eventually be working with Caufield on his wing. When he does crack the lineup, he might be fighting for ice time on the left wing in Russia with Mitch Marner and Christian Fischer.
8. Munich – Moritz Seider, D
New Munich general manager Jared Smith made a lot of friends when he selected defenseman Moritz, who is a German from the central west side of the country. It might be a while before he makes his way to Bavaria to play for the Red Bull team, however, because the Detroit Red Wings have a history of being patient with young players before asking them to put in an NHL season. And when he does get his attributes, they will have to be in the 80 PO rating area to get ice time in Munich, which currently is stocked with 5 or 6 decent young defensemen such as Alexis Vanier, Travis Dermott and Jindrich Barak.
9. Zurich – Neal Pionk, D
American Neal Pionk was a Ranger and a Jet, and now he’s going to become a Lion. Zurich, which has defenseman Quinn Hughes – who could earn monster attributes this season – and slick forward Barrett Hayton in the system already, went with a surer thing in Pionk, who has an 83 PO rating. He and Hughes, along with Charlie McAvoy, will eventually give Zurich three excellent puck-movers on the back end.
10. St. Petersburg – Dylan Cozens, C
The Krasnyye Zvezdy made the big western Canadian center Cozens the 10th pick of the draft. The Buffalo Sabres prospect makes nine forwards among the team’s prospects including Swedish winger Emil Bemstrom who is doing good work as an NHL rookie with Columbus. The way things are shaping up in Petrograd, Cozens has a good chance of being Patrik Laine’s linemate for a good portion of the next decade. The team currently has a large number of players in their mid-30s, so fans would love to see more of their prospects get to the NHL soon.
11. Bern – Alex Turcotte, C
The Interrail also went for a prospect who will have to earn his Websim attributes and skillful Alex Turcotte will do so with the Los Angeles Kings after he leaves the Univertsity of Wisconsin. He is one of 8 prospects in the Bern system right now. When Turcotte graduates to the EURO League, it might be better if learned to play one of the wings by then because he will have Nico Hischier ahead of him on the depth chart.
12. Oslo – Jordan Binnington, G
The Outlaws went with plug-and-play goalie Jordan Binnington fresh off his Stanley Cup win. In Oslo this season, he will share time with Matt Murray, who is the same age. A year from now, General Manager Chris Lee will be negotiating with both of them for new contracts. The Outlaws have an impressive defense corps and now they have a good goalie in net every night.
13. Milan – Marcus Pettersson, D
The Guerriero added a 22-year-old defenseman who can step into the lineup today and contribute 20 assists. Unfortunately, he still has a lot to learn on the defensive end, so Milan would have to live with that until his experience builds. By then, he might be adding 30 or more assists per season. Chances are, Pettersson will be below Josh Morrissey and Ryan Pulock on the depth chart for years, but it’s easy to envision him on the second pairing a couple of years from now.
14. Madrid – Matthew Boldy, LW
Matthew Boldy, a big winger from Massachusetts, will likely head to Spain after he gets attributes with the Minnesota Wild in the NHL. A definite point producer with the U.S. Developmental Team and in international tournaments, Boldy is off to a slow start at Boston College. Boldy seems to have the talent to become Madrid’s top young forward, but that all depends how he does in his first 35 to 82 games with the Wild.
15. Minsk – Vasily Podkolzin, RW
Minsk grabbed the top Russian skater in the draft and Podkolzin becomes the 13th prospect in the Hussars system, although Nick Suzuki will graduate to attributes this NHL season. Podkolzin plays a solid all-around game with a competitive attitude, scouts say. He is playing in St. Petersburg in the KHL this season. If he pans out the way scouts thinks he will, Minsk will eventually have three strong RWs in Nick Schmaltz, Denis Malgin and Podzolkin to go with centers Suzuki, Colin White and Bo Horvat.
16. Helsinki – Ville Heinola, D
General Manager Jukka Tuominen made his fellow Finns very happy when he selected Heinola 16th overall. In the NHL draft, he was taken 20th overall by Winnipeg and the Jets thought enough of him to have him play 8 games this season. He did very well in his audition, getting a goal and 4 assists. He is seen as a very smart defenseman and it might not be long before the boy from the little village of Honkajoki is playing in the big city of Helsinki along side someone like Henri Jokiharju, Brandon Montour or Noah Dobson.
17. St. Petersburg – Tobias Bjornfot, D
The 6-foot Swede is considered very athletic and a good all-around player who will choose the safe, quiet plays over the flashy, risky, noticeable ones. He is currently Los Angeles Kings property and when he gets his attributes and makes the jump to Petrograd, he will meet Dylan Cozens, who was taken by the Red Stars 7 picks earlier. St. Petersburg has a need for young defensemen. Travis Sanheim is the lone U25 on the roster right now. GM Ben Stuller will be hoping Bjornfot and his other two prospect defensemen – Urho Vaakanainen (Boston Bruins) and Andreas Englund (Ottawa Senators) all develop into good Websim players.
18. Lisbon – Trevor Zegras, C
Great hands and bursts of skating speed are what some scouts notice most about Zegras, who was picked 9th in the NHL draft by Abaheim. The American is spending the season with Boston University and he has 14 points in 15 games as a freshman. He is one of 8 prospect forwards in the Lisbon system. GM Bryan Camara and Lisbon H.C. fans hope he will develop into someone who can produce points with the team’s best young forwards, namely Mat Barzal and Casey Mittelstadt.
19. Bratislava – Spencer Knight, G
Eagles GM Chuck Massaro said he would have taken Zegras if he was available. Instead, he went with the guy many scouts say is the best 18-year-old goalie available. The Florida Panthers made no secret – even before they picked him – that Knight was their man. But then they added Sergei Bobrovsky to the lineup. It could be years before Knight is available to Bratislava, but that’s OK. The current goalie is Frederik Andersen and his successor, according to the plan, is Connor Hellebuyck. The hope is Knight will be able to be Hellebuyck’s successor.
20. Zurich – Oskar Lindblom, LW
The Lions, with the pick they acquired in the Carey Price trade, scored a 22-year-old Swedish winger who won’t get into the lineup this season unless it’s due to his $925,000 salary. But the durable Lindblom has good all-around talent and will get his ice time. Or will he? Zurich is well-stocked with young wingers. Not all of them will get the ice they want if all of them stay with the club for 5 years or more.
21. Copenhagen – Philip Broberg, D
The champs can afford to wait a year or two for reinforcements and they put all-around, puck-moving defenseman Broberg in the bank to mature with 4 other prospect blueliners. Broberg will earn his Websim attributes with the Edmonton Oilers and is playing this season in Skelleftea in the Swedish league.
22. Berlin – Connor McMichael, C
Smurf GM Guybrush Threepwood’s eyes bugged out when he saw Connor McDavid was still available so he quickly picked him with pick #22. Turns out it’s Connor McMichael, not Connor McDavid. But there is a lot to like about the now-Washington Capitals player from Canada and Berlin didn’t want to take a chance that he wouldn’t be there at pick #46 in the second round. This season, with London in the OHL, the clever McMichael has stepped it up significantly and scored 56 points through 24 games.
23. Paris – Rasmus Andersson, D
The Rouge Eiffels went with a low-key Swedish defenseman who can move around the ice well and stand his ground in front of the net he’s helping defend. Andersson has proven in the NHL that he can find the open man while moving the puck up ice, and he could get into action with Paris as soon as this season. That all depends on how willing coach Michel Therrien is to remove a veteran like Steve Oleksy or Karel Rachunek to give a youngster like Andersson or Sam Girard some experience points.
24. Prague – Arthur Kaliyev, LW
An Uzbekistan-born American citizen who was drafted in the NHL by Los Angeles, Kaliyev has been scoring goals in Hamilton for the last several seasons in the OHL. He scored 51 last season and is on pace to score 60 this season. That’s what Prague likes most about the teen and why they used the pick obtained from Belfast to sign him. Kaliyev, according to scouts, has good size, a terrific shot and a real ability to find open space in the other team’s end. Three picks after taking Kaliyev, Prague drafted his Hamilton linemate Jan Jenik, a Czech wing, and they now have 17 prospects in their system.
