The past few weeks I posted what I thought were going to be the top ten draft picks come this Friday. Now I thought I’d share with you, the rest of the first round. I won’t go into detail about why I picked these players, but I assure you, I had a system and tried to select who I thought was best for each team, based on who was available, and the information I had. I don’t know how accurate it will be, but I guess we’ll find out on Friday! If you feel that I’m way off base on any of the picks, feel free to drop a comment, I’d love to hear your opinion. So without further ado, I give you, the first round of the 2009 NHL entry draft:

1. NYI – John Tavares
2. TB – Victor Hedman
3. COL – Matt Duchene
4. ATL – Jared Cowan
5. LA – Magnus Paajarvi-Svensson
6. PHX – Brayden Schenn
7. TOR – Evander Kane
8. DAL – Oliver Ekman-Larsson
9. OTT – Nazem Kadri
10. EDM – Jacob Josefson
11. NSH – Jordan Schroeder
12. MIN – Simon Despres
13. BUF – Scott Glennie
14. FLA – John Moore
15. ANA – David Rundblad
16. CLB – Zack Kassian
17. STL – Carl Klingberg
18. MTL – Ryan Ellis
19. NYR – Carter Ashton
20. PHX(From CGY Conditionally) – Olivier Roy
21. PHI – Peter Holland
22. VAN – Dmitry Kulikov
23. NJ – Louis Leblanc
24. WSH – Nick Leddy
25. BOS – Kyle Palmieri
26. NYI(From SJ) – Calvin De Haan
27. CAR – Chris Kreider
28. CHI – Marcus Johansson
29. DET – Stefan Elliott
30. PIT – Tim Erixon

A few notes of interest, the number 20 pick is conditional. Phoenix can either choose to use Calgary’s first round pick this year, or next year, and will wait until the pick comes up to decide. I have a strong feeling that they will choose to use it this year, based on Calgary’s poor playoff performance (they now have a somewhat lower pick) so they may think that this is the best pick they can get. Also, they are desparate for a goaltending prospect, so I think the time would be right to select Olivier Roy. He’s not neccesarily first round talent, but he’s my #1 ranked goalie, and I think they would be willing to take a stab at him, especially since they also have the #6 pick.

Tags: canadiens, draft, hedman, Leafs, mock draft, NHL, penguins, preview, rangers, red wings, tavares

So it’s that time of year again, the playoffs are getting close to finishing, and fans of teams that are out of it are getting excited for the upcoming draft on June 26th. Each team must evaluate where they need immediate help, where they are lacking in depth, and what they can do to fix each issue. The draft is a great way to fix many of those problems. One good draft can turn a franchise around, especially if you have a top five pick. Almost every single player in the league today was drafted, so I can’t help but wonder who the next superstar might be that comes from this draft (aside from Tavares).

I have evaluated each team, and have a pretty good idea of who they plan on going after in this draft. Some teams need desperate help in a certain area, others will just draft who they think is the best available player at the time. Of course, all of this is barring any kind of trade where a team moves up, which is very possible. I can only go up to the first 14 picks, because the playoffs decide where all of the other teams pick. Here are the first 5 picks in this years’ draft, including a detailed explanation:

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Tags: 2009, avalanche, cowen, draft, duchene, hedman, islanders, kings, lightning, NHL, paajarvi-svensson, tavares, thrashers