McMahon's NHL Draft Top 32
Will this year's draft set a new record for NCAA players picked in the first round?
I’ve never published them before, but since 2009, I’ve compiled my own NHL Draft rankings every year.
I’m part of a very deep and highly technical fantasy hockey league (at least that’s how I like to describe it). My wife calls it my “nerd” league. She’s not far off. There are 32 of us from all over the world. Essentially, each owner serves as the general manager of an NHL franchise. We maintain full NHL rosters, AHL rosters, and prospect pools. Players are rated based on their NHL performance, and games are simulated using simulation software.
There’s a salary cap, free agency, waivers, and trading.
Yeah, my wife is right ... you could call it “nerdy.” But it’s also a lot of fun.
Every year, we hold our draft the week before the NHL Draft, ensuring that no one can simply rely on where a player was selected by an NHL team.
The league was founded in 2005, and I joined in 2009. I’ve won the championship twice and last week just fell in Game 7 of the finals while attempting to capture what would have been a league-record third title.
Unsurprisingly, my roster tends to be heavy on college players. I frequently target NCAA talent, especially in the third through seventh rounds.
Players currently on my roster who were drafted directly out of college programs (and not acquired via trade or free agency) include Adam Gaudette (Northeastern), Will Smith (Boston College), Johnathan Kovacevic (Merrimack), Ryan Shea (Northeastern), Cam York (Michigan), Alex Vlasic (Boston University), Brock Faber (Minnesota), and Stephen Halliday (Ohio State).
There’s even more NCAA representation on my AHL roster: Lucas Mercuri (UMass), Trevor Kuntar (Boston College), Andre Gasseau (Boston College), Luke Tuch (Boston University), Cole Knuble (Notre Dame), and Jacob Fowler (Boston College). Are you starting to see a trend?
Because I’m part of this ultra-competitive (and definitely not nerdy) league, I’ve always created my own draft rankings. I’ve just never felt comfortable publishing them. Many of the people in this league follow my work, and I had no interest in giving them a leg up by revealing who I was targeting.
This year, however, I don’t own a first-round pick. In fact, I won’t make a selection until the third round. So, for the first time ever, I’m going to publish my NHL Draft rankings — my Top 32 prospects.
I have 18 current or committed NCAA players projected among my Top 32 selections. If that projection comes anywhere close to reality, it would shatter the previous record. The all-time mark for NCAA players selected in the first round is 11, set in both 2007 and 2016 (with 10 selected last year).
These rankings are MY rankings. I know size isn’t everything, but I skew in that direction (especially on defense). I tend to value forwards more than defensemen at the top of the draft. Since the end of the college hockey season, I’ve spent a lot of time on InStat while watching the Stanley Cup Playoffs. That’s proved invaluable in coming up with these rankings.
Fun with trades …
I spent some of my Saturday morning going back through the trade archive to pick out some fun ones.
I have the Senators in this league.
3/3/11: Chicago Blackhawks trade Roman Hamrlik to Ottawa Senators for Jay Pandolfo, Matt Hunwick, Viktor Tikhonov and OTT 2012 Rnd 8
This might be the only trade I have in this league that involves a current NCAA head coach.
11/21/10: Ottawa Senators trade Corey Perry and Jed Ortmeyer to Buffalo Sabres for Cameron Atkinson, Colby Cohen, Daniel Briere and STL 2012 Rnd 2
Cam Atkinson was part of a team that eventually won me my first championship in this league, so this wasn’t all bad. But looking back, trading 26-year-old Corey Perry probably wasn’t my best move.
9/7/09: Ottawa Senators trade Henrik Zetterberg to Washington Capitals for Jordan Eberle, Mikkel Boedker and Tyler Ennis
This one felt like a good deal at the time … I’d say it did not age well.