NHL Draft 2016: First round picks and trade grades

30. Winnipeg finally has a very skilled wing to put alongside one of their underrated centers. Laine is arguably the best goal scorer in the draft. GRADE: A+. Wing. Finland. Patrik Laine. 2. player

Oilers were very wise here. Easy to go after a defenseman, but the Oilers went with logic and got another extremely skilled forward. Should make trading for a defenseman much easier. GRADE: A. Wing. Finland. Jesse Puljujarvi. 4. player. 148

5. player. 104. Matthew Tkachuk would have been a better pick, but the Canucks have many needs. Their blue line is one of them. Juolevi could be something special, so it’s a very justifiable decision. GRADE: B . Defenseman. London Knights. Olli Juolevi

104. Oh man is it going to be fun to watch Johnny Gaudreau and Tkachuk share the ice. GRADE: A. Wing. London Knights. Matthew Tkachuk. 6. player

Keller is a very skilled forward who put up impressive totals with the USA NDTP. He should benefit from going to Boston University. There were some safer picks here, but Arizona went for upside. GRADE: B+. Center/Wing. USA. Clayton Keller. 7. player. 121

12. Tad bit surprising to see Buffalo not get a defenseman here, but it’s hard to argue with drafting a guy as skilled as Alexander Nylander. With his brother William playing for the Maple Leafs, the Buffalo-Toronto rivalry just heated up. GRADE: A-. Wing. Sweden. Alexander Nylander. 8. player

Russia. Mikhail Sergachev. 9. player. 152. Sergachev goes a tad bit higher than expected, but he has a ton of upside. GRADE: B-. Defenseman

Dominated in the BCHL, which isn’t quite the OHL, WHL, or even QMJHL, but still, an impressive player. GRADE: B+. Center. Canada. Tyson Jost. 10. player. 103

91. A huge center who has excellent hands. His skill is still developing, but he should be at worst a decent NHL center even in a worst case scenario. Points get docked for trading up a spot to get him. Likely still would’ve been there. GRADE: B. Center. USA. Logan Brown. 11. player

McLeod is a bit of a reach here judging by draft rankings, but he has a lot of offensive upside. Love this pick for the Devils because they need to add a lot of skill to their lineup. McLeod should do that. GRADE: A-. Center. USA. Michael McLeod. 12. player. 85

Canada. Jake Bean. 13. player. 109. Carolina was expected to go with a forward here, but with the run at forwards, there were a number of better blue line prospects available. GRADE: B+. Defenseman

70. Bruins needed to draft a defenseman and they lucked out a bit by that run of forwards earlier. McAvoy’s unique skill set should be one coveted by other teams. GRADE: B+. Defenseman. USA. Charles McAvoy. 14. player

Center. USA. Luke Kunin. 15. player. 98. Bit of a reach here with the talented young defensemen still available, but Kunin has the kind of skill set that Bruce Boudreau should love. Much more of a need pick than a best player available pick. GRADE: C+

Could be the steal of the first round, as many believed him to be a top 10 pick. Arizona is quickly building an impressive blue line over the past few weeks. GRADE: A. Defenseman. Canada. Jakob Chychrun. 16. player. 121

player. 151. A very nice get for the Predators, who replace Seth Jones with a very talented offensive defenseman who draws comparisons to Duncan Keith. GRADE: B+. Defenseman. Canada. Dante Fabbro. 17

18. player. 30. Quite a reach here. Stanley is a huge defenseman and has potential, but he should take a while to pan out and there were wiser picks to be made here. And they traded up to do it. GRADE: F. Defenseman. Canada. Logan Stanley

106. After a run of forwards earlier, there was a run of defensemen. Islanders benefit from that, grabbing a power forward who probably should have gone in the top 20. GRADE: A-. Forward. United States. Kieffer Bellows. 19. player

Defenseman. Canada. Julien Gauthier. 21. player. 109. Gauthier gives the Hurricanes a potential future 20 to 30 goal scorer. Huge body who is physical and knows where to go to score: the net. Should be a great fit in Carolina. GRADE: B+

German Rubstov. 22. player. 68. The Russian center fell a bit in the draft and the Flyers are the beneficiaries. Good two-way player with offensive upside. Bit weird to see them not grab Max Jones here, but fine pick. GRADE: B. Center. Russia

player. 87. Huge off the board pick here. Panthers get a very solid two-way forward who shot up draft rankings. Time will tell if this was the right pick, but with so many good players available, this is a questionable at best pick. GRADE: D+. Forward. Finland. Henrik Borgstrom. 23

Wing. USA. Max Jones. 24. player. 105. Jones was thought by many to be a borderline top 15 pick and at least a top 20 pick. Ducks get a huge physical wing who is a well-rounded scorer and a better player than his 52 points in 64 games suggests because he played behind Matthew Tkachuk. GRADE: A 

Wing. USA. Riley Tufte. 25. player. 119. Tufte is a nice blend of size and skill. He is a project, but his upside is sky high. Of course, he also has a very low floor and could be a bust. GRADE: B

Center. USA. Tage Thompson. 26. player. 99. Thompson is a big forward and certainly has skill. What is concerning is that most of his production came on the power play at the University of Connecticut. GRADE: D

23. Versatile forward who has nice size (6’2″). Has potential to be 20 goal scorer in the NHL, but defense needs work. GRADE: B- . Center. Canada. Brett Howden. 27. player

player. 19. Brother of Ryan Johansen of the Nashville Predators. Caps love Kelowna Rockets defensemen. Johansen had 49 points in 69 games. Great skater for his size (6’2″) GRADE: B  . Defenseman. Canada. Lucas Johansen. 28

29. player. 70. Definitely a reach pick here. Was barely a top 40 prospect. A project player. Don Sweeney with another head scratcher. That’s becoming a concerning trend. GRADE: D+. Center. USA. Trent Frederic

105. Raw player but he is an excellent skater. Above average playmaker who is very shifty. GRADE: C+. Forward. Canada. Sam Steel. 30. player