Each team’s biggest need heading into the 2018 NHL draft
Metropolitan Division
Carolina Hurricanes – Right wing
Carolina was blessed by the hockey gods at the NHL draft lottery and jumped nine spots from 11th to No. 2 overall in this year’s entry draft. What they need is some elite scoring potential to back up a solid defensive core, and that’s exactly what they will get no matter who they pick in Andrei Svechnikov or Filip Zadina.
The debate of Svechnikov or Zadina has been raging for months ever since the initial mock drafts were produced, and will only increase as the draft winds closer and closer. Svechnikov’s upside have him being forseen as a future Nikita Kucherov type goal scorer, and in the OHL his 40 goals in 44 games gave him the highest goals per-game average in the league at .91 goals per game. But Svechnikov missed most of the season with a broken hand, and then Zadina began to make some noise. Zadina significantly boosted his draft stock with 44 goals and 38 assists in 57 games for the Halifax Mooseheads, and continued dominating at above a point per game pace in the World Juniors with seven goals and four assists in 10 games while playing for the Czech. He’s been referred to as the best pure goal scorer in this draft on several occasions.
Based on drafting the best player available, Svechnikov appears to be the right choice. Based on need at right wing, Svechnikov is the right choice again. Drafting Zadina isn’t a horrible choice based on the fact that they still need right wingers as well, but Svechnikov is an apparent NHL ready talent you can’t pass up on right now.
Columbus Blue Jackets – Left wing
It was a pretty run of the mill season for the Columbus Blue Jackets with a disappointing ending, but the future is beginning to emerge and they’ll need to keep building up in order to finally break through with their first playoff series win.
Columbus has drafted quite well over the past few season and doesn’t have one outstanding need heading into this years draft. They have a balanced amount of prospects across the board in all positions, but lack high end talent. This distinction becomes most noticeable at left wing, where outside of Sonny Milano, there isn’t much talent left to choose from. Milano will be heading up to the Blue Jackets main roster permanently with the likely departures of Matt Calvert and Thomas Vanek, and after him there isn’t much in the system to develop.
The Blue Jackets will select 18th overall in the draft, and that does put them in position to fill the openings at left wing. Grigori Denisenko and Isac Lundestrom are both left wingers projected to be taken around that time in the draft give them the luxury of not having to pass on a better available player just to fill a need. Denisenko has been called top five in this draft class in terms of raw skill, and Lundestrom’s play has reminded scouts of Peter Forsberg. Lundestrom is primarily a center, but can play on the left wing if need be, but Lundestrom is a wild card in terms of draft position. If Lundestrom happens to fall to them, the smart choice would be to take him. If not, Denisenko still fills the need at left wing perfectly with his skill.
New Jersey Devils – Defense
The rebuild has progressed beautifully for the New Jersey Devils, and the window to compete has been opened as the rebuild enters the final stage. They’ve got the pieces in place to be contender for awhile, but this years draft is the final piece for the renovations of the roster as long as they can get what they need.
In last year’s draft, the Devils won the draft lottery to move up and draft Nico Hischier, and upgraded their roster enough to make the playoffs for the first time since 2012. This year, New Jersey’s needs defense first and foremost with their current roster depth and prospect system almost completely pare of young talent. They’ve neglected drafting defense in previous years, but luckily for them this years draft is filled to the brim with elite potential defenders.
The Devils own the 17th overall pick in this years draft, and that should give them plenty of options to solidify the blue line for the future. The pick isn’t quite high enough access the higher ceiling defensemen like Hughes or Bouchard, but there are still plenty of defensemen to choose from that are projected to be mid- to late-round selections. The best available left at that point in the draft are projected to be Jared McIsaac, Rasmus Sandin and Ryan Merkley, all of which are solid options to continue building for the future.
New York Islanders – Defense
The Islanders have a lot to worry about this summer, and the draft is just one of them. Re-signing John Tavares is definitely priority number one, but if they can keep having good drafts and keep getting younger, their future will still be in good hands no matter what.
The reason the Islanders missed the playoffs again last year was because of how terrible their defense was. They came close to setting records for goals allowed in a season, and they are in desperate need of a complete overhaul on the blue line. The problem is that they’ve got no real viable defensive options in the system to make those drastic improvements, and things don’t look much better for next year with the likely departure of several free agents.
Good thing for them is that they’ve planned ahead for this year’s draft, and traded Travis Hamonic in last years draft to the Calgary Flames for their first and second round pick in this years draft, and they now own back to back first round picks with the 11th and 12th overall picks. Those picks aren’t quite high enough to get the Bouchards and Boqvists of the draft, but they still have plenty of options. Ty Smith and Bode Wilde and projected to still be available, and taking just one of them is enough to fill the need at defense temporarily. Plus, having two picks makes it easier to trade up if they do want some of the higher class defensemen.
New York Rangers – Left wing
This was the year that the New York Rangers acknowledged that their current roster wasn’t going to win them a Stanley Cup anytime soon, and they decided to get ahead on revamping the roster instead of making a push for the playoffs last season. As a result, they now have three picks in the first round to inject more youth into their roster.
The Rangers got a head start on their rebuild in last years off season, and they actually are pretty solid in a number of positions for the future. Last years first round Lias Andersson and Filip Chytil have their center requirement taken care of for years now. Their defense is solid after years of late round picks, and they’ve got arguably the best goalie prospect in hockey with Igor Shestyorkin. It’s on the wings where they’re weak, but right wing still has some solid pieces in place, while left wing does not.
The Rangers will select ninth, 26th and 28th in the first round of this year’s draft, and they’ve got plenty of options on how they want to approach a situation as unique as this. If the plan is to get back to competing sooner than later, they could move one of the later picks in order to acquire a player to accelerate the rebuild. With the ninth pick, the Rangers will have access to Joel Farabee, but that would require passing up on some of the several elite potential defenders. With the later picks there is plenty of left wings still available like Bokk or Kurachev. The Rangers have full control of getting what they need, and they can’t waste an opportunity like this.
Philadelphia Flyers – Defense
The youth movement for the Flyers is slowly but surely starting to come into effect, and that’s come from a heavy focus on the draft in recent years that is starting to pay off in spades. However, this team is a long way away from being complete, and they need another solid draft to take that next step.
The Flyers don’t have a noticeable weakness in their prospect pool, and the goal for them now should be to find a way to promote these players sooner than later, but they are lacking depth for defensive prospects. The do have Travis Sanehim ready to graduate to full time NHler, but outside of him there isn’t too much to talk about. Their current defensive core is young with Provorov and Gostisbehere, but they are anchored down by older and less skilled partners that need to be replaced, and there isn’t much in the system to replace them.
The Flyers own the 14th and 19th overall picks in the first round of this year’s draft after trading Brayden Schenn to the Blues last year, and that looks at the moment to be just about perfect for them to fill their needs. The most likely option for them to pick up on defense is Bode Wilde, who is projected to go right around when the Flyers pick at 14th, and is seen as perhaps the most solid two-way defenseman of the draft class. If Philadelphia elects to go with another position at 14th, there’s still plenty of options on defense they could go after like Jared McIssac or Rasmus Sandin.
Pittsburgh Penguins – Defense
The back-to-back Stanley Cup champions were finally dethroned by the Washington Capitals, but before worrying about how they can get back to contention right away, they need to refill the prospect pool before it’s too late because it’s going to become a problem sooner than later as Pittsburgh gets older and older.
Pittsburgh is not a fan of keeping its first-round picks, and only one of its first-round picks from this decade is still on the team. As a result, the Penguins have all but exhausted their top tier youth options in the system, especially on defense where the main roster is also the weakest. Weak defensive depth was ultimately Pittsburgh’s undoing in the playoffs against the Capitals, and they don’t have any options to improve within their own system.
Like the last three seasons, the Penguins do not have a first round pick in this year’s draft after trading for Derick Brassard at the deadline. Odds are they aren’t trading up to get a first-round pick, but they still have their second-round pick at 53rd overall as their first pick in the draft. After the first round, it’s not as clear who the better prospects are and it’s really just throwing darts at the board and hoping something sticks. Defensive prospects projected to go around that time are Sean Durzi, Giovanni Vilantti, or Stanislav Demin. All of which could be solid options, but will require time to develop.
Washington Capitals – Right wing
The Washington Capitals took a huge step, finally winning the Stanley Cup for the first time in franchise history and the first in the Alex Ovechkin era. As important an accomplishment that it was for the entire city of D.C, the Capitals aren’t getting any younger and have been running out of talent in the prospect cupboard.
The Capitals’ biggest need going into the draft is on the right wing. Despite trading away tons of picks in recent years, the Capitals prospect depth in other areas should be alright for the short time being, especially on defense and goal tending. Even on offense the Capitals have been able to find some late round draft steals like Axel Jonsson-Fjällby, Nathan Walker and Shane Gersich to fill the farm system, but on right wing they are in trouble.
Since 2010, the Capitals have drafted just two right wingers — Tom Wilson in the first round in 2012 and Kristian Roykas-Marthinsen in the seventh round in 2017. The Capitals have next to no legitimate prospects outside of Juuso Ikonen, who they just signed as undrafted free agent, in the system that could make the roster anytime soon.
The Capitals will pick 31st overall after winning the Stanley Cup. That will take pretty much everybody on the list off the table if the draft goes as projected. Serron Noel could fall from his projected spot at around 25th, but the Capitals will likely need to find a way to trade up in order to secure one of the first round projected right wing talents. There are talks that Phillip Grubauer could be traded, and a team desperate enough for a goalie could give them their first round pick, perhaps the Islanders who own the 11th and 12th overall pick would be open to moving one?