Anaheim Ducks 2015 Draft: Who Should the Ducks Draft in the First Round?
Anaheim’s first-round pick may not be a sexy one, but that doesn’t mean it won’t pay dividends down the road.
The 2015 NHL Entry Draft will be held June 26-27 in the Sunshine State, and absolutely no one outside of Southern California is really paying much, if any, attention to the Anaheim Ducks.
This makes sense, as Anaheim is not in any position to land either Connor McDavid or Jack Eichel, the top two prospects in this year’s crop of talent. Since everyone is drooling over these two guys and even making it sound like their performances at the 2015 NHL Combine actually mean something, when really, it’s what they do on the ice that we give a **** about.
Meanwhile, the Anaheim Ducks hold the 27th pick in the draft, which doesn’t seem like much since it amounts to “26 picks too late” to most of the media. History will tell you, however, that there are plenty of examples of players who were over-looked in the draft that went on to become successful NHL players. Check out a few examples:
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Hard to believe that the best goalie ever to play in the NHL and a 600-goal scorer were picked so late in the draft, isn’t it? Hell, Chris Kunitz, Niklas Backstrom and Martin St. Louis were not even drafted, so the saying “You don’t know what you have until you have it” (which I totally just made up) is 100% true.
All of which goes to say that none of us should view Anaheim’s 2015 draft as an exercise in “Who cares?” There is talent to be had in both the first and third rounds (the Ducks do not currently have a pick in the second round), talent that could go a long way toward winning games in Anaheim.
We here at Pucks of a Feather will be contributing to the FanSided NHL Mock Draft, but we wanted to speak for the people, so we have decided to poll all of you as to what you think the Anaheim Ducks should do with their first pick in the 2015 NHL Entry Draft. Should Anaheim try to acquire a center, giving them more depth down the middle (and to possibly replace someone like Ryan Kesler, who will be an unrestricted free agent in 2016)? How about using the pick on a winger, or a defenseman? And are any of you crazy enough to defy conventional wisdom and argue that the Ducks should pick a goaltender in the first round?
Go ahead and vote on the position that you feel the Ducks should focus on when it comes to their first pick; once we have results, we’ll come back and give you a list of players to vote on so we can chip in to the mock draft!
Thanks, and as always, comments are welcome!