Anaheim Ducks 2020 Draft: Mocking the First Fifteen

Like most NHL teams, the Anaheim Ducks are gearing up for the draft. However, there are bound to be a few mistakes, so why not mock the first fifteen?

Since the second phase of the draft lottery for the 1st round of the 2020 NHL Entry Draft has long since been completed, the draft order has been locked in, with the Anaheim Ducks drafting 6th overall. Mock drafts have come flying out, especially with the draft only a few days away. Everyone else has done it, so we may as well have a crack at it here as well.

However, we won’t be taking the conventional approach to this Top 15 mock draft. We believe that much like every draft, most of the teams will make some kind of unforced error. After all, if these teams were so good at evaluating talent, they wouldn’t be drafting in the Top 15 now, would they?

In every sense of the word, this will be a mock draft. So, without further ado, let’s delve into what will surely be a disappointing mix of mediocrity.

#1 New York Rangers – Alexis Lafrenière, LW, Canada, Rimouski (QMJHL)

This kid seems pretty good, but since he likely won’t be a part of the Anaheim Ducks, who really cares? Sure, he was the first 16-year-old kid since Sidney Crosby (2003-2004) to score 40 goals in his D-1 season, but he scored less in his draft year. So, what now?

It’s fair to say that his 2.15 points-per-game average led the Canadian Hockey League and that he took out MVP honors on the back of 10 points in 5 games at the WJC. Apparently, he also scored 35 goals and had 77 assists in 35 games for Rimouski Océanic in the Q. Well actually, I guess, that’s pretty good after all. Still, He’s not Byfield and that’s a mistake the Rangers will have to live with.

Yeah, sure he’s the best player in the draft today, but the Rangers already have the best prospect in the world in Kappo Kakko. I just can’t help but imagine Kakko passing to Byfield in the slot would have set the team up for success for decades more. Doesn’t a spine of Mika Zibanejad, Quinton Byfield, and Ryan Strome just sound like it would be as sexy on ice as it is on paper? But, I suppose drafting the #1 overall to play behind Artemi Panarin and Chris Kreider will be an effective use of everyone’s abilities. Shocking decision.

Pre-Draft Grade: D-

#2 Los Angeles Kings- Quinton Byfield, C, Canada, Sudbury (OHL)

How do the Kings keep pulling phenomenal talent far later than they should? Is it a royalty thing? Whatever it is, they snag a player who is far and away one of the top 2 players in this draft class (and one who I personally think may challenge for the crown years down the track.) As an Anaheim Ducks fan, this selection makes me sick to my stomach and I hate it passionately. Don’t the Kings have enough forward talent? Why do they deserve to pick up an Evgeni Malkin-eque sex bomb? It’s unfair and I do not care for it.

Darn the Kings for being so lucky, but just because Byfield is essentially the perfect physical specimen for hockey, doesn’t mean we’ve forgotten about his world junior championship performance. He’ll be younger than everyone in the NHL as well, and his tendency to shy from physical contact will be enough. He’s not a Duck, so let’s chalk him up as an unforced error by the Kings. Fail.

Pre-Draft Grade: D

#3 Ottawa Senators (from San Jose)- Tim Stutzle, LC/LW, Germany, Adler Mannheim (DEL)

Stutzle is a German-born hockey player who has essentially come out of nowhere to crush his season in the German Adult league. You can read my previous article about him if you need to know things about him. I won’t rehash it all here.

Stutzle is a talent and could be a very good one. But the gap between him as a consensus #3-5 pick and Quinton Byfield may as well be the length of the southern hemispheres longest road. In recent times, the Senators have selected Shane Bowers (2017), Logan Brown (2016), Colin White (2015), and Curtis Lazar (2013) who play the center position. Lazar even played a little on the wing, just like Stutzle. I think we now know that Stutzle will not develop in the Senators prospect pool and may never be heard from again. Disasterous decision.

Pre-Draft Grade: F

#6 Anaheim Ducks – Helge Grans, RHD, Sweden, Malmo (J20)

Once again, the Anaheim Ducks reach for a non-household name and Swedish defenceman. With a little Alexander Edler and a little Mattias Ekholm in him, Grans was unlikely to be there when the Anaheim Ducks select with their selection gained from the Boston Bruins. Or maybe he would have been. Who really knows.

I’m sure Anaheim Ducks fans are probably thinking he’s a terrible choice, given all the highly touted players still on the board. However, I’m here to tell you about the mansplainer who drowned in the puddle. It was a well actually. And well actually, there is a good chance Grans is a better player than most people are imagining he is, and we all know that Anaheim Ducks fans will be sure to jump on the bandwagon right after they bite back their tears of bitter disappointment at not collecting a prime time goal scorer.

The Anaheim Ducks have a lot of needs to fill in this draft, and with this selection, they have managed to fill none of them. However, the Anaheim Ducks did the safe thing knowing that they can’t draft forward talent or goals, and selected a role-playing defenceman that is exactly what they don’t really need.

But hey, reaching for Hampus Lindholm worked out for the Anaheim Ducks, as he’s turned into a steady workmanlike player who almost makes Head Coach Dallas Eakins look like he has a peripheral understanding of defensive structure. Such incredible foresight to make this draft selection, it’d put a horn on a jellyfish. So, this is probably the best draft selection of the decade. Home run selection.

Pre-Draft Grade: A+

#7 New Jersey – Lucas Raymond, RW, Sweden, Frolunda (SHL)

The Devil’s reach for one of the strong Swedes at the top of the draft. It’s hard to find a consensus spot for Raymond, as draft pundits have him all over the place. They just know he fits in somewhere.

An excellent playmaker who will hope to make his money on the offensive end of the ice, yet his greatest skills may be a relentless forecheck and a silky ability to strip the puck from players with the tenacity that the government takes money from your wallet. He’s probably more skilled than Sami Pahlsson ever was, but I can’t help but imagine Raymond lining up as an undersized checker at some point in the future.

The Devils have drafted 10 RW’s in ~70 draft selections going back to 2010 and not a single one of them has been memorable. With recent top selections Jack Hughes, Pavel Zacha, Nico Hischier (he’s ok I guess), and Michael McLeod failing to live up to their lofty draft billings, it seems ridiculous that the Devil’s would once again try to draft a hockey player. They should know better. Hard fail.

Pre-Draft Grade: F

#8 Buffalo Sabres – Marco Rossi, C, Austria/Switzerland, Ottawa (OHL)

Standing almost knee-high to a hobbit, “Frodo” Rossi was arguably the best player on the best team in the OHL. You can look up his stats yourself, but what is notable is that the scorers didn’t give the old man of the class bonus points from secondary assists— the bugbear of many elite scorers.

In fact, he presents to the board, a primary-points-per-game rate of 1.53 per game (58 at even strength), which is second amongst the draft hopefuls. What boggles the mind is that other teams didn’t even want to score while he was on the ice. Specifically, while he skated, the 67’s scored 103 goals, but opposition teams only scored 35.

That is pretty embarrassing really to be so handsome and dashing that the other team can only look to the ground casting furtive glances at you while blushing bashfully. Yet, this is what Rossi found to be the case this season.

Buffalo line up to draft one of the oldest and smallest players in the draft, and it’s Buffalo. Buffalo… It’s a shame Rossi’s journey from rags to riches ends here, but the Sabres drafting this stud muffin is like giving a pig strawberries.

Astoundingly poor decision making from a rudderless ship. Do they think he is going to grow an entire foot and become an inept defenceman? Buffalo should have stayed in their lane.

Pre-Draft Grade: F 

#9 Minnesota Wild – Cole Perfetti, LW/C, Canada, Saginaw (OHL)

The final draft position for Perfetti is harder to pick than a broken nose, but I’m going to take a guess and assume that Wild take a flyer on a guy who started a little slow and worked his way through some slumps to be a top scorer in his draft class. He’s not a perfect prospect by any means, but he has some smarts and a willingness to shoot, which will prove enticing to some teams if they can overlook his relatively smaller stature.

The Wild take a flyer, hoping that Perfetti’s flaws are ironed out and the brilliance he sometimes flashed is more common than not. It seems crazy to say this, but if the Wild were good at drafting and developing hockey players they wouldn’t have been so bad this season. Terrible choice to waste an incredible asset on a player they’re going to ruin.

Pre-Draft Grade: F

#10 Winnipeg Jets – Alexander Holtz, LW/RW, Sweden, Djurgardens (SHL)

Winnipeg adds to their impressive list of young goal scorers, a normal-sized Swede who is nothing if not a goal scorer. He has great positional awareness, a lethal wrister, and is quite the underrated playmaker.

Jets fans would see him lining up with Patrik Laine in the future and I think that the level of cruelty one has to enjoy to inflict two such elite goal scorers on an opposition team is disgusting. Low risk and high reward make this pick a no-brainer.

Who cares if you can shoot the puck if you can’t do two backchecks before each score? That’s the Anaheim Ducks way, the NHL way, and that’s why the Jets waste this draft selection by picking this pure goal scorer.

Pre-Draft Grade: D+

#11 Nashville Predators – Yaroslav Askarov. G, Russia, SKA-Neva St. Petersburg (VHL)

In some circles, Askarov is considered the best goaltending prospect since Carey Price (John Gibson will personally come to fight you if you agree) was taken top 5 in 2005. New Jersey isn’t particularly hurting for netminders, but when the potential to find a franchise-altering voodoo master is available, the team will have to go for it and hope it all works out.

Pekka has been amazing for the Predators, despite his crippling contract and the inability of management to build a remotely competent team around him. Nashville needs someone to replace him with somewhere down the track and will have to hope that one-day Askarov will be able to do so. He probably will be. He’s really good.

But, seriously? A Goalie? In the first round? Fail.

Pre-Draft Grade: F

#12 Florida Panthers – Connor Zary, C, Kamloops (WHL)

A reliable and hardworking two-way pivot, that was always bound to catch someone’s eye and go early. He has good speed, good skills, and is equally adept with his pass and shot. He is a puck possession monster who is the primary play driver for his team.

Everything about the Panthers is just kind of mediocre, and this is no different. Another two-way pivot who’s good but not great. They could have gone and done something that would make at least one person take notice of them, but instead, they went ahead and made a draft selection like the dull chumps they are. Yawn.

Pre-Draft Grade: F

#13 Carolina Hurricanes (from Toronto Maple Leafs)  – Jake Sanderson, LHD, USA U18 (NTDP)

Rawer than a greyhounds dinner, the Hurricanes take the up and coming defenceman just to spite Toronto fans who desperately desire a brilliant defenceman to be somewhere near their team. A relatively mobile skater with a good frame, Sanderson has a bit to work upon over the next few years.

He can improve his offensive game and his defensive chops while adding some size to his frame. At this stage, he appears to be a jack of all trades but has yet to master any facet of the game. An allrounder who has a tantalizing upside. The Hurricanes can afford to be patient and bring him along slowly while molding him to their desires.

It doesn’t even matter if Sanderson makes it as a star player or not. What really matters is the enjoyment we’ll all get from Leafs twitter self-destructing as they will surely do after realizing they gave up the chance to get what their team desperately needs, just to offload some old guy they paid too much for.

Pre-Draft Grade: B

#14 Edmonton Oilers – Jack Quinn, RW/LW, Ottawa (OHL)

It isn’t every season we see an OHL youngster pot 50 goals, and it’s unheard of for one to do it in a shortened season. Yet, Quinn managed to pull this feat off as part of a stacked 67’s squad. More to the point he managed to do it playing away from the more highly touted Rossi (at 5v5 at least).

One of the older players in his draft class he really came out of nowhere this season, which he attributes to finally deciding to work out. That is somewhat frightening for two reasons: 1.) that he had that much improvement in him, and 2.) that he may not have the drive to keep that up in his pro years. It’s a fun puzzle to unravel.

The Oilers add another goal-scoring forward to a playing group that already scores in bunches, but couldn’t stop a beach ball. I don’t know what it is about the Oilers that make them force themselves to make bad decisions, but as a division rival, I’m here for it. Great for the Anaheim Ducks, terrible for the Oilers.

More from Draft

• Anaheim Ducks: Is Verbeek Looking to Trade Up?
• Anaheim Ducks: Is the 10th Overall Pick on the Block?
• Anaheim Ducks Draft Board Target: Brad Lambert
• Anaheim Ducks: Reaching for Mason MacTavish is a Good Thing
• Anaheim Ducks 2021 NHL Entry Draft Round One Primer

Pre-Draft Grade: F

#15 Pittsburgh Penguins – Hendrix Lapierre, C, Canada, Chicoutimi (QMJHL)

Has the moves like Jagr. Well not really, but he does have an absurd upside if we are to judge from the minimal time we’ve seen him After having his 3rd concussion Lapierre could be closer to the end of his career than the start of it, which would be a terrible shame (honestly) for the player.

Like most injuries, concussions tend to come more frequently after the first, and hockey is a sport that lends itself to a lot of physical contacts. The Penguins are no strangers to injury, but this is a gamble for them. Let’s hope it pays off for the youngster.

Pre-Draft Grade: D

And there you have it. A mostly underwhelming display of poor asset management sprinkled with a nugget of gold and a backhanded slap to a Canadian staple. Which team’s “mock” draft selection did you enjoy the most? Let us know in the comments below.

Are you a passionate Anaheim Ducks fan that loves reading Pucks of a Feather? If so, we would love to have you on board as a contributor! Just follow the link above for more information on how to join the crew.