NHL Mock Draft: 2017 First Round (December Rankings)

NHL Mock Draft: 2017 First Round (December Rankings) – This year’s draft will take place in Chicago, Illinois. The addition of a new franchise will expand each round by one pick for a total 217 picks in 2017.

Welcome to our first NHL mock draft of the season. Our regular readers may remember our comprehensive coverage back in 2015-16 with full seven-round mock drafts. We plan to roll out a similar format once again in the New Year as we shift focus to June’s annual event. We’ll also be featuring numerous profiles for draft-eligible prospects over the coming months. So, make sure to keep tuned in here at Puck Prose.

The 2017 NHL Draft will take place in Chicago, Illinois on June 23rd-24th, 2017. It will take place just days after the expansion draft for the NHL’s 31st franchise. In addition to selecting 30 players (one from each team), the Vegas Golden Knights will be awarded the third-highest odds of obtaining the first overall selection in the NHL Entry Draft. Las Vegas will select in the third spot in each subsequent round. With the Golden Knights joining the mix, each round will now consist of 31 picks for a total 217 opposed to 210 from previous year’s.

Despite a consensus number one sitting at the top, the 2017 draft class is largely regarded as weaker in comparison to recent years. Don’t get me wrong, Nolan Patrick has the potential to be a solid center in the league, but if you asked for a talent range comparison to past no.1’s, we might be looking at Ryan Nugent-Hopkins on the low-end, and maybe Nathan MacKinnon on the high-end.

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Things tend to get murky beyond Nolan Patrick. Several scouting services have long pegged Swedish defenseman Timothy Liljegren as the number two pick, but I remember a young man named Jakob Chychrun sitting in the 2-3 range before his surprise cut from the World Juniors team. Liljegren didn’t even garner an invite, instead being looked over for younger players (2000 born – eligible in 2018).

There seems to be an abundance of big center’s projected to go in the first round ranging from Europe, to the CHL, to NCAA. We could see a few North American defenseman taken in the opening round, but it wouldn’t be surprising to watch an abundance of Finnish/Swedish D selected in the back half of the 1st round. Lastly, it seems the goaltending pool is a bit soft once again this year. The only goalie at this point who could hear their name in the first round is Michael DiPietro.

While most of these selections next June won’t make a World Juniors appearance for another year or two, there are typically a handful of draft-eligible players that appear in the tournament. In fact, the draft-eligibles stole the show in 2016 when Jesse Puljujarvi, Patrik Laine, Sebastian Aho, and Olli Juolevi led the Finns to gold. For those individuals who will play in the upcoming WJC, it’s a big opportunity to leave a lasting impression on scouts and fans.

*Note: This is a projected draft order. There’s no point in getting upset over NHL mock draft orders, this is for fun. With a draft lottery in April and playoffs following, it’s simply too difficult to project the exact order until someone has hoisted the Stanley Cup.

2017 NHL Mock Draft: First Round (December Rankings)

Next: Vegas Golden Knights Mock Expansion Draft Roundtable