2019 NHL Draft: Biggest winners and losers from Vancouver

The 2019 NHL Draft in Vancouver is over. Here are the biggest and winners and losers from a crazy two days on the west coast.

Many fans and pundits were disappointed with the lack of surprises and blockbuster trades on the first day of the 2019 NHL Draft in Vancouver. Nobody was surprised to see Jack Hughes and Kaapo Kakko go first and second overall to the New Jersey Devils and New York Rangers, respectively. After those two picks, there were only a handful of first-round selections that caught folks off guard.

There was very little trade activity on the first day of the draft, too. Fans were anxiously awaiting what appeared to be inevitable trades for big-named players like Tyson Barrie, Shayne Gostisbehere, and P.K. Subban, among others.

Sure enough, a handful of blockbuster trades came in during the early hours of the second round. Subban and J.T. Miller have found new homes, while the Toronto Maple Leafs finally found a taker in the final year of Patrick Marleau‘s contract. Rejoice, NHL fans. You finally got to witness the annual trade frenzy during draft weekend.

At the draft, a handful of teams did a wonderful job in addressing their roster weaknesses, finding excellent value picks after round one. On the flip side, a handful of general managers botched numerous opportunities to improve their rosters, add extra draft selections and/or receive top value for their best trade chips.

The draft is now behind us, and everybody will soon shift their focus over to free agency, which is just over a week away now. But now’s a good time to reflect on which players, GMs and players came out as major winners in the 2019 draft, and which ones went down as losers in Vancouver.

Winner: New Jersey Devils

I cannot think of the last time a team managed to come away with a franchise-changing center and a Norris Trophy-winning defenceman within 24 hours. Actually, can anybody point out a time one team landed both in a single offseason?

When they won the draft lottery, the New Jersey Devils probably knew the whole time they were going with Hughes. He’s going to turn this franchise around right away, and it won’t be long until they grow into a championship contender.

If that wasn’t enough, general manager Ray Shero landed All-Star defenceman P.K. Subban from the Nashville Predators. All Shero had to surrender was two-second rounders, defenseman Steven Santini and prospect Jeremy Davies.

New Jersey Devils fans should think about putting a Shero statue in front of the Prudential Center, because they’re going to be a serious contender in such little time.

Loser: Nashville Predators

With a plethora of quality blueliners, many figured that Nashville Predators general manager David Poile would move one out. That said, the return for one of the NHL’s few elite defencemen was very minimal and lackluster. It’s very uncharacteristic for Poile to get such little value in a trade for one of his premier players.

Davies and Santini have lots of talent, but neither have shown their abilities to be true game-changers. Acquiring second round picks doesn’t help Nashville much in the short-term future. Their window to win is now, and they don’t really need to stock up players that are a few years away from the NHL. It was a simple a salary clearing move for Poile, but if he waited it out, the Predators could have gotten a much better return.

Taking Philip Tomasino in the first round was also a curious move.  Center isn’t exactly an organization need for a team that has Ryan Johansen, Nick Bonino, Kyle Turris and Colton Sissons down the middle.

Winner: Colorado Avalanche

Unbelievable. The Colorado Avalanche come within one game of reaching the Western Conference Final, and yet this young, star-studded team was able to add two more franchise cornerstones in the first round.

Colorado obtained the No. 4 pick from the Ottawa Senators in the Matt Duchene trade, and they used it on Vancouver Giants blueliner Bowen Byram. The latter joins a blue line that consists of Cale Makar, Samuel Girard, and Tyson Barrie, although the latter could be traded. Byram is an elite puck-moving blueliner, and he’s a natural fit on Colorado’s ultra-skilled team.

With the No. 16 pick, the Avalanche came away with another crafty player in Victoria Grizzlies center Alex Newhook. He’ll be an excellent No. 2 option behind franchise face Nathan MacKinnon, and Newhook won’t need much time to grow into a true impact player.

Loser: Detroit Red Wings

Defense was the organizational need for new general manager Steve Yzerman and the Detroit Red Wings. But they went off the board and took blueliner Moritz Seider at No. 6 overall, which led to plenty of questions and criticism from the hockey universe.

Seider could have been had later in the first round. Why didn’t the Red Wings trade down to get Seider later? Why not try to move up and select Byram before the Avalanche got their hands on him? On top of that, Seider isn’t exactly a sure-thing in terms of morphing into a top-pairing blueliner.

The good news here is that Yzerman found two more skilled blueliners in the second round – Antti Tuomisto and Albert Johansson. But otherwise, it’s hard to be pleased with how the Red Wings handled the first round.

Winner: Kyle Dubas

The main goal for Toronto Maple Leafs general manager Kyle Dubas is to get RFA Mitch Marner signed, but that’s for another day. Dubas needs to give himself a pat on the back after a wonderful showing in Vancouver this weekend.

For starters, he was able to clear the final year of Marleau’s contract that carries a hefty $6.25 million cap hit by unloading the future Hall of Famer to the Carolina Hurricanes. Dubas did have to attach conditional 2020 first and 2020 seventh rounders, while only receiving a 2020 sixth-round choice in return. But he saves precious dollars and is in a better position to re-sign Marner, so it was well worth it.

Dubas also has Andreas Johansson and Kasperi Kapanen retained on team-friendly deals. And finally, he got great value in forward Nicholas Robertson (drafted 53rd overall) and blueliner Mikko Kokkonen (84th overall). He saved cap space, re-signed key players, and stockpiled Toronto’s prospect pipeline. Toronto fans can’t be complaining about Dubas’ work on the west coast.

Loser: Ken Holland

The Edmonton Oilers undoubtedly needed to draft a blueliner, because they don’t have much to offer in the long run other than 2018 first round pick Evan Bouchard. But taking Swedish rearguard Philip Broberg with the No. 8 pick was quite a reach for general manager Ken Holland.

Like Yzerman and the Red Wings, Holland’s Oilers could have probably traded down and get the man they wanted later. Broberg is far from NHL-ready, and the Oilers needed a guy who could win now. Maybe Holland should have taken a forward that won’t require too much development time.

Getting big center Raphael Lavoie with the No. 38 pick was a coup, but taking goalie Ilya Konovalov in the third round was a questionable move. Again, Edmonton needs impact players that can make the jump soon. Konovalov is no guarantee to succeed in the NHL, and he’s going to need a few years of development.

Winner: Cole Caufield

Many thought speedy and crafty American sniper Cole Caufield would go in the top 10, but he actually fell down to the Montreal Canadiens at No. 15 overall. But I can’t think of a better fit for Caufield than the Habs.

Caufield isn’t big (5-foot-7, 163 pounds), but he joins a Montreal team that is built around guys that have similar skill sets. Brendan Gallagher (5-foot-9, 175 pounds), Max Domi (5-foot-9, 193 pounds), Tomas Tatar (5-10, 182 pounds), and Jonathan Drouin (6 foot, 193 pounds), have shown that speed and skill trumps size.

That’s why Caufield is a natural fit in Montreal. He doesn’t need to throw around the big hits to excel under head coach Claude Julien. He’s playing on a team with shifty and quick puck-moving forwards. He and Domi will form one of the top young scoring duos in the NHL. Expect Caufield to emerge as a big-time goal-scorer once he joins the Canadiens.

Loser: Buffalo Sabres

The Buffalo Sabres drafted Dylan Cozens with the No. 7 pick, and there’s really no questioning that he’s a top 10 player in this draft class. However, general manager Jason Botterill decided to simply strengthen a strength rather than address one of Buffalo’s major weaknesses.

The Sabres already have a world-class center in Jack Eichel at center. Behind him, they have a rising star in Casey Mittelstadt and a serviceable 23-year-old in Sam Reinhart. Cozens will simply be a luxury for the Sabres, not a necessity. It’s as simple as that.

Oh, and Botterill probably missed out on his chance to get max value for blueliner Rasmus Ristolainen, who’s been the subject of trade rumors. Looks like the Sabres will have to wait to dangle him at next year’s trade deadline. Fans in Buffalo have waited long enough for this front office to get the team on track, but it’s hard to see how they made progress at the draft.