Believe it or not, the 2020 NHL Draft is less than a month away. Here’s an updated 2020 NHL Mock Draft for the first round.
It’s hard to believe, but the 2020 NHL Draft will be held in under three weeks. The draft will be held on October 6th and 7th, with the first round taken place on the 6th and the final six rounds taking place on the 7th. So it’s time to update our 2020 NHL Mock Draft.
The Stanley Cup Playoffs aren’t over yet, so we’ll give the 31st pick to the Tampa Bay Lightning (though it’s heading to the San Jose Sharks) because they had a better regular season record than the Dallas Stars. Even if the Stars win and get the 31st overall pick, it shouldn’t make a very big difference.
As deep as the 2019 draft was, the 2020 draft could be even deeper. There are a lot of options at the top of the draft. Lots of future stars could be drafted in October.
This mock draft features a few shakeups and there will inevitably be some shakeups between now and the draft. With all of that out of the way, here’s our updated 2020 mock draft.
The New York Rangers haven’t had a first overall pick in the modern era. They picked a heck of a year to get lucky and win the draft lottery. Alexis Lafreniere projects to be a top-line scoring wing and few players have put together a resume as impressive as his at such a young age.
I’ve read a lot of mock drafts. This pick will be either Quinton Byfield or Tim Stutzle. I’m a big fan of both of them, but Byfield is the guy to pick for the Kings here. He has very impressive size and he knows how to use it. Byfield’s dominated in juniors despite having a rather late birthday in August.
The Senators will have a pretty easy decision. They’ll likely go with whoever the Kings don’t pick. Deep down, the Senators are probably rooting for the Kings to take Stutzle so they can draft Byfield, but Stutzle would be a nice consolation prize. He has top-end skill, which is something the Senators lack in their forwards.
This is where the fun starts in the first round. The Red Wings will have a plethora of options here. Lucas Raymond will tempt them for sure, but I think they’ll target a center here. Cole Perfetti seems to be the best fit for the Red Wings.
Usually, when teams have more than one first round pick, they like to draft a forward and a defenseman. This isn’t a route I believe the Senators will take. Don’t get me wrong, I like Jamie Drysdale. But most of the Senators needs are at forward and goaltending. This is a bit early for Askarov, so the Senators will make a smart pick by selecting Lucas Raymond. He’s a very smart player and his skill impressed me quite a bit.