It’s Mock Draft season! The 2022-23 NHL regular season is officially complete and half of the fan bases around the league have one thing on their mind, the 2023 Draft. If your favourite team isn’t going to be playing until next Fall, the least you can do is have some fun dreaming of the great prospects they could land in the 2023 Draft, and how they might shape the future of your team.
On April 15 I simulated the NHL draft lottery based on the final NHL regular season standings using Tankathon’s draft lottery simulator, and then I took that draft order and tried my hand at drafting the best possible player for each team at their draft position based on upside, certainty of hitting that upside, team need, and a few other criteria.
In most cases I selected the best player available, although I did take into account some teams who have a tendency to act certain ways on draft day. Don’t worry, I didn’t come up with anything quite as outrageous as Jesperi Kotkaniemi going third overall back in the 2019 Draft to the Montreal Canadiens, but I hoped to capture the spirit of some teams’ amateur scouting groups.
All playoff teams have been included here in reverse order according to regular season points, so the President’s Trophy winning Boston Bruins’ first rounder (which is owned by the Toronto Maple Leafs) will be 32nd, the Carolina Hurricanes, who finished second in the NHL in points, will be 31st, and so on.
Related: 2023 NHL Draft Guide
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With that out of the way, let’s get into the meat of the mock draft, beginning with the team who earned the right to select Connor Bedard first overall and finishing with the 32nd overall pick at the end of the first round.
Check out the first edition of my 2023 Mock Draft here.
1. San Jose Sharks: Connor Bedard, C, Regina Pats (WHL) (+3)
The San Jose Sharks are the undisputed winners of this mock draft lottery as they jump from fourth overall to first and earn the right to select Connor Bedard with the first overall selection. The Sharks were in limbo for much of this season until they traded away star winger Timo Meier and made an inspiring drop down the standings.
The Sharks don’t have the most exciting prospect pool or group of NHL players to surround Bedard with right away, but they hold another first rounder this year and prospects like William Eklund and Filip Bystedt should be enough to build the…
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