Countless possible outcomes for the 2015 NHL Draft have been predicted by mock drafts in the past few months, but how it will all actually play out will only be determined by NHL executives Friday in Florida. The first two picks are pretty much engraved in stone with Connor McDavid going to Edmonton and Jack Eichel headed to Buffalo. So the fun really begins at No. 3.
The Avs still have seven spots to wait out to make their selection with solid picks like Lawson Crouse, Ivan Provorov, Mikko Rantanen, Zach Werenski and Timo Meier hopefully still left on the board. If the Avs can land any of those picks, they will have a successful first round. However, there is something that could infringe on a nice and quiet draft night: trades.
There have been rumors of trades being the focus of the draft for weeks now. The Ryan O’Reilly trade is one of the hot topics. With the Avs securing a five-year contract with Carl Soderberg, O’Reilly could be out of Colorado by the weekend. Along with Phil Kessel of the Toronto Maple Leafs, O’Reilly is one of the most marketable forwards on the block. According to sportsnet.ca, the Leafs have had an interest in O’Reilly.
If O’Reilly is part of a draft deal, remains uncertain, much like where he will end up for the 2015-16 season. What remains definite is the high price tag that follows O’Reilly, upwards of $7M a season for anyone wanting to keep him beyond this season.
There are a lot of unsigned free agents that are possibly going to stir things up at the draft. In addition to O’Reilly and Kessel, the Vancouver Canucks’ Kevin Bieksa, Chicago Blackhawks’ Patrick Sharp, Pittsburgh Penguins’ Brandon Sutter, and Winnipeg Jets’ Michael Frolik and Drew Stafford are all in the trade rumors.
The time has finally come when all of the mock drafts will be put to rest and the much anticipated 2015 NHL Draft will play out as it may. How trades will impact the draft is now up to the GMs.
Sabrina Naccarato, a Mile High Sports intern and MSU-Denver student, contributed to this report