One of the benefits of the condensed season?
A condensed offseason.
Despite the NHL having at least two more games on the slate before the season officially comes to an end and the Tampa Bay Lightning win their second straight Stanley Cup a champion is crowned, we are just three weeks away from the beginning of the NHL Entry Draft.
After parting ways with David Savard and Nick Foligno, the Columbus Blue Jackets own three first round selections. All eyes, however, are on the first of those picks: the fifth overall draft choice.
In such a wide open draft - due to the balance of talent available and the lack of true scouting to the pandemic - there has been very little consensus on much beyond the top pick. That belongs to the Buffalo Sabres, and they're all but a lock to select Michigan defenseman Owen Power.
As for the Blue Jackets at #5? That's a bit more open.
What seems to be becoming more of a consensus as the draft gets closer is the #2 pick. The Seattle Kraken moved up a spot in the lottery, and will make the second overall selection. A majority of mock drafts, including one this week from Scott Wheeler of The Athletic, are confident that Power’s teammate at Michigan, center Matthew Beniers, will be the pick. Centers, as the Blue Jackets have learned, are hard to come by. Berniers has all the tools to succeed in the NHL, and even if he somehow slips past #2, there’s very little chance that he’ll be available when Columbus is on the clock.
Anaheim and New Jersey will make the third and fourth picks, and this is where mocks get a bit out of sync with each other. In Wheeler’s draft, forward Dylan Guenther goes to the Ducks, and defenseman Luke Hughes goes to the Devils. However, another popular mock draft – thedraftanalyst.com – suggests winger William Eklund goes third overall to the Ducks, and Hughes (still) ends up in New Jersey with the Devils.
It gets more convoluted from there: Lines.com has center Mason McTavish at #3 and Guenther at 4. Meanwhile, Wheeler’s mock has McTavish all the way down at #7, to the San Jose Sharks.
One area that a number of mocks are finding some alignment with though, is what the Blue Jackets do at #5. Citing the unpredictable nature of general manager Jarmo Kekalainen, these draft experts generally believe that Swedish defenseman Simon Edvinsson will hear his name called when Columbus is at the podium.
“The Blue Jackets proudly walk to the beat of their own drum at the draft”, writes Wheeler. “They’ve never shied away from taking a risk on a player.
Adding to that is thedraftanalyst.com, stating that “you never can tell what’s up Jarmo Kekalainen’s sleeve when it comes to his first round picks, so expect the Columbus GM to take some sort of gamble on draft night.”
Edvinsson is a large left-handed defenseman. Checking in at 6’5” and over 200lbs, the 18-year-old certainly has the size to make an impact at the next level.
The risk that comes with Edvinsson is in the details. He’s 18 and won’t turn 19 until February, and this past season was inconsistent in 24 games with Frolunda and 14 more with Vasteras. When he’s on, he’s on – the Seth Jones comparisons are real. But when he’s off, it can get ugly.
Defenseman can take a while to really blossom - even Power may return to Michigan for one more year after he's drafted - and if Edvinsson can fine-tune his game and develop consistency, he will be a top-pairing defenseman wherever he ends up.
If.
