| 14 | THE HOCKEY NEWS ULTIMATE FANTASY POOL GUIDE 2019-
ANDYDEVLI
N/NHLI^VIAGETTYIMAGESF
OR THE SECOND YEAR
in a row, I lucked out by
drawing the No. 1 pick
in The Hockey News’
NHL Mock Draft. And for the
second year in a row, I took the
Edmonton Oilers’ point-gush-
ing Connor McDavid.
It was tempting, to be sure,
to select Tampa Bay’s Nikita
Kucherov. He has a vastly supe-
rior supporting cast that helped
him claim the Art Ross Trophy
as the league’s leading scorer
in 2018-19 with 128 points, the
most since Mario Lemieux post-
ed 161 points and Jaromir Jagr
had 149 back in 1995-96. But in
the end, I think McDavid has a
higher ceiling – if anyone is ever
going to approach 150 pointsagain, my money is on him.
The McDavid vs. Kucherov
debate is intriguing. McDavid
has a 100-point running mate
in Leon Draisaitl, who was
taken eighth in the draft, but
after that the fantasy drop-
off is shocking. Ryan Nugent-
Hopkins was the only other
Oiler selected, squeaking into
the top 100 in the 10th round.
Kucherov, meanwhile, has an
all-star arsenal at his disposal,
starting with usual linemates
Steven Stamkos and Brayden
Point. The Lightning had seven
players taken in the draft com-
pared to the Oilers’ three. Only
Los Angeles had fewer players
picked, with just two – captain
Anze Kopitar and defensemanǤβ
ǡ
the Ilya Kovalchuk hype has
cooled considerably after his
washout return to the NHL.
THE DRAFT: We keep it
simple, just straight-up total
points. But we go deep, with the
10 teams comprised of 20 play-
ers each, and every team had to
pick two defensemen and two
goalies. For goalie scoring, we
award two points per win and a
bonus point for shutouts.
THE GOALIES: Andrei Vasi-
levskiy, as you might expect, was
βǡ
Bay goalie went in the second
round. Vegas’ Marc-Andre Fleu-
ry was next in the fourth round,
followed by Toronto’s Frederik
Andersen and Boston’s Tuukka
Rask in Round 5. Other notables
include St. Louis rookie cham-
pion Jordan Binnington and
Florida’s new stopper SergeiBobrovsky, both of whom were
eighth-rounders. Bobrovsky’s
anticipated replacement in Co-
lumbus, Elvis Merzlikins, was a
20th-round gamble.
THE DEFENSEMEN: No big
surprises here. San Jose’s Brent
Burns and Erik Karlsson, as well
as New Jersey’s new catalyst
ǤǤǡβ
D-men taken, all in Round 3.
THE ROOKIES: Jack Hughes
went No. 1 overall to the Devils
in the NHL draft but lasted un-
til the sixth round in our draft,
while the No. 2 overall pick, the
Rangers’ Kaapo Kakko, went
in Round 8. Cale Makar, who
stepped into the Avs’ playoff
lineup last spring, was a 15th-
rounder. Other rookies to go:
Anaheim’s Sam Steel in Round
18, Montreal’s Ryan Poehling in
Round 19 and Nashville’s Eeli
Tolvanen in Round 20.The Hockey News’ Mock Draft is 200 players deep, including goalies.
It’s McDavid vs. Kucherov for No. 1 billing, Vasilevskiy was the first
goalie to go, and Hughes leads the rookie parade BY SAM MCCAIGMOCK DRAFT
CONNOR
MCDAVID