1- Calgary takes Alexis Lafreniere.  No one seen this coming… except for Devon.. who on draft day astutely pointed out that trade chatter had died significantly.  Kevin used his array of assets to jump 6 spots in a massive 3 team trade.  Laf appeared inferior at times during the season to Jimmy Stu, but the pedigree is there to become a future superstar.  I’m sure the decision on who to take wasn’t easy.  

2-Jersey takes Tim Stutzle.  We will never know what kind of ridiculous offers I’m sure Ken had to field from William Villeneuve’s great uncle Steph surrounding the pick.  And I’m sure more to come.  Ken had the easiest decision of any GM on draft day as the electrifying German lands in Jersey.  

3- Vegas takes Askarov.  Maybe the surprise pick of the night.  Though rumour was starting to get around as the draft approached that Joe had his sights set on the mighty Russian.  He was iffy at times at the world juniors, but Joe is smart enough to take performances there with a grain of salt.  Never a bad idea selecting the top player at his position during a draft despite what the peanut gallery has to say. 

4- Pittsburgh takes Quinton Byfield.  After Toby decides to move up a couple days prior to ensure himself of a Jamie Drysdale selection at minimum, Byfield dropping was a nice surprise.  Despite Toby informing people of the locker room cancer Byfield has a reputation for, Tobes cares about pure skill, size, and GRIT… so a great fit here. 

5- Nashville takes Anton Lundell.  Only 5 picks in and we get another mega deal.  Two pint sized forwards in Caufield and Debrincat find new homes, and Sheds who loves his defensive forwards, pounces on Lundell here.  Maybe the safest selection after the big 2.  

6- Buffalo takes Jamie Drysdale.  No word on if Deon made a split second attempt to trade for this pick when Jared was OTC, but this young D-man is the real deal and has some 30+ minute games in his near future.  As good as a defensemen prospect that’s come around in a quite a while.  

7- Detroit takes Lucas Raymond.  Dan took a gamble moving down, but still got his guy.  No holes at all in Raymond’s game, so let’s hope Stevie Y strikes magic here and helps resurrect both pathetic Detroit franchises.  

8- Seattle takes Cole Perfetti.  Despite driving around town shirtless waving at all the old ladies, Rex makes a good selection here and takes the most offensively gifted player on the board.  Expect him and Toby to be in each other’s DMs on a regular basis until Perfetti becomes a Penguin.  

9- Rangers take Marco Rossi.  Talk about a gamble.  Health issues do loom, but the upside is tantalizing.  Everyone expected Rossi to somehow find his way to Minny on draft day, but for now he’s in the Big Apple.

10- Seattle takes Dylan Holloway.  The first of 43 Oilers to be taken on draft day  by Rex, Holloway is the real deal.  Lost out only to Caufield as the Big 10’s top player, and if he can hit the ground running like CC has done, it’ll be a great pickup for Rex. 

11- Tampa takes Jake Sanderson. Eric nabbed the top defender available at 11.  Sanderson is strong skater who can eat minutes and is never out of position.  Not a flashy guy, but the early guesses on his average DF long term are 90+. 

12- Pittsburgh takes Alexander Holtz.  At this point in the draft even though Toby was busy feeding tomatoes out of Steph’s garden to his dog,  he made a smart decision not to pass on Holtz.  Despite his lack of a huge improvement the past year on the stats sheet, Holtz has a wicked release and should be a nice complement to one of Hughes’ or Hischier’s playmaking skills.  

13- Detroit takes Seth Jarvis.  Included in the deal for 1st ov Dan wanted to ensure he could move up a few spots from 17 to snag a second top tier player.  Jarvis and his pure goal scoring ability were thankfully there at number 13. 

14 and 15- Florida takes Lukas Reichel and Rodion Amirov.  Two of the toughest names to type when you have spell check on, Tyler adds a couple skilled Europeans here.  Reichel had some injury issues last year, but has actually rivaled Stutzle at times for offensive output through his development.  A quiet, but great pick.  As for Amirov, it’s always tough to gauge whether GMs in our league select Leafs to auction them off later, or to hold onto.  Either way, Tyler wins big with Amirov.  

16- StLouis takes Jack Quinn.  Maybe it was the low goal total, bad plus minus number, the fact he’s a Sabre, or all of the above.. but Quinn was definitely one of the biggest fallers in round 1. Eric is hoping for he proves the doubters wrong and becomes a steal.

17- Pittsburgh takes Dawson Mercer.  Toby goes Jersey yet again here.  Mercer just seems like a good guy.  Good family.  Small town Newfoundlander.  Doesn’t seem like the right fit for Toby’s usual goon laden teams.  So maybe gets moved down the road.  

18- St Louis takes Braden Schneider.  Not the sexiest selection, but Eric goes with a great shutdown D-man here who still has offensive upside and size.  No glaring weaknesses in his game.  Is a lock to be a big league regular. 

19- Pittsburgh takes Tyson Foerster.  Some questions about his skating, but he can score.  Not to mention as a former Barrie Colt, you knew Toby was was riled up to have the chance to select him.  Toby loads up even more for the future.  

20- Edmonton takes Mavrick Bourque.  Leon makes an appearance on the night here and quietly selects a player with tons of skill, who had a great season no matter where he played.  Good shot and decent speed. 

21- Nashville takes Jacob Perreault.  Lundell’s future sim line mate can be iffy defensively at times, which made for a bit of a surprising pick knowing Shed’s tendencies to go for defensive guys, but JP has a knack for the net.  Hockey runs in the bloodlines for Perreault.  

22- Rangers take Connor Zary.  My heart sunk all the way to the floor when I saw Doc had dealt this pick because I knew then I’d be missing out on Zary at 23.  Zary is a strong skater that goes to the dirty areas.  A solid pick at this point for sure.  

23- Detroit takes JJ Peterka.  20 minutes after I carve Sabres prospects, I decide to reach into the 2nd round to take JJP.  Peterka excelled wherever he played last year and has that in-your-face Brad Marchand style of hockey in his DNA. 

24- Nashville takes Jake Neighbours.  The 3rd straight pick of a gritty / hard working type player.  Neighbours is one of the better playmakers to come out of this draft class and has zero competition in Stlouis amongst forward prospects.  

25- Tampa takes Justin Barron.  An interesting pick by Eric.  Certainly high risk/reward type player as he could be used in more of a shutdown role on the crowded Avs blue line, not to mention a health scare.  But also got looked over, so could be a steal long term.  

26- Rangers take Henrix Lapierre.  A player we all thought would somehow find his way to Larry.  Good skater, great passer is a big wildcard as he fell hard on last summer’s NHL draft, but a great spot for PJ to take him at. 

27- Winnipeg takes Yegor Chinakov.  Came out of nowhere to light up the KHL as a teenager. Hopefully for Doc that continues. He’s got a great shot so hopefully makes his way to NA sometime soon.  

28- Pittsburgh takes Roby Jarventie.  By this point of the night, Toby and Esteban are feeling loose and tipsy, and Steph influences Toby to trade the Ducks 2022 first to draft Jarventie here.  Considering Devon will have a good team next season and this draft is deep, not a bad idea for two drunk guys.

29- Detroit takes Kaiden Kuhle. With his prior pick, Dan reached into the 2nd round pool.. with this one he does the other way and takes the 16th OV pick from the nhl draft.  Well he doesn’t light up the score sheet, Guhle logs big minutes and throws monstrous hits.  

30- Buffalo takes Thomas Bordeleau.  At this juncture of the evening, Jared’s too far gone to be making picks and his cat astutely steps in and selects Brodeleau, whose stock has been rising after a strong college debut.  

31- Isles take Helge Grans.  Every 2nd pick this draft seemed to be a Kings blueliner, though Grans is the cream of the crop.  Quick skating Swedish prospect was a bit of a surprise to me going here, given the league’s perpetual fear of overvaluing defensemen, but Joe’s winning pedigree shouldn’t be questioned.    

32- Tampa selects Noel Gunler.  Can be a liability at times defensively, but the skill and speed that the young Swede has displayed is tantalizing. 

Rounds 2 and onwards highlights if you could call them that…

33- Rex reaches for the 100th ov selection in the nhl draft for Oilers prospect Carter Savoie.  Though the guy did have a beast of a rookie year in college.  

37- Ken takes the 2nd tendy of the night, Pens prospect Joel Blomqvist. 

46- PJ trades up to take Ducks prospect Sam Colangelo despite subpar showings in college and the world jrs.  

Mid 2nd round- Steph gets bored of trying to trade for his first ever brhl draft pick and builds a bonfire. 

67- Eric decides team Canada goalie Devon Levi is a worthy reach.  

79- Sheds requests to be skipped so he can spend the entire night thinking of who he would like to draft.  

Mid 3rd round- Esteban getting close to landing a pick as Toby’s laptop and mine battle the raging inferno leaping out at us. 

85- The unthinkable happened.. Esteban Villeneuve lands a draft pick and his lack of experience shows as he takes his own niece Wilma Villeneuve.  

The night then fizzles out with someone called Leo Loof being selected.