2010 NHL Draft Redo

I had my Sim Hockey League draft the other night and they're always pretty interesting to participate in as you get to compare the results to that of the actual NHL draft. The great thing about these drafts are that they are usually a few months and sometimes a year after the actual NHL draft, so it gives you time to see how certain players are doing and which ones have already made it to the show.

I was able to grab Tyler Seguin with the 5th pick in the draft, and have to say I was pretty happy that he was still around. Even as a Toronto Maple Leaf fan that kinda-sorta wants him to become a bust, there was no way I wasn't taking him. With his talent it's hard not to believe he won't at least be a 25 goal guy that can put up 60 to 70 points in a few years.

This is how the rest of the first round went:

Round	Pick#	Original Pick Owner	Current Pick Owner	Player Picked
1	1	Vancouver Canucks	Florida Panthers	Taylor Hall
1	2	St. Louis Blues	Dallas Stars	Jeff Skinner
1	3	Florida Panthers	Vancouver Canucks	Cam Fowler
1	4	Atlanta Thrashers	Atlanta Thrashers	Ryan Johansen
1	5	Montreal Canadiens	Washington Capitals	Tyler Seguin
1	6	Edmonton Oilers	Florida Panthers	Erik Gudbranson
1	7	San Jose Sharks	San Jose Sharks	Nino Niederreiter
1	8	Columbus Blue Jackets	Florida Panthers	Vladimir Tarasenko
1	9	Tampa Bay Lightning	Philadelphia Flyers	Jack Campbell
1	10	Dallas Stars	Atlanta Thrashers	Jaden Schwartz
1	11	Toronto Maple Leafs	Philadelphia Flyers	Joey Hishon
1	12	New York Islanders	Florida Panthers	Mikael Granlund
1	13	New Jersey Devils	New Jersey Devils	Brett Connolly
1	14	Colorado Avalanche	Phoenix Coyotes	Alexander Burmistrov
1	15	New York Rangers	New York Rangers	Dylan McIlrath
1	16	Phoenix Coyotes	Phoenix Coyotes	Brandon Gormley
1	17	Ottawa Senators	Philadelphia Flyers	Jarred Tinordi
1	18	Los Angeles Kings	Pittsburgh Penguins	Calvin Pickard
1	19	Calgary Flames	Atlanta Thrashers	Jon Merrill
1	20	Washington Capitals	Florida Panthers	Quinton Howden
1	21	Nashville Predators	Toronto Maple Leafs	Austin Watson
1	22	Boston Bruins	Chicago Blackhawks	Derek Forbort
1	23	Carolina Hurricanes	Columbus Blue Jackets	Evgeny Kuznetzev
1	24	Minnesota Wild	Boston Bruins	Charlie Coyle
1	25	Pittsburgh Penguins	Atlanta Thrashers	Martin Marincin
1	26	Anaheim Ducks	Pittsburgh Penguins	Nick Bjugstad
1	27	Buffalo Sabres	Chicago Blackhawks	Beau Bennett
1	28	Chicago Blackhawks	Florida Panthers	Emerson Etem
1	29	Philadelphia Flyers	Ottawa Senators	Riley Sheahan
1	30	Detroit Red Wings	Buffalo Sabres	Tyler Toffoli

Tyler Toffoli, Martin Marincin, and Jon Merrill all cracked the 1st round when they were 2nd rounders in the real NHL 2010 NHL Entry Draft. Merrill who was drafted 38th in the show has moved up almost 20 spots to 19th overall. Is that too soon for him?

Brett Connolly and Alexander Burmistrov both slipped out of the top 10. I was surprised that Burmistrov did since he was with the Atlanta Thrashers this year and showed he could play in the league. And Connollly will be a great goal scorer in the league one day - he is one of Steve Yzerman's picks so he has to be a stud right? I thought that Evgeny Kuznetzev might go a little earlier since he did have a strong World Juniors and might be on some GM's radar, just like how Vladimir Tarasenko moved up 8 spots to crack the top 10.

You will also notice that some teams had a lot of 1st rounders. The Florida Panthers (who are managed by a loyal Dirty Dangle follower) had 6 1st round picks - now that is a fun rebuild. It's one of the reasons why I love sim leagues, as you can do a rebuild much faster than a real NHL team. The Florida Panthers had an OK team before, but had a pretty old core and decided to restock the cupboard. Some slick wheeling and dealing and they were able to have 4 picks in the top 12 - wow.

What do you think of this draft, any shocking or brutal picks?

Really happy with my Tyler Seguin steal after this: