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NHL Mock Draft: Beichler’s Top 60 Player Rankings

By Janik Beichler

Jun 27, 2014; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Jared McCann poses for a photo with team officials after being selected as the number twenty-four overall pick to the Vancouver Canucks in the first round of the 2014 NHL Draft at Wells Fargo Center. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports
Jun 27, 2014; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Jared McCann poses for a photo with team officials after being selected as the number twenty-four overall pick to the Vancouver Canucks in the first round of the 2014 NHL Draft at Wells Fargo Center. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports /
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An NHL Mock Draft is supposed to predict the outcome of a draft, but what if every team just went for the best player available?

In my first NHL Mock Draft this month, I considered both who I thought was the best player and who would actually be picked by each club. Shouldn’t that be the same thing, though? Not quite.

Arguments about drafting the best player available (as in most talented and most likely to reach his potential) versus drafting by need come up year after year. But it seems impossible to settle it. Generally, I say drafting by need is not exactly a smart thing to do — shouldn’t you always go for the most talented and, from a business standpoint, most valuable player?

Needs can change extremely quickly, with each trade or each free-agent signing an organization does. Or, perhaps a fourth-round selection from two years ago surprisingly becomes that No. 1 center you’ve been looking for for so long. Needs are extremely hard to predict, so it seems almost impossible to fill them with a player that won’t even be in the NHL for another three to five years.

Of course, nothing can be generalized.

The Toronto Maple Leafs have been craving for a real No. 1 center since 2008, when Mats Sundin played one season in Vancouver before calling it a career. The Edmonton Oilers pick first overall just about every year, but are still missing that No. 1 defenseman. How much longer can they keep drafting forwards only because they are the best players available.

Drafting by need probably makes a tad more sense in the top five or maybe even top 10 of the draft. But after that, it should definitely be the best player available.

Unfortunately, determining that best player available is not an easy task either.

Auston Matthews has been the consensus No. 1 pick all year long, but is he really the best player? Most scouts believe the top six of this year’s draft are all forwards, but is there a defenseman who could sneak into that group?

At the end of the day, a lot of subjectivity goes into the selections. Different people value different things more or less, some are willing to look past weaknesses and take a chance at a seemingly one-dimensional players while others are not.

My thoughts? You are about to find out.

Next: Picks 1-5

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