2014 NHL Mock Draft: Picks 21 - 30

By Steven Ives

21) St. Louis Blues

The Team: The Blues are a fantastic team – tough, skilled and defensively sound. All they need to figure out is how to get past the Kings and the Blackhawks – the winners of the past three Stanley Cups have dispatched the Blues in the past three post-seasons. Organizationally sound at virtually every position, they might only have questions in net. If Demko gets past the Wild, we foresee the Blues taking a long, hard look at him. If not, they will likely take the best available player.

The Pick: C/RW Nick Schmaltz, Green Bay, USHL In an absurdly unpredictable draft, two players have been called the “best offensive prospect in the draft” by one scout and a “risk not worth taking” by another. One of those players is Nikolay Goldobin, the other is Nick Schmaltz. It is difficult to see how a player with so much upside is not worth taking a chance on, but Schmaltz truly divides the pundits. His stickhandling and skating are, quite simply, sheer artistry to behold. His lack of commitment to the less artful aspects of the game – digging pucks out of the dirty areas and playing defense – are as frustrating to watch as his puck skills are mesmerizing. With a core of character players to teach Schmaltz and his older brother Jordan Schmaltz already in the organization, the Blues are precisely the type of team which can afford to take a flyer on his immeasurable talents.

22) Pittsburgh Penguins

The Team: After another disappointing early playoff exit despite an exceptionally talented core, the Penguins decided to clean house. Gone were GM Ray Shero and head coach Dan Blysma. Long-time Carolina GM Jim Rutherford took over with the goal of rebuilding around mega-stars Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin. As those two players are firmly entrenched as the highly-paid franchise nucleus, the team-building job generally consists of putting together the proper pieces around them. As Hurricanes’ GM, Rutherford’s draft modus operandi leaned towards taking North American forwards in the first round and high-upside defensemen in the second.

The Pick: LW Sonny Milano, US-NDTP, USHL In a draft class full of undersized scoring wizards, Milano may be the most under-the-radar. An outlandishly creative offensive dynamo, Milano might be the most intelligent player in the offensive zone in the entire class of ’14. He can back this up with his phenomenal hands and skating ability, along with a backhand-shot which is far and away the most lethal in this year’s draft. He is exceptional at complimenting other highly-skilled players. Milano skated alongside Alex Tuch and 2015 lottery-pick Jack Eichel in both the USHL and in several international tournaments, and the three were an unstoppable combination among their age group. Milano is often compared to T.J. Oshie, though his scoring smarts evoke Martin St. Louis. The Pens need players who can skate and think the game with stars like Crosby and Malkin, and Milano would be a perfect fit.

23) Colorado Avalanche

The Team: The Avs may be the next up-and-coming team in the NHL. Under the new direction of Patrick Roy, Colorado has gotten grittier and more active offensively, getting the most out of their supremely talented young core of Nathan McKinnon, Gabriel Landeskog, Matt Duchene and Ryan O’Reilly. What they need organizationally is more help on the blueline, but many expect the Avalanche to go after veteran help in this area, and that they will enter trade talks for such stars as Dion Phaneuf, Dustin Byfuglien and perhaps Jack Johnson.

The Pick: LW Brendan Lemieux, Barrie, OHL Claude Lemieux’s son plays like, well, Claude Lemieux. He is tough and infuriating, physical and relentless, and deceptively talented offensively. Patrick Roy played alongside Lemieux for several seasons during the Avalanche’s hey-day of the 1990’s, and if anyone knows how valuable this type of player can be, it is the Colorado coach. Lacking a second-round pick in the 2014 draft, the Avs could probably trade down a few slots to retrieve a pick and still get a good shot at Brendan Lemieux, who is generally ranked in the early second round.

24) Anaheim Ducks

The Team: As stated earlier, we predict the Ducks will attempt to trade one or both of their first-rounders for a second-line center, either Ryan Kesler or Jason Spezza. Ottawa would love their 10^th overall pick returned to them, where they would have a shot at a future game-breaker like Ehlers, Fiala, Fabbri or Virtanen. Vancouver would love to draft a defensive cornerstone like Hayden Fleury along with a top-line forward. Assuming the Ducks don’t deal, they can just draft their second-line center of the future right here.

The Pick: C Connor Bleackley, Red Deer, WHL In hockey, a lot of little things add up to a pretty big thing. Bleackley does all of the little things well – he pays great attention to the defensive zone, always seems to find the smart play and make it. He is better along the boards than any forward in the draft. Though he will never challenge for the NHL scoring lead, his strong skating and hockey smarts give him the upside to contribute 50-60 points at the NHL level, making this Travis Zajac-like young competitor the perfect candidate for a team looking for a future second or third-line center.

25) Boston Bruins

The Team: For the second consecutive season, the Bruins lost a playoff series to a team full of fast and skilled forwards who make their somewhat lumbering defense corps look slow and old. The Bruins have cornerstones to build their blueline around in young blue-chippers Dougie Hamilton and Torrey Krug, but with Zdeno Chara and Denis Seidenberg not getting any younger, they need to compliment the back end with more strong-skating young players.

The Pick: D Roland McKeown, Kingston, OHL McKeown is a mobile, two-way defenseman who has been called the best backwards skater in the draft, making him very difficult for skilled forwards to beat outside on the rush. He is a tremendous outlet passer, transitioning the puck with precision and quickness. Compared stylistically to Roman Josi, Mckeown may have a higher offensive ceiling. In the excellent Boston development system, he could become a top-pairing rearguard at the NHL level.

26) Montreal Canadiens

The Team: It is entirely possible that this team came within one Carey Price injury of a shot at the Stanley Cup. Since the takeover of GM Marc Bergevin, they have drafted well and built a fleet of fast and skilled forwards in front of Norris Trophy-winning defenseman P.K. Subban and elite netminder Price. If they need anything, it is more size and physicality at forward without sacrificing skill.

The Pick: LW/C Ivan Barbashev, Moncton, QMJHL Although the Don Cherrys and Mike Milburys and Pierre McGuires of the world seem to think all Russian players are streaky, prima donna goal-hogs who cannot play a lick of defense, like all people who stereotype absolutely anything, they could not be more wrong with Barbashev. This kid is big and likes the physical game, dominating the dirty areas of the ice. He has fine size (6.1”, 190), is a very good skater, and plays every shift with heart and intelligence. His puck skills are a tick below the more elite offensive talents in this draft, but he has an NHL-caliber shot and can flat-out score. He is often compared to Maxim Afinogenov even though they have virtually no similarities aside from Russian last names. He is more reminiscent of a hybrid between Logan Couture and Alex Steen with his complete, versatile and team-oriented game and 30+ goal upside.

27) Chicago Blackhawks

The Team: After coming within a fluky overtime goal of their third Stanley Cup Final appearance in a half-decade, there is a strong possibility they could move this pick for the second-line center they desperately need. They have been strongly linked to Ryan Kesler, a good friend of Patrick Kane’s and the prototypical NHL second-line, two-way pivot. It is also possible they can wait until free agency and go after a David Legwand, though the Hawks’ brain-trust needs to be careful about the money they spend with Kane and Jonathan Toews’ contracts soon to expire.

The Pick: C John Quenneville, Brandon, WHL If the Blackhawks cannot trade this pick to acquire their second-line center of the future, they can certainly draft one here. Always known as a good-sized (6’1”, 190), intelligent and stifling defensive center, Quenneville’s offensive game seemed to improve all season long and he finished the year as nearly a point-a-game player. If the name sounds familiar, it does not hurt that Quenneville is the second-cousin of Chicago head coach Joel Quenneville. He plays a bit like ex-Hawk David Bolland and would be a perfect fit in Chi-Town.

28) Tampa Bay Lightning

The Team: It is fairly certain that, with one of their two first-round picks, the Lightning take a defenseman, their organizational area of most need. After the big two of Aaron Ekblad and Hayden Fleury, projections for the defensemen in this draft are virtually all over the board. This is certainly the type of draft where a scouting department’s mettle is truly put to the test.

The Pick: D Dominik Masin, Slavia Praha, CZE In the interest of accuracy, his last name is pronounced “machine”. In the interest of consistency, he certainly plays like one. This kid has been under the proverbial radar all year long, ranked by scouting bureaus behind far inferior defensemen. Always a stifling defensive beast with his skating, smarts and off-the-charts toughness, this past season he has also emerged as a force on offense. He dominated the U18 tourney for the surprise silver medalists from the Czech Republic, and is certainly among the hidden gems of the 2014 draft class. The Lightning unearthed another diamond in the rough from the Czech defensive pipeline in Radko Gudas, and Masin, very comparable to Dion Phaneuf, possesses significantly more upside.

29) Los Angeles Kings

The Team: It is certainly good to be the Kings. Stanley Cup champs twice in three campaigns, the Kings look to re-load for a third Cup run and the title of “dynasty”. LA has a top-five player in the league at the three crucial positions, goalie (Jonathan Quick), defense (Drew Doughty) and center (Anze Kopitar). Their goal at the draft will be to build the talent base around those three.

The Pick: RW David Pastrnak, Sodertalje, SWE The Kings recent draft history has involved swinging for the fences with high-upside players on virtually every pick. Last year, it looks like they hit home runs in the second round with Valentin Zykov and then in the fourth round with perhaps the biggest late-round steal in the draft, Hudson Fasching (since dealt to Buffalo). If the Kings are looking to hit a home run late in the 2014 draft, they would be fortunate to have a crack at Pastrnak. A threat to score every time he touches the puck, the young Czech is hard-working and quick-thinking, with maybe the quickest shot-release in the draft. Often compared to David Krejci, Pastrnak represents exactly what makes this draft both frustrating and fun: though we have him near the bottom of the first round and it is highly possible he falls around here, it would not shock us if, a decade from now, he turned out to be the best offensive player from the 2014 draft class. Those are dice the Stanley Cup champion Kings can afford to roll.

30) New Jersey Devils

The Team: How to predict what the devil the Devils do? GM Lou Lamoriello is closer to the vest with his plans than the CIA, KGB and Shield combined. It is possible that the notebook he uses to write down his draft plans will explode five seconds after it is read. That being said, they cannot trade this pick, returned to them by the NHL powers that be following the Ilya Kovalchuk debacle which is far too arduous to get into right now. That is not to say they will not deal at the draft. They are loaded with young, emerging defensemen (Eric Gelinas, Jon Merrill, Adam Larsson, Damon Severson, Steven Santini) but lack for offensive forwards all throughout their system, from the NHL club on down. With all the trade talk involving young offensive projects Nail Yakupov and Mikhail Grigorenko, it is difficult to believe a savvy GM like Lamoriello will not dangle Larsson as bait with the hope of injecting more life into the New Jersey offense. The Devils’ 30^th overall pick, however, is unmovable and will likely be used to draft the forward with the greatest scoring upside.

The Pick: RW Nikolai Goldobin, Sarnia, OHL The Czech-heavy Devils would love to see Pastrnak somehow fall to them and will be tempted by the skill-set of Jakub Vrana, but Goldobin has as much offensive upside as anyone in the 2014 draft. The young Russian played on one of the poorest teams in Canadian junior hockey and still finished seventh in the OHL in scoring with 94 points in just 67 contests. His skating, creativity, hands and shot all can only be describes as somewhere in between exceptional and remarkable. Goldobin’s pinpoint no-look passing routinely baffles defenders as well as, unfortunately, less-talented teammates. How can such a player fall here? As elite as his offensive tool-box is, his defensive play and effort are simply abhorrent. He can get lazier and lazier defensively as his team falls out of games, an extremely frustrating aspect to behold. Still, as one scout said: “if this kid brought it every shift, he would be the top pick in this draft”. If a solid organization like the Devils can get him to be even average on the defensive side of the puck, they could get the dominant scorer they have desperately needed since the defections of Zach Parise and Ilya Kovalchuk.