2009 SBN NHL Mock Draft: Islanders Take Tavares

by James Mirtle on Jun 16, 2009 6:00 AM CDT Comment 15 comments

Victor Hedman, Evander Kane, John Tavares, Matt Duchene and Brayden Schenn.

Greetings and welcome to the inaugural SB Nation NHL Mock Draft, brought to you live from Blog Central (my couch) in downtown Toronto. Congratulations to PensBurgh and Winging It for their excellent coverage of the Stanley Cup finals, and Five For Howling for keeping it together in trying times.

On that last note, we generally try to avoid relocating blogs unless you absolutely have to. We think when a blog is in trouble, you try and fix the problems. That’s what we did with Second City Hockey in the fall. That’s what we did when five out of the six Canadian franchises did not have a blog. We fixed the problems.

I'll now give the floor to managers from the Islanders, Lightning and Avalanche as they make the first three picks:

#	Team	Pick	Blogger's notes	More analysis:
1	N.Y. Islanders	John Tavares, London (OHL)	The sexy pick, the consensus pick, the right pick. He's what this team and franchise needs most. Get ready for "Islanders goal scored by #91..." because they're coming in bunches.	Lighthouse Hockey
2	Tampa Bay	Victor Hedman, Modo (Swe)	A boy playing among men in the Swedish Elite League (and thriving) the past two seasons, Hedman starts immediately on the TB blueline and can contribute at both ends of the ice.	Raw Charge
3	Colorado	Matt Duchene, Brampton (OHL)	No big surprise here; we’ll take whichever of the big 3 is available and immediately offer them a position as GM & coach.	Mile High Hockey
4	Atlanta
5	Los Angeles
6	Phoenix
7	Toronto
8	Dallas
9	Ottawa
10	Edmonton
11	Nashville
12	Minnesota
13	Buffalo
14	Florida
15	Anaheim
16	Columbus
17	St. Louis
18	Montreal
19	N.Y. Rangers
20	Calgary
21	Philadelphia
22	Vancouver
23	New Jersey
24	Washington
25	Boston
26	N.Y. Islanders
27	Carolina
28	Chicago
29	Detroit
30	Pittsburgh

As noted yesterday, here's the schedule for when the picks will be revealed. All of the bloggers involved are running polls this week to see who their fanbases want selected, so by all means, make your voice heard.

Up tomorrow are Bird Watchers Anonymous, Battle of California and Five For Howling.

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Comments

Assuming the actual draft proceeds similarly, Duchene will hopefully fill the big talent gap that now exists up front for the Avalanche.

It’s still tough writing the phrase “talent gap” in the same sentence as “Avalanche,” but we’re getting used to it over at MHH.

Go Avs! Let's get some goals!

by Joe Dunman on Jun 16, 2009 8:12 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Welcome to our world….

From the Penalty Box to the Blog Box! Check it out at Isles Official's Outlook!

by IslesOfficial on Jun 16, 2009 9:17 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

What’s this talent thing you guys speak of?

Hockey blogging can't get any flatter.

by saskhab on Jun 16, 2009 10:37 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

It’s still tough writing the phrase "talent gap"

You better make that plural boy, especially with Lappy leaving, and all.

26 Card Jet

by Tommelot on Jun 16, 2009 11:48 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

On that last note, we generally try to avoid relocating blogs unless you absolutely have to. We think when a blog is in trouble, you try and fix the problems. That’s what we did with Second City Hockey in the fall. That’s what we did when five out of the six Canadian franchises did not have a blog. We fixed the problems.

heh. That’s good. And let the record show that the Leafs blog did not complain about more blogs entering the marketplace.

Pension Plan Puppets: A Toronto Maple Leafs blog and a group therapy session.

by PPP on Jun 16, 2009 8:20 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs