Day 4 of the SBNation Mock NHL Draft brings us our first pick trade!

Day 1 SBNation Mock Draft

NHL Mock Draft 2018: Buffalo Sabres select Rasmus Dahlin with No. 1 pick
NHL Mock Draft 2018: Carolina Hurricanes select Andrei Svechnikov with No. 2 pick

Day 2 SBNation Mock Draft

NHL Mock Draft 2018: Montreal Canadiens select Filip Zadina with No. 3 pick
NHL Mock Draft 2018: Ottawa Senators Select Quinn Hughes with No. 4 Pick
NHL Mock Draft 2018: Arizona Coyotes select Brady Tkachuk with No. 5 pick

Day 3 SBNation Mock Draft

NHL Mock Draft 2018: Red Wings select Adam Boqvist with No. 6 pick

The Vancouver Canucks site selected Noah Dobson with the number 7 pick.  They haven’t got an article yet, so here’s a scouting report from another site:

2018 NHL Draft prospect: Defenceman Noah Dobson has size, speed & skill - Eyes On The Prize
A dual-threat defender, Dobson would be a great addition to any NHL team.

NHL Mock Draft 2018: Chicago Blackhawks select Oliver Wahlstrom with No. 8 pick

Day 4 SBNation Mock Draft

NHL Mock Draft 2018: New York Rangers select Evan Bouchard with No. 9 pick
NHL Mock Draft 2018:  Edmonton Oilers Select Martin Kaut with No. 10 Pick
NHL Mock Draft 2018: Islanders trade picks with Capitals for a goalie
NHL Mock Draft 2018: Washington Capitals Select Jesperi Kotkaniemi with the No. 11 Pick

First up, Blueshirt Banter has chosen defender Evan Bouchard after their hopes for Wahlstrom were dashed:

Were we sitting in a panic hoping Chicago wasn’t going to talk Wahlstrom? Of course we were! Was I thrilled secretly because the Dobson pick at 7 gave me one of my (personal) Big 8? Of course I was.

So we naturally took Evan Bouchard (ranked #7 in the BSB Profile here). Honestly, read that profile on a far more in depth review of Bouchard. If you want a quick glance, here’s a blurb from our review:

Next, Copper and Blue took Martin Kaut. This was a surprise pick to me, and while they made it before his health problems were announced, 10th is still very high for him to be taken. He’s well known at the site though, and they think he’s a draft steal.

If you’d never heard of Kaut before Christmas I wouldn’t say I blamed you. Before the season he was projected anywhere between round 2 and 7 and not even being considered a first round pick. He began the season ranked 11th for European Skaters and ended it ranked 4th. It all began at the World Juniors.

Unheralded Kaut showed up and ended up getting 7 points in 7 games. That is a tremendous showing for a player in his draft year. If you look closer he was also a member of the Gold Medal winning Czech team at the Ivan Hlinka Tourney where he had 4 points in 5 games. He took that World Junior success back to the Extraliga (Czech pro league where he played against men as an 18 year old) where he started scoring much more consistently and turning heads. He kept that streak going to the Playoffs where he got 5 points in 7 playoff games (noticing a trend yet in clutch games?).

Lighthouse Hockey had picks 11 and 12, and they decided to address a need by moving one of them:

Still, holding picks at #11 and #12 lets the Islanders shop at least one of them for a roster player. One significant hole in the Islanders lineup is at goaltender, where Jaroslav Halak is an unrestricted free agent and Thomas Greiss is coming off a career-worst season.

So should the Isles dangle one of those picks for a “pretty good, could be a legit starter” goalie like Philipp Grubauer?

Well, that’s exactly what we did with our first selection in this year’s SB Nation NHL Mock Draft.

Lou Lamoriello’s done this before, of course. In New Jersey, he sent the #9 pick overall at the 2013 draft for goalie Cory Schneider. We did something similar, then, in trading the 11th overall pick for Grubauer and Washington’s 30th/31st (depending on the Stanley Cup final outcome) pick.

That left Japers’ Rink to make a pick much earlier than they’d been expecting. The Stanley Cup Final and a near top-ten pick? Not fair.

Yep, we traded up.

New York Islanders blog Lighthouse Hockey approached us with a trade offer we couldn’t refuse - their 11th pick for Philipp Grubauer and our first-round pick (which has yet to be determined as between picks 30 and 31... hopefully that gets settled tonight). Is this trade far-fetched? Not really. In fact, the Isles’ interest is apparently there and Craig Custance has since suggested the possibility.

They do a great job of assembling expert opinions and some video highlights on this rising star in the draft. Don’t be surprised if he goes higher than this in the real thing.

That was fun! Today’s picks include the Islanders getting to go for real with pick 12 and Dallas and Philadelphia picking after. We’ll update you on those choices tomorrow.

Now, would you have traded that pick if you were Lou?

If you were Lou and running the Islanders, would you trade one of your two picks for a goalie?

Yes, they have to have a starter.165
No way. There’s other options.93
Wait, Lou runs the Islanders? I’ve been on vacation too long.13