Day 7 of the SBNation Mock NHL Draft takes us deep into the draft.

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

Day 5 SBNation Mock Draft

NHL Mock Draft: Islanders select Ty Smith with No. 12 pick
NHL Mock Draft 2018: Flyers move from pick No. 14 to No. 16 by way of two deals
NHL Mock Draft 2018: We have a trade to announce
NHL Mock Draft 2018: With the 13th pick, the Colorado Avalanche select Joe Veleno
Joel Farabee Picked 14th In The SBN 2018 NHL Mock Draft

Day 6 SBNation Mock Draft

NHL Mock Draft 2018: Florida Panthers select Bode Wilde with No. 15 pick
NHL Mock Draft 2018: Philadelphia Flyers select Rasmus Kupari with No. 16 pick
NHL Mock Draft 2018: New Jersey Devils Select Barrett Hayton with No. 17 Pick

Day 7 SBNation Mock Draft

NHL Mock Draft 2018: Columbus Blue Jackets select Isac Lundestrom with the 18th Pick
NHL Mock Draft 2018: Philadelphia Flyers select Vitali Kravtsov with No. 19 pick
NHL Mock Draft 2018: Los Angeles Kings select K’Andre Miller with No. 20 pick

Jackets Cannon took Isac Lundestrom, a centre, and they run down how they chose him in the post above. That’s always an interesting read. In their profile of Lundestrom they said:

Isac Lundestrom is a center with upside, though likely not first line potential. Lundestrom put up six goals and nine assists in 42 games played in the Swedish Hockey League this past season. He is solid-if-unspectacular in all areas of his game, and plays competently in all three zones. He likely projects as a middle six center in the NHL.

Broad Street took Vitali Kravtsov, who won the KHL MVP award, even though he didn’t deserve it. (They stiffed Eeli Tolvanen.) Yet, Kravtsov is a very exciting, very young player:

Kravtsov’s a talented player who at least in spurts can bring the complete package to the ice. He’s got good size, though some scouting reports question whether he uses that size as consistently and effectively as he could. He’s got great hands and stickhandling ability, and can absolutely wire the puck on net and pick his spots in doing so. And for someone of his stature, Kravtsov is a pretty smooth skater that moves well both in terms of straight-line speed and agility.

After ripping through Russia’s younger and lower levels in previous years, Kravtsov spent most of this season playing in the second-best hockey league on the planet, the KHL. Kravtsov’s role was limited for much of the season, as would that of most 17/18-year olds playing on a pretty good team (Traktor Chelyabinsk, which finished third in the KHL’s Eastern Conference) like he was. In 35 regular-season games with Chelyabinsk, Kravtsov posted 4 goals and 3 assists — not eye-popping numbers, but understandable ones while playing just 9:19 per game in a league where scoring’s not easy to come by.

Jewels from the Crown chose defender K’Andre Miller, and they said this:

With high-ceiling prospects like Gabe Vilardi and Jaret Anderson-Dolan coming to take spots up front in the near future, we decided to turn our attention to a defenseman, and K’Andre Miller is an intriguing prospect that could fit very well within the Kings’ system.

Standing at 6’4”, he’s certainly a big player, but is more agile than expected for his size. So unlike some other Kings prospects, where skating was an issue to improve upon, Miller may not have a ton of work to do in that regard. He’s a highly competitive, physical player, but knows how to play within the rules; he registered only six penalty minutes this season in the USHL. For comparison, fellow defenseman Mattias Samuelsson, also a potential late first-round pick, racked up 64 penalty minutes and played in just one more game than Miller.

Fear the Fin finished the day with Ryan Merkley, and I had been wondering just how far he would fall.

Kevin talked about Merkley and said this:

Merkley is a high-end puck carrier, passer, and scoring threat. You can run a high-end powerplay through him, and he will single-handedly create high-danger chances. He was one of Canada’s best players at the Hlinka, and finished one point behind Veleno for the team lead. I’ve seen evaluators who believe he is a net negative on the ice due to his defensive game, but I am a firm believer that he’s been one of Canada’s top players every time I’ve see him play. Fifty-point defencemen do not exactly grow on trees, as only 19 NHL players reached that total this year, but Merkley carries the skillset to join this group one day.

Defensively, Merkley is undersized and needs to get stronger in order to win battles at the NHL level. Evaluators become frustrated with his tendency to quit on plays, as he appears to get frustrated quite often, and doesn’t always give it his all in the defensive end. He will take bad penalties out of frustration, and showcase plenty of frustration with his body language.

Today’s picks include three more teams, and we’ll recap them tomorrow. Something else happens tomorrow too, can’t remember what.

What do you think of this phenomenon of Ryan Merkley dropping in the draft? It’s not just our mock draft, he’s dropped in rankings by a large amount.

What’s up with Ryan Merkley dropping?

Internet gossip fools people, he’ll be a steal.115
Smoke, fire, stay away from him.68
Isn’t this what the interviews are for?64