The Highlanders' 2010 NHL Mock Draft

Subject to revision up to (and potentially after) June 25th.

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1- Edmonton Oilers - lw Taylor Hall, Windsor OHL
Oiler Nation debate over Hall/Seguin was necessary but in the end you take the more established, more accomplished star and champion.

2- Boston Bruins (from TOR) - c Tyler Seguin, Plymouth OHL
Excellent consolation prize who may put up better first-year numbers than Hall.

3- Florida Panthers - d Erik Gudranson, Kingston OHL
Edges out Fowler by about two inches.

4- Columbus Blue Jackets - d Cam Fowler, Windsor OHL
Consensus top defensman prospect coming into draft stumbled a little but not enough to slip past 4th. (**Bonus prediction that Columbus will trade this pick.**)

5- New York Islanders - lw Brett Connolly, Prince George WHL
Gambling that injury woes are behind him a Tavares, Okposo, Connolly line looks pretty good on the white-board to GM Snow.

6- Tampa Bay Lightning - d Brandon Gromley, Moncton QMJHL
Last of the top 3 d prospects and solid minute muncher.

7- Carolina Hurricaines - c Ryan Johansen, Portland WHL
When Ryan meets Eric Staal the 'Caines will look to have thier pivot situation secured for years to come.

8- Atlanta Thrashers- c Alexander Burmistrov, Barrie OHL
Collective facepalm around the Thrashers' draft table at the prospect of another Russian but the talent on both sides of the puck is too much to overlook - besides, this isn't the "problem" Russian.

9- Minnesota Wild - c Mikael Grandlund, HIFK Finland
Mikko Koivu gets a teammate that reminds many scouts of his little, older brother Saku.

10- New York Rangers - rw Nino Niederreiter, Portland WHL
El Nino is no Swiss Miss and will fit in nicely in Manhattan.

11- Dallas Stars - g Jack Campbell, USNTDP
Kari Lehtonen is a lot easier to bank on if you have an insurance policy like a Campbell in reserve.

12- Anaheim Ducks - d Dylan McIlrath, Mosse Jaw WHL
6'11" wingspan. Burke may be gone as the Ducks GM but a hard-hitting defenseman of the 6'6" ilk is hard for anyone to pass over.

13 - Phoenix Coyotes (from CGY) - c/rw Vladimir Tarasenko, Sibir KHL
Risk that he won't come over from the K but when he does he will outscore anything Oli Jokinen ever did for Calgary. Yes, this will hurt Flames fans, this will hurt a lot.

14- St. Louis Blues - c Jeffrey Skinner, Kitchner Rangers OHL
Another smaller center, 5'10", who just happens to be very talented. They will find a way to make use of his skill-set in St.Louis.

15- Boston Bruins - d Derek Forbort, USNTDP
6'4" defensemen goes to one of the only teams where he can be legitimately called shorty. He will still be big for the Bruins though.

16- Ottawa Senators - c Nick Bjugstad, Blaine USHS
An outside the box pick for this stick-boy but if he can fill out and show that his high school talent translates at higher levels of play, then the Sens may have struck gold in Minnesota.

17- Colorado Avalanche - rw Austin Watson, Peterborough OHL
Big character guy who commits to doing the little things right will be everything that Wolski wasn't.

18- Nashville Predators - d Jarred Tinordi, USNTDP
Hmm a Nashville defenseman pick. Big (6'6") and mean is one thing but the intangible of having seen dad play at the NHL level may be the best aspect of this pick.

19- Los Angeles - rw Emerson Etem, Medicine Hat WHL
I suspect he's off the board by the time pick #19 rolls around but the idea of LA drafting a Long Beach player with the first draft in Lalaland is too good to pass up. If LA is unable to make a splash by moving up to get an early pick, expect them to try and get Etem.

20- Pittsburgh Penguins - lw Quinton Howden, Moose Jaw WHL
A 6'4" defensively responsible winger who has recently discoverd his offensive chops, wonder if he could find a job with the Pens?

21- Detroit Red Wings - c Evgeny Kuznetsov, Traktor Chelyabinsky KHL
If anyone can find a way to bring Kuznetsov along, it will be the Winged Wheel. On this point, when do the wings call up Larionov and offer him an assistant GM position?

22- Phoenix Coyotes - d Mark Pysyk, Edmonton WHL
A pick that is simply adding to the stable of young d-men in the Jets', I mean Coyotes's, system.

23- Buffalo Sabres - c Tyler Pitlick, Minnesota State WCHA
Will ply his trade in Medicine Hat of the Dub while he fills out his 6'2" frame.

24- Atlanta Thrashers (from NJ) - d Jon Merril, USNTDP
Top forward, check, now the Blue Birds go for some help on the back-end.

25- Vancouver Canucks - d Alex Petrovic, Red Deer WHL
The Canucks need more sandpaper, particularly on d - enter Mr. Petrovic.

26- Washington Capitals - lw Kirill Kabanov, Moncton QMJHL
The Caps have some experience with getting Russians with attitude issues, I'm looking at you Mr. Semin, turned around (or atleastt turned toward a common goal). He's fired his agent and may be signalling that he is willing to get past his ego and use is tallent. If so the Caps will win huge.

27- Montreal Canadians - c Riley Sheahan, Notre Dame NCAA
Another US college player for the Habs, ho hum.

28- San Jose Sharks - g Calvin Pickard, Seatle WHL
The cupboard after Nabakov looks quite empty and should Naby bolt...best to stock up.

29- Anaheim Ducks (from PHI) - rw Beau Bennett, Penticton BCHL
The California native is a Kings fan but it will be the Ducks that draft him to play against his childhood idols - once he adds to his 175lb frame while learning to play against better competition when get gets to the University of Denver.

30- Chicago Blackhawks - c/lw John McFarland, Sudbury OHL
If he can figure out why he fell from a potential top-five pick to barely making the first round he may prove to be a steal for the Cup champs who will need to retool with top-end talent before the cap-clock strikes on their efforts to build a perenial contender.

And there you go, predictions subject to wild swings of mood and the latest thing I've read.