We’re now one week — seven days! — away from the start of the 2023 NHL Draft in Nashville. The Blackhawks are taking Connor Bedard first, but after that Chicago’s selections are a guessing game. After Adam Fantilli probably goes second overall, this year’s draft could go in any of a hundred directions. That makes mock drafts a lot of fun.
So Corey Pronman dropping is amazing! He went through all 224 selections and made picks (without projecting trades, that would be insane) and then broke itไ out by team to make life easier for fans to find the team they care about most. Incredible work!
Here are tꦇhe playe🎃rs Pronman has coming to Chicago in his seven-round mock draft:
1. Connor Bedard, C, Regina (WHL)
19. Brayden Yager, C, Moose Jaw (WHL)
35. Otto Stenberg, C, Frolunda Jr. (SWEDEN-JR.)
44. Kasper Halttunen, RW, Hifk (FINLAND)
51. Carson Bjarnason, G, Brandon (WHL)
55. Carey Terrance, C, Erie (OHL)
67. Jayden Perron, RW, Chicago (USHL)
93. Aram Minnetian, D, USA U-18 (NTDP)
99. Jesse Nurmi, LW, Kookoo Jr. (FINLAND-JR.)
131. Joseph Connor, LW, Avon Old Farms (HIGH-CT)
195. Anton MacDonald, D, Jonstorps (SWEDEN-3)
This is absolutely wild that he went the entire seven rounds of the draft. I applaud the effort because the effort that goes into a one-round well thought out mock draft is a lot. Seven? C’mon.
This is a fun list𝕴 and has s🅠ome fascinating names. A few thoughts on each:
1 — 19: Brayden Yager sliding to 19 feels like it might be a pipe dream, but if the copycat league gets all hot and bothered about size and guys like Daniil But and Matthew Wood start generating more buzz, it’s possible. Yager is another somewhat undersized forward (5-11, 170) with a truckload of skill. I’d like the pick, but the Blackhawks also do need to have some size up front at some point.
2 — 35: Otto Stenberg is a center who might wind up being a wing because he, too, is 5-11 and 185 pounds with a lot of skill. Don’t get me wrong; I love the idea(s) of Yager and/or Stenberg being future Blackhawks but adding them to Bedard and Frank Nazar up front means the Blackhawks either need to load up with size later or spend money to acquire it. Pronman had Oscar Fisker Molgaard going to Detroit at No. 42 and I might have preferred him to Stenberg in this spot.
2 — 44: With the next pick — BOOM. SIZE. Kasper Halttunen is a 6-3, 207-pound winger who has a great shot. Unfortunately, he isn’t a great skater; both Pronman and Wheeler note he’s below average in that regard. I might lean towards Ethan Gauthier (who Pronman has going 46th) or Nico Myatovic (who comes off the board at 50) as better skaters who also have a little size as well. Yes, I know Gauthier is listed at under six-feet, but I feel he plays bigger.
2 — 51: We’ve talked a bit about the Blackhawks drafting a goaltender, but using a pick early in the second on a really good one is a fascinating call by Pronman. Carson Bjarnason is the second goaltender off the board in Pronman’s mock draft and was NHL Central Scouting’s No. 1 North American goaltender in their final rankings. Really good player/value in the spot, but with Drew Commesso just turning pro this would certainly get my attention.
2 — 55: If the name Carey Terrance sounds familiar, I had the Blackhawks taking him at No. 51 overall in my 2-round mock draft. His size is decent (6-0, 180), he’s a good, strong skater and he has some skill. When I look at players on the board in the 50s in this draft, his name just sticks out to me as the kind of guy the Blackhawks will target. And apparently Pronman agrees.
3 — 67: Jayden Perron would be a fun one for Chicago Steel fans. He’s an incredibly productive winger but… yeah, he’s small (5-9, 166). He’s headed to North Dakota to play college hockey this coming season, so that’s a strong positive. He’s been one of the polarizing prospects who it’s hard to read when he’ll come off the board because the size/production package isn’t ideal for the NHL. For example: Scott Wheeler ranked him 27th overall and Pronman had him at 107.
There are a handful of guys who Pronman passes on for the Blackhawks at 67 that I would probably prefer to Perron: RHD Gavin McCarthy, RW Aiden Fink (same size concern but an elite skater), and LWs Nick Lardis and Noah Dower Nilsson are guys I would probably take ahead of Perron here﷽.
3 — 93: Aram Minnetian is a nice RHD prospect but, again, not the biggest player. What’s interesting is he’s part of a LOADED freshman class at Boston College. I mentioned him in my list of 12 RHD the Blackhawks might consider, so it makes sense to me that he could be on Chicago’s radar if available at the end of the third round (that’s where I had him tabbed for the Hawks).
4 — 99: is an interesting pick here for the Blackhawks. Another undersized wing (5-11, 165) but the first European skater off the board for Chicago. When looking down Pronman’s mock, I would immediately prefer centers (6-0, 185, committed to Omaha) and/or (6-1, 170, committed to Minnesota) to Nurmi.
5 — 131: is another undersized forward (5-10, 170) but is committed to Northeastern for this fall. This is the point in the draft where the Blackhawks are taking lottery tickets, so I might prefer a slightly bigger forward like , an overage defenseman like or — if they haven’t taken one already (which they did in this mock) — a goaltender like here.
7 — 195: is a 6-5, 205-pound, left-shot defenseman from Sweden. Sure, why not?
