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“I’m sure teams will worry if they’re picking seventh or eighth, you don’t want to pick a guy who may never score a lot,” Seidel said of McLeod, who he has ranked seventh overall. “We very well could go the top 10 without a Canadian pick if McLeod and Gauthier don’t go. No one is going to laugh at you if you suggest it as a possibility.”

Of course, if that happens it will come with an asterisk attached.

The way most scouts believe the draft order will shake up is like this: Arizona-born Auston Matthews will go No. 1 overall, followed by Finnish forwards Jesse Puljujarvi and Patrik Laine, then Matthew Tkachuk of the U.S., and one of either Jakob Chychrun or Alex Nylander at the No. 5 spot.

Chychrun considers himself Canadian, because he spent his summers at a family cottage just outside Ottawa, but he was born and raised in Florida. Nylander was born in Calgary, but grew up in Chicago and Washington, and represents Sweden internationally.

And so, for the first time since 1999, when Patrik Stefan (Czech Republic) was selected first overall, followed by Daniel and Henrik Sedin (Sweden) and Pavel Brendl (Czech Republic), the top five could be without a Canadian-born and raised player.

Worse, there might only be three Canadians selected in the top-15.