2016 NHL Mock Draft 4.0: Rounds 1-7

Expect bi-weekly editions of our 2016 NHL Mock Draft moving forward as we inch closer to June’s draft.

Looking for the latest version of our mock draft? NHL Mock Draft 5.5 (released May 20th) is linked here.

The regular season is now complete, and draft lottery odds are set heading into April 30th’s top three selections.

The second round of CHL Playoffs are now underway, the Frozen Four has wrapped up, and right now draft-eligible prospects are gathered in Grand Forks for the U18 World Championship.

2016 NHL Mock Draft order is determined by NHL final regular season standings. It’s also important to remember that more movement of picks is expected on draft day.

Draft pick ownership information was gather through www.generalfanager.com – it’s worth noting that several conditional trades are still in place, or options for picks to be sent in 2016 or 2017. We will include those picks as they are confirmed.

Rules are slightly tweaked for this year’s draft lottery process. The following is from NHL.com,

2016 NHL Draft Lottery



Beginning in 2016, the Draft Lottery will be utilized to assign the top three drafting slots in the NHL Draft, an expansion over previous years when the Draft Lottery was used to determine the winner of the first overall selection only.



Three draws will be held: the 1st Lottery draw will determine the Club selecting first overall, the 2nd Lottery draw will determine the Club selecting second overall and the 3rd Lottery draw will determine the club selecting third overall.



As a result of this change, the team earning the fewest points during the regular season will no longer be guaranteed, at worst, the second overall pick. That club could fall as low as fourth overall.



The allocation of odds for the 1st Lottery draw will be the same as outlined above for the 2015 NHL Draft Lottery. The odds for the remaining teams will increase on a proportionate basis for the 2nd Lottery draw, based on which Club wins the 1st Lottery draw, and again for the 3rd Lottery draw, based on which Club wins the 2nd Lottery draw.



The 11 Clubs not selected in the Draft Lottery will be assigned NHL Draft selections 4 through 14, in inverse order of regular-season points.





via NHL Hockey Operations,

Entry Draft Order

The order of selection among the Member Clubs in each season shall be determined in the following manner:

A composite of all Member Clubs shall be prepared by placing:

i) First the Clubs which failed to qualify for the preceding playoffs in the order of points earned by each of them in the regular schedule of the preceding season starting with the Club having the lowest points total and followed by the Club having the next lowest points total, and so forth.

ii) The Clubs which participated in the preceding playoffs (but had not been ranked first in their respective Divisions and had not won the Stanley Cup that season) in order of points earned by each of them in the regular schedule of the preceding season starting with the Club having the lowest total points and followed by the Club having the next lowest total points, and so forth.



iii) The Clubs which had been ranked first in their Divisions during the next preceding season (but had not won the Stanley Cup that season) in the order of points earned by each of them in the regular schedule of the preceding season starting with the Club having the lowest total points and followed by the Club having the next lowest total points, and so forth.



iv) The Stanley Cup winner shall select last, thus, positioning all Clubs on the list.



In the event of a tie for any position, such tie shall be resolved by application of the rules governing the determination of final League standings. The resulting list shall constitute the order of selection.

With all that in mind, we will turn to the NHL Lottery Simulator to determine our top three picks. This will be the last time we turn to the draft simulator, with next edition expected to be released shortly after April 30th. The remaining order will be determined by current NHL standings as stated above.

And our winners are: Toronto, New Jersey, and Vancouver

If you would like to see team-by-team draft picks, it can be found on the final slide following the 7th round.