Welcome to The Athletic staff’s 2020 NHL Mock Draft. This is where the beat writers make the first-round picks for the teams they cover.
The writers had complete autonomy to make the picks. I gave a suggested player pool of roughly 40 names I thought had strong chances to go in the first round and the range they could go, but they were suggestions and the beat writers could and did go outside those suggestions. I also provided counsel when asked.
The goal of the mock draft was to predict what would actually happen on draft day, not what the writers would do if they were running the team.
At the bottom of the piece, I provided my input on how the mock draft went and also sought the opinions from NHL scouts on the results.
1. New York Rangers: Alexis Lafreniere, LW, Rimousk-QMJHL
Rick Carpinello: The Rangers need more top-line talent, and Lafreniere is all of that. He might not play on the first line right off the bat in 2020-21, but he…
Read More: Changes in the top three, plus an audit by NHL scouts – The Athletic