If you’ve been following SBN Hockey’s network-wide mock draft, you know that the Caps are on the clock… which means we’re on the clock for them.
Last year, we selected Julius Honka with the 13th overall pick (in reality Dallas picked him with the 14 selection). Capitals pick Jakub Vrana was selected by Tampa Bay 28th overall in last year’s mock draft.
Two years ago, we selected J.T. Compher with the 23rd pick (in reality, he went to Buffalo with the 35th pick; Caps’ pick Andre Burakovsky had already gone to San Jose with the 20th pick).
Three years ago, we had two picks, at 11th and 16th overall. With that 11th pick, we selected Zemgus Girgensons(Caps pick Filip Forsberg went second overall; Girgensons was selected 14th in the actual draft by Buffalo), and with the 16th pick we took Pontus Åberg, in part for that cool thing over the “A” in his name (Caps pick Tom Wilson went to New Jersey with the penultimate pick of the first round; Åberg slipped to 37th in reality, where Nashville snatched him up).
Four years ago, drafting in the 26th slot, we selected Scott Mayfield (he ended up going to the Islanders with the 34th pick in the actual draft, and the Caps, of course, traded the 26th pick to Chicago in exchange for Troy Brouwer; the Blackhawks drafted Phillip Danault with the pick).
Five years ago, also drafting 26th overall, we took Brock Nelson (he ended up going to the Isles at 30th in the real draft; Caps pick Evgeny Kuznetsov was off the board already).
This time around we’re pleased to select… from Farjestad of the SHL, center Joel Eriksson Ek.
Rankings: CSS (4 EU), ISS (20), McKeen’s Hockey (16), McKenzie (23), Pronman (44)
Here’s his draft profile:
McKeen’s (go buy their guide – it’s worth it) had this to say about Joel Eriksson Ek:
ESPN’s Corey Pronman has this to say about Eriksson Ek:
So that’s our pick, a defensively responsible forward who has the ability to make an impact on both ends of the ice. Eriksson Ek is different from the Capitals more recent draft choices, as Pronman put it he’s a pretty “low-risk” player. It’s not hard to imagine a player like Eriksson being a big part of Barry Trotz‘s forward corps in a year or two. Plus… you can never have too many centers.
Welcome to the organization, Joel Eriksson Ek.
Who Else Was On the Radar: The player who was at the top of our draft board, Yevgeni Svechnikov, was taken two picks before we could read(write) his name. There was serious debate about taking Denis Guryanov from Toliatti (MHL) but at least one source indicates that he recently signed an extension that will keep him in Russia for at least two more seasons and we don’t have the appetite to stomach another Kuznetsov situation.