Team by Team NHL Mock Draft: Most intriguing forward falls right to the New Jersey Devils

4th Overall: Columbus Blue Jackets - Anton Silayev, D/Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod

Anton Silayev would be a sneaky good pick here if the Columbus Blue Jackets went with him over Ivan Demidov in real life. While I felt the simulation would stop here for Demidov since that wasn’t the case at No. 3, I wouldn’t complain if the Blue Jackets took Silayev instead. I can see him as more than just a defensive defenseman in North America, but if not, it wouldn’t be that big of a deal - he will disrupt a lot of sequences, and it would be his primary job. 

5th Overall: Montreal Canadiens - Ivan Demidov, RW/SKA St. Petersburg

Okay, we finally saw Ivan Demidov’s freefall stop here, and this would be an epic pickup courtesy of general manager Kent Hughes should it occur next week. Nick Suzuki, Cole Caufield, Juraj Slafkovsky, and Alex Newhook are already an intriguing core four, but when you add someone of Demidov’s caliber to the mix, you’re getting a future top-six that will eventually rank among the NHL’s best. 

6th Overall: Utah Hockey Club - Michael Brandsegg-Nygard, RW/Mora IK

Michael Brandsegg-Nygard’s game won’t impress everyone, and a contingent of the new Utah team’s fans may not like the pick over Cole Eiserman. But as far as this one goes, it’s the “safe pick” over the intriguing goal-scoring machine. Both have their pros and cons, but as far as the simulation went with this one, I feel it was the right choice.