Winnipeg Jets

What do Mock Drafts predict for the Jets
June 6, 2017, 7:59 PM ET [22 Comments]
Peter Tessier
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What do Mock Drafts predict for the Jets


While there are some rumblings of Nico or Nolan for the 2017 NHL entry draft which is similar to 2010 when it was Taylor or Tyler those decsions matter not to the Winnipeg Jets. This year, Kevin Cheveldayoff was nowhere near as luck as he was last year when the lottery gave him the second overall pick. This year the Jets have the 13th pick and thus are basically just another middle of the pack team for the draft.

If we take a look at the various mock drafts what do those who dare to predict see for the Jets?

My NHL Draft

Here they have the Jets taking Jusso Valimaki, a LHD with the 13th pick.

NHL.com has three mock drafts to look at and here is the first:

Adam Kimelman

He too has Valimaki going to the Jets

Mike G. Morales has the Jets taking:

Eeli Tolvanen: RW from Sioux City of the USHL and he has Valimaki going 15th overall.

Finally from NHL.com we have Guillaume Lepage and he takes:

Elias Pettersson C from Timra SWE at 13th. Comparatively he has Valimaki going 14th and Tolvanen at 20th.

From Draftsite.com they have:

Elias Pettersson going 13th overall. In this case Tolvanen went 12th and Valimaki 18th.

So far with 5 mock drafts Tolvanen stands out as the rogue pick as not being like the others.

Looking further down the listings for 2017 NHL mock draft we come to Fanrag Sports and they have:

Nicolas Hague D, Mississauga Steelheads at 13th. Pettersson is 9th, Valimaki is 17th Tolvanen 18th.

Now here comes the Bleacher Report who have a shocking drop:

Cody Glass, C Portland Winterhawks. They have Tolvanen going 11th, Valimaki 14th and Pettersson at 19th.

Now for something different it’s worth looking at ISS. Not a mock draft but a rankings and this is what they had:

Ranked 13th overall Martin Necas,RW from Bmo Kometa in Czech R. Comparatively they had the earlier picks here: Valimaki 14th, Tolvanen 17th, Hague 18th, and Pettersson 20th.

Now we head back to a rival blog and that is SB Nation. They have the Jets taking:

Nick Suzuki, C Owen Sound. The other guys, they were picked here: Pettersson 6th, Glass 11th, Valimaki 14th, and Tolvanen 16th.


So taking this all into consideration what do we really learn from looking at mock drafts? Toss out the likelihood of Cody Glass, thats some one picking a homer pick. After that two outliers are Hague and Necas so let’s assume they are not happening. Then we get Pettersson who seems to have the most movement of the group from 6th to 20th. The same seems to be true with Suzuki.

What we see is that it’s coming down to Valimaki or Tolvanen showing up again and again closest to 13th overall. Now this does not mean these guys are right, they are simply modelling and guessing, probably more guessing. What really matters most to teams sitting outside the top 5 is this: if anyone makes an off the board move how does that trickle down the draft?

Teams don’t simply look up and see who’s available and decide then, they estimate where players are likely to go and decide based on how they value a particular player. So if Glass fell to the Jets it’s likely they would take him simply because they had him higher ranked. So if something changes how much does that change what the Jets do?

That’s where looking at each draft link comes in handy and you can judge for yourself on how well the odd moves make sense of if they even make sense. So if I was a betting man I’d say there’s a 40% chance it’s Valimaki or Tolvanen and that might be okay for Winnipeg.