Since we will be making Ottawa’s pick in the Fansided mock draft on June 13th, we will be putting out our own picks fast and furious to catch up and coincide with that draft. So after we had Colorado taking Seth Jones with the first overall pick, we now move to the big loser in the draft lottery, the only team to drop in the order from 1 to 2.
#2 FLORIDA PANTHERS
Apr 25, 2013; Sunrise, FL, USA; Florida Panthers head coach Kevin Dineen in the second period against the the Toronto Maple Leafs at the BB
TEAM STRENGTHS: Strong crop of prospects, forward depth
TEAM WEAKNESSES: Defensive depth, scoring
HOCKEY’S FUTURE ORGANIZATIONAL PROSPECT RANK: 1st of 30 teams
UNDER CONSIDERATION: Nathan MacKinnon, Jonathan Drouin
FANSIDED MOCK DRAFT PICK: The Rat Trick selected Nathan MacKinnon
SENSHOT’S CHOICE: Jonathan Drouin from the Halifax Mooseheads of the QMJHL. While they probably also need defensive help and would wish that Jones was still on the board, the Panthers need the help on the wing more than up the middle. MacKinnon and Drouin are both top level prospects and will be NHL stars, but with Jonathan Huberdeau a #1 centre in the making, the dynamic abilty of Drouin will fit in nicely on his wing. Its a risk since many people have MacKinnon ranked first, but organizationally this pick makes more sense to me. Actually what makes the most sense would be for the Panthers to swap with the Avalanche and give them something to move up to the #1 pick and take Jones, but barring that happening, this is a solid backup option. The Panthers will probably take the safer route and draft MacKinnon however.
MOCK DRAFT TO DATE:
| PICK | TEAM | PICK |
| 1 | COLORADO | Seth Jones, Portland (WHL) |
| 2 | FLORIDA | Jonathan Drouin, Halifax (QMJHL) |