2015 NHL Mock Draft: Washington Capitals Add To Blueline

Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports

The NHL draft is in just nineteen days away. Washington Capitals fans can’t wait to see who the Washington Capitals will pick. Who they will pick largely depends on how the draft goes ahead of them. The NHL draft, as Washington Capitals fans can tell you, can be extremely hard to predict. That’s why mock drafts are so much fun. No two are the same. All it takes is for one team to do something different for the rest of the first round to potentially be changed.

I am pretty adamant about wanting the Washington Capitals to draft the best player available most of the time. However, this draft might be an exception. The Washington Capitals don’t have any strong blue line prospects other than Madison Bowey and Connor Carrick (who I see as more of a bottom pairing guy anyway). The Washington Capitals could be losing Karl Alzner within the next two years. Who knows how long Brooks Orpik can be a first pairing guy for the Washington Capitals? He was fine this season, but eventually old age is going to catch up to him. The Washington Capitals should definitely consider drafting a defenseman in the first round.

On the other hand, perhaps the Washington Capitals need to draft a forward. The Washington Capitals prospect pool has recently seen Evgeny Kuznetsov and Andre Burakovsky graduate to the NHL. They will soon see Riley Barber and/or Stanislav Galiev graduate to the NHL as well. Jakub Vrana isn’t too far away from wearing a Washington Capitals sweater.

So what will the Washington Capitals do in the first round? Who knows. What the Washington Capitals do in the first round will largely depend on what the other teams do. What do I think the other teams will do? Here’s my mock draft.

This is just what I think will happen. There are several teams that could really throw a monkey wrench into the works (and the Washington Capitals draft plans) if they go off the board. For each pick, I tried to find the best possible fit for each team. That doesn’t necessarily mean immediate areas of need. I tried to look for what they will need in the future. In some cases, the two are the same. In other cases, they aren’t. Without further ado, here’s my first 2015 NHL Mock Draft!

Next: Picks One Through Five