LIVE: 2015 NHL Entry Draft Blog

Pick-by-pick coverage of the draft in Sunrise, Fla.

  This blog will be updated live during the 2014 NHL Entry Draft. Every selection, trade, or transaction of any kind will be brought up to date instantly as it is announced and posted to this page.
 Player selections will go directly underneath the team name of a given pick. Any transactions that take place during the draft will be written in italics and highlighted in yellow.
 Every draft pick will be accompanied by a brief description of each prospect for a better understanding of what a team has added to its system. Depending on what browser you are using, you may have to refresh the page to get new information. Sorry for the extra trouble.

 This year, two generational talents are expected to go No. 1 and No. 2 overall, respectively. After those first two consensus picks, though, things get much more convulted and interesting. Beyond the top 15 or so picks, everything becomes chaos, as reflected by the final cumulative draft rankings for this class.

 This is shaping up to be a very wild and unpredictable draft, so be sure to check back every time your favorite team makes a selection or follow along with every pick!

Final 2015 Cumulative Draft Rankings

 A new era of NHL is nearly upon us.

 This year's draft features two generational, franchise fortune-altering prospects that are sure to shape the scene of superstardom in the show for years to come. More than two names will be called in Sunrise, Fla. this weekend, though, and there has been much debate as to what the order of those names should be. Cue the Hart of Hockey cumulative draft rankings.

 Below is a comprehensive list of the top 75 prospects for the upcoming draft, scored accordingly based on the players' individual rankings from nine different scouting services.

 The eight draft rankings used to compute a player's "average score" are those of TSN's Hockey Insider Bob McKenzie, TSN's Director of Scouting Craig Button, the International Scouting Service (ISS,) HockeyProspect.com (HP,) McKeen's Scouting, Red Line Report (RLR,) The Hockey News (THN,) and Future Consideration (FC.) Since NHL Central Scouting separates its rankings by geography and position, its rankings are used as a tiebreaker in the event of two or more players ending up with the same average score value. The player with the greater CS rank wins the tie.

 The scouts have spoken, and the Excel sheet has... excelled. These are your final 2015 cumulative rankings:

NHL Prospects in the 2015 Memorial Cup

 The 2015 MasterCard  Memorial Cup Tournament begins tonight, and features four absolutely loaded teams.
 As you will see below, every squad has its fair share of drafted NHL talent. Also included in this list are draft eligible players for any upcoming draft.
 Unlike previous years, there is no one NHL team that happens to run away with the distinction of having the most prospects in the tournament. No pro club has the rights to more than two players at this year's Memorial Cup, but there are plenty of 2015 draft eligible players to feast your eyes on.
 The OHL's Oshawa Generals have the most drafted players of the four participating Memorial Cup teams with eight prospects on their roster whose rights belong to an NHL club.

2015 Stanley Cup Playoffs Preview

 The last week of the NHL regular season was unlike anything seen in recent history. The dust from the 82-game grind settled, and jaws dropped as a once cloudy playoff picture became clear. Seven teams from the previous year's Stanley Cup Playoffs would not be returning to the postseason.
 The unfathomable turn of events saw some of the last decade's powerhouses checking April tee times, while some of the most wildest stories the league has ever seen led certain squads to the quest for Lord Stanley's Cup. Some teams simply had incredible runs, others got off to an unexpected hot start and never looked back, and others defied the odds in the most literal sense possible to clinch a playoff spot.
 However, whatever success or misfortune experienced during the past six months is meaningless now. A whole new season begins as the NHL's 16-best squads begin the hellacious quest for ultimate glory. The field is set, and much like the season that preceded it, the first round looks tantalizingly unpredictable.

Cumulative 2015 Draft Rankings (March)

 Hello fellow draftketeers.

 First of all, this is an incredibly deep draft. The talent breeds much further down the list than the top two names everyone has been (rightfully) talking about. That is why I am so sorry that it has taken until March to post the first edition of these cumulative draft rankings. We were unable to watch these rankings change and evolve over a few months time, and that stinks. However, I'm happy to bring this Hart of Hockey tradition back.

 To reiterate the rules, the cumulative rankings system takes an individual player's rankings in various pundits'/scouting services' publications and then finds the average score from combining all the rankings. In this addition, the lists used were TSN's Bob McKenzie and Craig Button, NHL Central Scouting (CS,) International Scouting Services (ISS,) McKeen's Hockey, and HockeyProspect.com (HP). Since Central Scouting separates its rankings by European/North American and Skaters/Goalies, its numbers are only used as a tiebreaker if the values of two players' or more average score is the same.
 Lastly, this is the time where I remind you that these rankings are not to be interpreted as a mock draft, but rather a different way to value the prospects heading into the draft and potentially project when their names will be called on draft day.
 The first name on this edition of the 2015 draft cumulative rankings comes as no surprise.

All-Star Solution to the All-Star Problem

photo credit:  Justin Sabau/Getty Images

 The NHL had gone so long without an All-Star Game that people apparently forgot how terrible they are. Yes, this most recent edition in Columbus was particularly bad, setting the record for the most goals scored, but the minimal effort exerted is nothing new. Still, people clamored in the press box and all over social media to voice their displeasure.

 Nowadays, the NHL All-Star Game is more about a weekend of thoroughly entertaining festivities than one meaningless game. It's a great concept. It works, for the most part. The only (and biggest) problem with this model is that the weekend is climaxed with its undoubtedly least entertaining event.

 To reiterate: THE ALL-STAR GAME SUCKS, but it's not completely beyond repair.
 If the All-Star Weekend is all about entertainment, the NHL can turn to the simplest form of entertainment North American television has ever seen: the game show.
 If you take away the different bells and whistles that set one game show apart from another, their general concept is to take an ordinary person and give him/her an opportunity to win a ton of money. The NHL can easily adopt this and implement it as a way to get more eyeballs on the game.
 This solution scenario would require a lot of moving parts to work together in order to be successful, but I don't think there's any doubt that it will at least make the game more interesting.