USA Today

While this year's draft crop doesn’t offer the marquee value of some recent ones, there is a varied mix of skilled forwards as well as big and highly mobile defensemen in the top grouping. Red Line Report, the independent scouting newsletter, puts the first 14 prospects in that top grouping. Then there’s a little dropoff to the next six to eight players, and another small break in the early 20s down through the late first round. Kyle Woodlief, the publisher and chief scout for Red Line Report, offers his mock draft for the first round that will be held on July 7 in Montreal: