NHL Draft 2015: TV Schedule, Live Stream and Latest Mock Draft Predictions

Clear your weekend, folks. The NHL draft is your priority—at least for the hockey fanatics among us.

Below, we'll break down the weekend television and streaming schedule, along with the latest first-round mock draft. The Stanley Cup may have just been won, but it's already time to start looking ahead to next season.

Schedule

Day	Time (ET)	Watch
Friday, June 26	7 p.m.	NBCSN
Saturday, June 27	10 a.m.	NHL Network

NBC Sports Live Extra will be streaming the event.

Predictions

Pick	Team	Player
1	Edmonton Oilers	Connor McDavid, C, Erie (OHL)
2	Buffalo Sabres	Jack Eichel, C, Boston University
3	Arizona Coyotes	Dylan Strome, C, Erie (OHL)
4	Toronto Maple Leafs	Mitch Marner, C, London (OHL)
5	Carolina Hurricanes	Noah Hanifin, D, Boston College
6	New Jersey Devils	Mikko Rantanen, RW, TPS (FIN)
7	Philadelphia Flyers	Ivan Provorov, D, Brandon (WHL)
8	Columbus Blue Jackets	Zachary Werenski, D, Michigan
9	San Jose Sharks	Pavel Zacha, C/LW, Sarnia (OHL)
10	Colorado Avalanche	Mathew Barzal, C, Seattle (WHL)
11	Florida Panthers	Lawson Crouse, LW, Kingston (OHL)
12	Dallas Stars	Travis Konecny, C, Ottawa (OHL)
13	Los Angeles Kings	Thomas Chabot, D, Saint John (QMJHL)
14	Boston Bruins	Jeremy Roy, D, Sherbrooke (QMJHL)
15	Calgary Flames	Nick Merkley, C/RW, Kelowna (WHL)
16	Edmonton Oilers (Pittsburgh)	Jakub Zboril, D, Saint John (QMJHL)
17	Winnipeg Jets	Kyle Connor, C, Youngstown (USHL)
18	Ottawa Senators	Evgeny Svechnikov, LW, Cape Breton (QMJHL)
19	Detroit Red Wings	Brandon Carlo, D, Tri-City (WHL)
20	Minnesota Wild	Timo Meier, LW, Halifax (QMJHL)
21	Buffalo Sabres (Islanders)	Brock Boeser, RW, Waterloo Blackhawks
22	Washington Capitals	Paul Bittner, LW, Portland (WHL)
23	Vancouver Canucks	Colin White, C/RW, USA U-18 (USHL)
24	Toronto Maple Leafs (Nashville)	Jake Debrusk, LW, Swift Current Broncos (WHL)
25	Winnipeg Jets (St. Louis via Buffalo)	Jansen Harkins, C, Prince George Cougars
26	Montreal Canadiens	Nicolas Roy, C/RW, Chicoutimi (QMJHL)
27	Anaheim Ducks	Jeremy Bracco, C/RW, USA U-18 (USHL)
28	Tampa Bay Lightning (Rangers)	Joel Eriksson Ek, C, Farjestad
29	Philadelphia Flyers (Tampa Bay)	Oliver Kylington, D, AIK (SWE)
30	Arizona Coyotes (Chicago)	Sebastian Aho, D, Skelleftea (Elitserien)

Analysis

The first two picks are absolute no-brainer selections. The Edmonton Oilers aren't going to pass on Connor McDavid. For a team that has lived atop the first round for the past decade, McDavid is a franchise-changing talent. You simply don't see his combination of skill, work ethic and intelligence very often.

What separates McDavid from the pack is his ability to slow down the game, as Joanne Ireland of Postmedia News (h/t the National Post) wrote:

"

“I think I see things that maybe some other players wouldn’t see. The game feels slower,” McDavid said before moving up to the Ontario Hockey League three years ago. “I guess things move slower for me than for some, I don’t know.”

The game does slow down for the great ones. They anticipate.

[Wayne] Gretzky played the game that way.

“I have never, ever seen a player like him,” says Craig Button, TSN’s director of scouting. “He processes like Gretzky. He’s going at warp speed so he creates space, but he can slow down the game.”

"

When a player's ability evokes the name Gretzky and nobody blinks an eye or takes issue with the comparison, well, you know he's special. The Oilers are getting a truly special player.

Of course, so are the Buffalo Sabres. In just about any other year, Jack Eichel would be the top overall pick. The one benefit to finishing as the worst team in the NHL this past year was that Buffalo was guaranteed a top-two pick.

The gulf between McDavid and Eichel is pretty small, and while McDavid is almost universally considered the better option, Eichel is the best consolation prize at the NHL draft in years.

At No. 3 is where things get very interesting. Depending on whom you talk to, a number of players belong at No. 3 on the board. The three most often cited in this spot, however, are forwards Dylan Strome and Mitch Marner as well as defenseman Noah Hanifin.

Ultimately, look for the Arizona Coyotes to improve their feeble offense and go with Strome. He has better size (6'3", 185 lbs) and is more well-rounded than Marner (5'11", 160 lbs), and despite playing in the shadow of McDavid in Erie, he still led the OHL in points this past season.

It's going to be hard for Arizona to pass on a player who has no real discernible weaknesses.

Toronto would probably prefer a top center, but it's hard to imagine the team passing on a player with Marner's level of skill. The kid is a magician with the puck and an exciting player to watch, and he'd quickly become a fan favorite.

If Hanifin drops to No. 5, meanwhile, the Carolina Hurricanes will likely scoop him up quickly.

Another interesting pick could come at No. 7, when the Philadelphia Flyers may have to decide between upgrading at forward and selecting a defenseman.

This is a tough pick to call, though passing on a player like Ivan Provorov who could really upgrade the defense in years to come—a must for Philly—would be surprising.