NHL Mock Draft 2015: Order and Projections for All 1st-Round Prospects

Only hours remain until the 2015 NHL draft will finally commence, and it will only be a bit longer than that until the first actual questions leading up to the first round are answered.

That's because, well, the first two selections of Friday night's draft are mere formalities.

The Edmonton Oilers and Buffalo Sabres each have generational talents lined up to select at No. 1 and No. 2 overall, respectively, and any deviation from the long-expected top two would serve as perhaps the biggest draft surprise in any sport's history.

Of course, after those two studs, it gets a lot murkier with a number of enticing prospects and teams with a plethora of needs.

Before the draft kicks off at 7 p.m. ET on NBC Sports Network, take a look below at the latest mock.

2015 NHL Mock Draft

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	Noah Hanifin, D, Boston College
5	Carolina Hurricanes	Mitch Marner, RW, Erie (OHL)
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	Lawson Crouse, LW, Kingston (OHL)
10	Colorado Avalanche	Mathew Barzal, C, Seattle (WHL)
11	Florida Panthers	Pavel Zacha, C/LW, Sarnia (OHL)
12	Dallas Stars	Travis Konecny, C, Ottawa (OHL)
13	Los Angeles Kings	Thomas Chabot, D, Saint John (QMJHL)
14	Boston Bruins	Jakub Zboril, D, Saint John (QMJHL)
15	Calgary Flames	Nick Merkley, C/RW, Kelowna (WHL)
16	Edmonton Oilers (Pittsburgh)	Jeremy Roy, D, Phoenix (QMJHL)
17	Winnipeg Jets	Denis Guryanov, RW, Russia
18	Ottawa Senators	Evgeny Svechnikov, LW, Cape Breton (QMJHL)
19	Detroit Red Wings	Joel Eriksson Ek, C, Farjestad
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	Brandon Carlo, D, Tri-City (WHL)
28	Tampa Bay Lightning (Rangers)	Jeremy Bracco, C/RW, USA U-18 (USHL)
29	Philadelphia Flyers (Tampa Bay)	Oliver Kylington, D, AIK (SWE)
30	Arizona Coyotes (Chicago)	Sebastian Aho, D, Skelleftea (Elitserien)

1. Edmonton Oilers: Connor McDavid, C, Erie (OHL)

Without explicitly saying it, Connor McDavid has known from the moment the Edmonton Oilers won the draft lottery (again) exactly where his long-anticipated career in the NHL would begin.

The Oilers have had their fair share of No. 1 overall picks as of late, and they have rarely turned into can't-miss talent. But this one is almost impossible to miss, with McDavid fielding comparisons to Wayne Gretzky and Sidney Crosby at a very young age.

Still just an 18-year-old, McDavid is keeping his expectations in the back of his mind, per Stephen Whyno of the Canadian Press (h/t CBC.ca): "I think if you're going to be good that's the way it has to be: You have to have high expectations for yourself. But there's a lot of pressure on me coming from the outside that I try not to put too much internal pressure on myself just because there's already enough of that out there."​

As for the Oilers' side of things, they have given every indication that McDavid is their guy despite not saying it directly. General manager Peter Chiarelli got close to that on draft day, per Tom Gazzola of OilersTV.com:

The Oilers are hours away from landing a generational talent. Now, they face the task of developing that talent and surrounding him with the right pieces.

4. Toronto Maple Leafs: Noah Hanifin, D, Boston College (Hockey East)

Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images

Noah Hanifin can take a page out of Seth Jones' book, as the Nashville Predators defenseman was passed up by three teams only to carve out a big blue-line role on a playoff team in his early career.

If the Maple Leafs are on the right track, that could be Hanifin in a few years.

The Boston College blueliner has a silky-smooth game, especially for a defenseman, but it doesn't lack physicality. He has the size (6'3", 203 lbs) to make opposing forwards pay, and his two-way headiness would pay dividends in Toronto.

But if the Maple Leafs truly want Hanifin, they might have to get creative and swap spots with Arizona. According to James Mirtle of the Globe and Mail, the Coyotes are fielding offers for the third overall pick:

As new head coach Mike Babcock rebuilds Toronto on the fly, Mirtle notes that big-contract players like Dion Phaneuf look to be on the move. That will leave a gaping hole in the defense, which Hanifin would be able to fill sooner than later.

6. New Jersey Devils: Mikko Rantanen, RW, TPS (Liiga)

Claus Andersen/Getty Images

Europe's top prospect won't have to wait long to hear his name called in Friday night's draft.

Playing for TPS in Finland as one of its offensive leaders, the 18-year-old Mikko Rantanen already has big-time experience and ranks No. 1 in NHL Central Scouting's European skater rankings.

He's a threat to score every time he has the puck in the offensive zone and skates smoothly to avoid contact and get into scoring areas.

He'll soon be one of the young faces of an NHL team, but he just wants to get it over with, as the NHL noted on Twitter:

It's no secret that the New Jersey Devils could use some offensive touch that Rantanen possesses. They scored just 181 goals last season, which was dead last in their division and only ahead of two teams in the NHL.

If Rantanen can help to change that sooner rather than later, this will be a well-used pick.