2015 NHL Draft Grades: Complete Listing of Final Results and Scores

One of the most highly anticipated NHL drafts in recent memory is officially in the books, and while it will take many years to determine how every team fared, it is never too early to analyze.

While the first two picks of the draft were no-brainers with the Edmonton Oilers selecting Connor McDavid and the Buffalo Sabres taking Jack Eichel, organizations had some difficult choices to make after that. Some seemed to rise to the occasion, while others made some questionable decisions.

Here is a look at every pick from the opening two rounds, as well as grades for the complete draft classes of all 30 teams.

NHL Draft First- and Second-Round Results

Pick	Team	Player	Position	Amateur Team
Pick	Team	Player	Position	Amateur Team
1.	Edmonton Oilers	Connor McDavid	C	Erie
2.	Buffalo Sabres	Jack Eichel	C	Boston University
3.	Arizona Coyotes	Dylan Strome	C	Erie
4.	Toronto Maple Leafs	Mitchell Marner	C	London
5.	Carolina Hurricanes	Noah Hanifin	D	Boston College
6.	New Jersey Devils	Pavel Zacha	C	Sarnia
7.	Philadelphia Flyers	Ivan Provorov	D	Brandon
8.	Columbus Blue Jackets	Zachary Werenski	D	Michigan
9.	San Jose Sharks	Timo Meier	RW	Halifax
10.	Colorado Avalanche	Mikko Rantanen	RW	TPS
11.	Florida Panthers	Lawson Crouse	LW	Kingston
12.	Dallas Stars	Denis Gurianov	RW	Togliatti 2
13.	Boston Bruins	Jakub Zboril	D	Saint John
14.	Boston Bruins	Jake DeBrusk	LW	Swift Current
15.	Boston Bruins	Zachary Senyshyn	RW	Sault Ste. Marie
16.	New York Islanders	Mathew Barzal	C	Seattle
17.	Winnipeg Jets	Kyle Connor	LW	Youngstown
18.	Ottawa Senators	Thomas Chabot	D	Saint John
19.	Detroit Red Wings	Evgeny Svechnikov	LW	Cape Breton
20.	Minnesota Wild	Joel Eriksson Ek	C	Farjestad
21.	Ottawa Senators	Colin White	C	USA U-18
22.	Washington Capitals	Ilya Samsonov	G	Magnitogorsk 2
23.	Vancouver Canucks	Brock Boeser	RW	Waterloo
24.	Philadelphia Flyers	Travis Konecny	C	Ottawa
25.	Winnipeg Jets	John (Jack) Roslovic	C	USA U-18
26.	Montreal Canadiens	Noah Juulsen	D	Everett
27.	Anaheim Ducks	Jacob Larsson	D	Frolunda Jr.
28.	New York Islanders	Anthony Beauvillier	LW	Shawinigan
29.	Colombus Blue Jackets	Gabriel Carlsson	D	Linkoping Jr.
30.	Arizona Coyotes	Nicholas Merkley	RW	Kelowna
31	San Jose Sharks	Jeremy Roy	D	Sherbrooke
32	Arizona Coyotes	Christian Fischer	RW	USA U-18
33	Tampa Bay Lightning	Mitchell Stephens	C	Saginaw
34	Toronto Maple Leafs	Travis Dermott	D	Erie
35	Carolina Hurricanes	Sebastian Aho	RW	Karpat
36	Ottawa Senators	Gabriel Gagne	RW	Victoriaville
37	Boston Bruins	Brandon Carlo	D	Tri-City
38	Columbus Blue Jackets	Paul Bittner	LW	Portland
39	Colorado Avalanche	AJ Greer	LW	Boston University
40	Colorado Avalanche	Nicolas Meloche	D	Baie-Comeau
41	New York Rangers	Ryan Gropp	LW	Seattle
42	New Jersey Devils	Mackenzie Blackwood	G	Barrie
43	Los Angeles Kings	Erik Cernak	D	Kosice
44	Tampa Bay Lightning	Matthew Spencer	D	Peterborough
45	Boston Bruins	Jakob Forsbacka Karlsson	C	Omaha
46	Pittsburgh Penguins	Daniel Sprong	RW	Charlottetown
47	Winnipeg Jets	Jansen Harkins	C	Prince George
48	Ottawa Senators	Filip Chlapik	C	Charlottetown
49	Dallas Stars	Roope Hintz	LW	Ilves
50	Minnesota Wild	Jordan Greenway	LW	USA U-18
51	Buffalo Sabres	Brendan Guhle	D	Prince Albert
52	Boston Bruins	Jeremy Lauzon	D	Rouyn-Noranda
53	Calgary Flames	Rasmus Andersson	D	Barrie
54	Chicago Blackhawks	Graham Knott	LW	Niagara
55	Nashville Predators	Iakov Trenin	C	Gatineau
56	St. Louis Blues	Vince Dunn	D	Niagara
57	Washington Capitals	Jonas Siegenthaler	D	Zurich
58	Columbus Blue Jackets	Kevin Stenlund	C	HV 71 Jr.
59	Anaheim Ducks	Julius Nattinen	C	JYP 2
60	Calgary Flames	Oliver Kylington	D	Farjestad
61	Toronto Maple Leafs	Jeremy Bracco	RW	USA U-18

*Full results available at NHL.com.

NHL Draft Grades

Team	Key Picks (Pick No.)	Grade
Anaheim Ducks	D Jacob Larsson (27), C Julius Nattinen (59)	B
Arizona Coyotes	C Dylan Strome (3), RW Nick Merkley (30), RW Christian Fischer (32)	A-
Boston Bruins	D Jakub Zboril (13), LW Jake DeBrusk (14), RW Zach Senyshyn (15), D Brandon Carlo (37)	B-
Buffalo Sabres	C Jack Eichel (2), D Brendan Guhle (51)	A-
Calgary Flames	D Rasmus Andersson (53), D Oliver Kylington (60)	B
Carolina Hurricanes	D Noah Hanifin (5), RW Sebastian Aho (35)	B+
Chicago Blackhawks	LW Graham Knott (54)	C
Colorado Avalanche	RW Mikko Rantanen (10), LW AJ Greer (39), D Nicolas Meloche (40)	B+
Columbus Blue Jackets	D Zach Werenski (8), D Gabriel Carlsson (29), LW Paul Bittner (38)	A
Dallas Stars	RW Denis Gurianov (12), LW Roope Hintz (49)	C+
Detroit Red Wings	LW Evgeny Svechnikov (19)	C+
Edmonton Oilers	C Connor McDavid (1), D Caleb Jones (117)	A-
Florida Panthers	LW Lawson Crouse (11)	B-
Los Angeles Kings	D Erik Cernak (43)	C
Minnesota Wild	C Joel Eriksson Ek (20), LW Jordan Greenway (50)	B
Montreal Canadiens	D Noah Juulsen (26)	B-
Nashville Predators	C Iakov Trenin (55), C Thomas Novak (85)	C
New Jersey Devils	C Pavel Zacha (6), G Mackenzie Blackwood (42)	B+
New York Islanders	C Mathew Barzal (16), LW Anthony Beauvillier (28), D Mitchell Vande Sompel (82), D Ryan Pilon (147)	A
New York Rangers	LW Ryan Gropp (41)	C
Ottawa Senators	D Thomas Chabot (18), C Colin White (21), C Filip Chlapik (48)	A-
Philadelphia Flyers	D Ivan Provorov (7), C Travis Konecny (24)	A-
Pittsburgh Penguins	RW Daniel Sprong (46)	B
San Jose Sharks	RW Timo Meier (9), D Jeremy Roy (31)	B
St. Louis Blues	D Vince Dunn (56)	C
Tampa Bay Lightning	C Mitchell Stephens (33), LW Dennis Yan (64)	B-
Toronto Maple Leafs	C Mitch Marner (4), D Travis Dermott (34), RW Jeremy Bracco (61)	B+
Vancouver Canucks	RW Brock Boeser (23)	B
Washington Capitals	G Ilya Samsonov (22), D Jonas Siegenthaler (57)	B-
Winnipeg Jets	LW Kyle Connor (17), C Jack Roslovic (25), C Jansen Harkins (47)	A

Breaking Down Top Performers

New York Islanders

Bruce Bennett/Getty Images

The New York Islanders entered Friday without a first-round pick in tow, but one can argue they came away with a more impressive haul of prospects than anyone else.

New York took advantage of the Edmonton Oilers' need for defensemen, dealing former first-round selection Griffin Reinhart to the Oilers in exchange for the No. 16 and No. 33 overall selections in the 2015 draft.

Reinhart has a great deal of potential as the No. 4 overall pick from just three years ago, but he hasn't progressed as quickly as hoped, and the Isles dealt from a position of strength. With the 16th pick, New York nabbed a highly skilled forward prospect in Mathew Barzal from Seattle of the WHL.

EJ Hradek of NHL.com praised the Islanders' aggressiveness in swinging a trade to secure a prospect of Barzal's caliber:

According to Arthur Staple of Newsday, Isles general manager Garth Snow felt the value was too great to pass up an opportunity to get No. 16 and select Barzal:

Barzal put up 57 points in 44 games this past season, and with to his incredible vision and passing ability, he could be a great complement to John Tavares one day.

After coming away with Barzal, the Isles used the No. 33 pick and other assets to trade back into the first round and draft forward Anthony Beauvillier of Shawnigan in the QMJHL. While he is diminutive at 5'10", he is a dynamic talent.

As pointed out by Ryan Kennedy of the Hockey News, Beauvillier is capable of doing a little bit of everything:

Barzal and Beauvillier would have made for an excellent draft class by themselves, but New York then proceeded to get great value out of its next three picks as well by selecting defensemen Mitchell Vande Sompel, Parker Wotherspoon and Ryan Pilon in the third, fourth and fifth rounds, respectively.

All of them could have realistically been second-round picks, and Pilon was once considered to be a first-round talent, so grabbing him in the fifth is a major coup.

While the odds suggest that some of the Islanders' picks won't pan out, they certainly put themselves in position to reap several impact players from this class down the line.

Winnipeg Jets

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While the Islanders pounced when they saw Barzal still available at No. 16, the Winnipeg Jets were able to stay at No. 17 and reel in a major steal of their own in the form of USHL Youngstown forward Kyle Connor.

Connor looked like a potential top-10 pick after taking the USHL by storm and leading the league in goals, but he surprisingly slipped. The Jets didn't hesitate to take him, and the organization's fans now have plenty of reason to be excited about the future.

According to Jeff Marek of Sportsnet, Connor fits the mold of the type of team that Winnipeg has been attempting to build through the draft in recent years:

The Jets continued that trend with their second pick of the first round at No. 25 by selecting fellow American forward Jack Roslovic. He is very much cut from the same cloth as Connor because of his speed, skill and nationality, so it wasn't shocking when Winnipeg went in that direction.

As strong as those picks were, the Jets' best move may have come in the second round at No. 47 when they took another American-born forward, Jansen Harkins.

Harkins, who starred for Prince George of the WHL, was a borderline first-round prospect, and nobody would have batted an eye had Winnipeg taken him at No. 25.

The Jets were able to get far better value, though, which prompted Willy Palov of the Chronicle Herald to offer some big-time praise:

Winnipeg's next two picks could pay dividends down the road too, as it selected American winger Erik Foley in the third round and savvy Czech winger Michael Spacek in the fourth.

Both guys are essentially lottery tickets since anything outside the first two rounds tends to be a crapshoot in the NHL draft, but when adding them to Connor, Roslovic and Harkins, this has the makings of one of the best draft classes in the history of the organization.

Columbus Blue Jackets

Dave Sandford/Getty Images

Few teams have done a better job of stockpiling young talent than the Columbus Blue Jackets in recent years, and they continued that trend by selecting three promising prospects in the first 38 picks of the 2015 NHL draft.

It started with University of Michigan defenseman Zach Werenski at No. 8. While Boston College's Noah Hanifin received much of the attention in terms of collegiate blueliners entering the draft, one can argue that Werenski had an even stronger freshman campaign.

Sean Lafortune of TheScout.ca broke down everything the two-way defender figures to bring to the table when he joins the Blue Jackets at some point in the next couple of years:

Columbus went for another defenseman at No. 29 but took a much different type of rearguard in comparison to Werenski. Gabriel Carlsson is a big, technically sound blueliner from Sweden who could complement Werenski's offensive acumen quite well down the line.

The Blue Jackets' best value of the draft came at No. 38 when they landed American winger Paul Bittner. He is a big, physical player at 6'4" and over 200 pounds, but he was also productive, scoring 34 goals for the WHL's Portland Winterhawks this past season.

Getting a player of Bittner's talent level was an unexpected treat for Columbus in the second round, according to Rob Mixer of BlueJackets.com:

Bittner was an especially logical pick since he is very much like Blue Jackets forwards Nick Foligno and Scott Hartnell in that he has both size and scoring touch.

It isn't outside the realm of possibility that Columbus came away from the draft with three future stars, and if that is ultimately the case, then it was unquestionably a success.

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