The annual NHL Draft is one of the most fun two days of the hockey calendar. Part of the fun is the excitement of players taking a step towards fulfilling their lifelong dreams. Another part of the fun is the sheer chaos of 31 teams with different draft needs and wants (and rankings) taking players in orders that befuddle us draft observers.

In an effort to anticipate the chaos, we assembled our staff and ran a consensus mock draft late last week.

We didn’t really overthink this one. Lafreniere is legit.

The Kings have drafted many centres lately, but none of us could justify passing up a player with Byfield’s offensive ceiling.

Ottawa needs everything and Stutzle could help them immediately (and on the cheap).

Rossi has a sky-high offensive ceiling, but is a bit small. But he’s so good, and it would be Very Ottawa for the obvious player for Ottawa to take at 5th overall – the kid who plays for Ottawa in junior – to go right before they pick again.

The Senators “settle” for a smart, toolsy Swede. He just feels like a Senator, doesn’t he?

The Ducks have a young NHL defensive group but no blue chip D prospects, so Drysdale was a pretty simple fit.

We argued between Holtz and Perfetti, and we concluded that Holtz might be seen as the “safer” pick for a perpetually rebuilding Devils team with a new GM.

Buffalo needs everything and Perfetti has a great offensive ceiling.

Right after parting ways with their longtime Finnish centre, the Wild grab another one.

Sanderson feels like a fit for the Jets, a smart defender whose dad played in the NHL.

It was between Jarvis and Mercer for us, and we leaned slightly Mercer for the Preds because Nashville has been burnt so many times with centres.

The Computer Boys love the WHL, and Jarvis is the best WHLer available (and an offensive beast).

After considering Askarov for the past six picks, we decided that Carolina would pull the trigger. Askarov is a beast, and Carolina is deep enough elsewhere to “gamble” on the best goalie in the draft.

(This also prevents Edmonton from drafting him.)

Edmonton has a bunch of good centres but need wingers to play with ’em.

The Leafs kinda could go in a bunch of directions, but Amirov could become a very nice complimentary piece to all the other high-end forwards they have.

Guhle gave all of us a very Noah Juulsen vibe, in terms of how well he’s done with the Habs. Why not another one?

The Hawks have a bunch of interesting young forward prospects in the pipeline, so they can afford to be a bit patient as Holloway develops.

Second pick of round, might as well go for a big swing.

We debated hard between Schneider and Jacob Perreault, but erred on the side of the right shot defender.

Third pick of round, just grab the consensus best goal-scorer left.

The Jackets go best player remaining and grab Gunler, a mature, skilled Swedish forward.

Lapierre’s a skilled goal-scorer, but his injury issues caused some teams pause. With Lafreniere selected with their first pick, the Rangers can afford to gamble a bit here.

The Flyers have a fairly good defensive prospect base, so they opt for a skilled German product already playing in a high-end pro league as a teenager.

The Capitals kind of need everything, so they go for a Swedish defender in the form of Wallinder.

A caveat: Washington tends to go for obscure-ish Russians early, so if Marat Khusnutdinov or Shakir Mukhamadullin go in the first round, it’ll be to Washington.

The Avalanche adore offensive-minded players and Bourque fits their needs to a T. Plus, he’s got one of the cooler names in the draft class.

The Blues are lean on defensive prospects, so Grans fits their needs nicely.

The son of super-agent Pat Brisson, Brendan was born in Manhattan Beach and came up through the SoCal minor hockey circuit. This just feels like a smart fit.

After going with some strong, safer picks at 3rd (Stuztle) and 5th (Raymond), the Senators can afford to gamble on Foester’s impressive goal-scoring acumen. He needs to round out his game, but his goal-scoring is worth the gamble here.

Vegas GM Kelly McCrimmon owned the Wheat Kings until recently, and Greig is the type of smart, skilled forward the Golden Knights tend to covet.

At this point of the draft, the Stars likely opt for someone with pedigree and polish. Look no further than Lukas Reichel, nephew of longtime NHLer Robert Reichel.

Mysak doesn’t have a huge OHL sample size yet, but this selection seems like a “buy low” propostion similar to their selection of Ryan Merkley in 2018.