A number of teams were able to significantly change their franchise's fortunes in the first round of the 2019 NHL draft. And many more managed to add key players of real significance to the fold.
Here's a look at the teams that have new No. 1 prospects in their system, the best value picks from each round of the draft and four project selections whom I find particularly intriguing even though they will need some extra time to find their way. I also spoke with some scouts after the 217 names were called for some team insight into how the draft played out.
Jump to each section below, and for full breakdowns on each team's picks, check out our draft grades.
New No. 1 prospects | What the scouts are saying
Best value picks | Development picks
Draft grades
| Every pick
TEAMS WITH A NEW NO. 1 PROSPECT
New Jersey Devils: Jack Hughes, C (No. 1)
Hughes obviously vaults to the top of the Devils' system, which wasn't terribly deep to begin with. He likely won't stay a prospect for long, though, as he's expected to be on the Devils' opening night roster and play the entirety of the season in the NHL. New Jersey also has high-end offensive defenseman Ty Smith and the speedy Jesper Boqvist in the system, and both could push for roster spots next season.
In general, the Devils added some real value to their system in the draft due to their sheer volume of picks. Graeme Clarke, Arseny Gritsyuk and Patrick Moynihan have the best chance to outperform their draft slots, but don't be fooled. The 2019 draft was all about landing Hughes. The Devils get faster and more skilled -- and became a bigger offensive threat -- just by adding him.
New York Rangers: Kaapo Kakko, RW (No. 2)
It's looking like Kakko is already the king of New York after his arrival in Manhattan. The Rangers landed a franchise wing who should make an immediate impact and become one of the stars of the team over time. Kakko may be one of the finishing touches on the rebuilding stage, at least when it comes to acquiring prospects. Now the Rangers can focus on adding some NHL talent via free agency or further trades, and get back to competing.
Kakko is now on top of a prospect pool that has a lot of talent and depth. Vitali Kravtsov, Adam Fox, Igor Shesterkin, K'Andre Miller, Nils Lundkvist, Lias Andersson, 2019 second-rounder Matthew Robertson and a host of others give this system an impressive second tier. All of those players figure to make an impact very soon.
Chicago Blackhawks: Kirby Dach, C (No. 3)
The Blackhawks desperately needed to add a talent up front, and they got a great forward in Dach. He moves to the top of a prospect pool that is heavy on higher-end defense and really shallow at forward. Whether it was Dach or Alex Turcotte, I thought the Hawks simply had to have a top-tier center prospect. They chose Dach and have a guy who could be the long-term No. 2 center behind Jonathan Toews, and may end up being the No. 1 when things are winding down for Toews later in his career.
Dach makes so many plays, thinks the game at a high level and has the size the Blackhawks have lacked in recent years. He is edging out Adam Boqvist, the exceptional offensive defenseman selected in the top 10 last year, for a spot at the top of the prospect pool. Centers are often the most coveted commodities at the draft, and Chicago landed one of the best.
Los Angeles Kings: Alex Turcotte, C (No. 5)
The Kings have built an impressive prospect pool over the past few drafts, but Turcotte boasts the most complete package of tools among their previous picks. He's such a smart, competitive two-way center who can forecheck as well as any player, make the aggressive plays and still have the skill to finish. His hockey sense is off the charts, but that combination of skill and work ethic should carry him a long way.
Turcotte also keeps with the theme the Kings have been trending toward in recent years, as they just keep getting faster and have real strength down the middle in their pipeline. They also landed Tobias Bjornfot and Arthur Kaliyev, basically two more first-round-caliber players, within the draft's first 33 picks. When you add in players like Rasmus Kupari, Kale Clague, Akil Thomas, Jaret Anderson-Dolan, Mikey Anderson and the hopefully healthy Gabriel Vilardi, there's a lot of value beneath the NHL level for Los Angeles right now.
Buffalo Sabres: Dylan Cozens, C (No. 7)
Buffalo has a pretty interesting pipeline right now. The top end got a lot better with the additions of Cozens and Ryan Johnson as first-round picks. Cozens slides right to the top of the prospect pool. The explosive forward from the Lethbridge Hurricanes had a big season with 80 points in the WHL and very well could compete for a roster spot this season. I'm not sure it's in his or the Sabres' best interest for him to start there this year, but he at least has a shot. He's got great size to go with his speed, so that'll help the Sabres up front.
Buffalo is very deep with defensive prospects, but its forward group has a lot of question marks. We're continually waiting to see what the future holds for former No. 6 pick Alexander Nylander, but others like Victor Olofsson, Rasmus Asplund and Marcus Davidsson had really strong seasons in 2018-19. The team also just added Finnish standout Arttu Ruotsalainen, and is also still celebrating the rise of Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen as one of the top young goaltending prospects in the game. So there's growing depth here, bolstered by the Sabres' 2019 draft haul.
Anaheim Ducks: Trevor Zegras, C (No. 9)
The Ducks have a pretty loaded prospect pipeline at the present, especially at forward, but Zegras slides to the top. I didn't think he'd be available to the Ducks at No. 9, but it was a fortuitous slip for Anaheim. Zegras is one of the most skilled, creative players in the draft. He makes plays at speed and is deadly on the rush. He also can get pucks into the offensive zone with relative ease.
He's still going to need time to build up some strength on a lankier frame. As he gets bigger, he should be more effective along the walls and down low. But the Ducks have the ability to wait at least a little bit. They have players like Troy Terry, Sam Steel, Max Comtois, Max Jones and Isac Lundestrom already in the pipeline and likely to make a more immediate impact than Zegras could at this point.
WHAT THE SCOUTS ARE SAYING
I asked around in the scouting world for big takeaways from the draft. Aside from the Moritz Seider shocker, most teams thought there weren't too many surprises in the draft. Things kind of went how a lot of scouts thought they would. The order wasn't necessarily the same, but there weren't a lot of teams you could say went too far away from consensus ranking.
But Seider still was a surprise. That was evident immediately, with audible gasps and oohs and aahs from the crowd, the media risers and everywhere else in the building. That said, scouts I talked to didn't find it all that troubling a pick for the Detroit Red Wings. Given how tight this draft was in the lottery range in terms of quality of talent, a few scouts I talked to didn't fault Steve Yzerman for going for it there. Yet while there was praise for the courage, some of those scouts also said it was not a pick they would have made had their team been in that same position.
The Kings and Colorado Avalanche were among the teams getting a lot of praise within the industry for the way they drafted.
BEST VALUE BY ROUND
These are my favorite value picks in each of the seven rounds of the draft.
Round 1: Cole Caufield, RW, Montreal Canadiens (No. 15)
The Habs landed the best goal scorer in the draft in a range where that's not usually possible. Caufield may be small, but he can absolutely wire a puck and has the hockey sense to find the space he'll need at the NHL level.
Round 2: Nicholas Robertson, LW, Toronto Maple Leafs (No. 53)
There were several second-rounders I liked a lot in terms of value, but the Maple Leafs did not have a first-round pick this year and I feel like they still landed a first-round talent in Robertson. The young winger is exceptionally skilled, has some quickness in his game and isn't shy about getting to the hard areas of the ice. He may be undersized (sorry, Don Cherry), but he packs a lot of talent in that frame.
Round 3: Patrik Puistola, RW, Carolina Hurricanes (No. 73)
I knew going into the draft that ranking Puistola as a first-round-caliber talent was not a commonly held belief, but I think the skill he has is impressive to say the least. He can score goals and his feet are good enough to allow him to make plays at NHL speeds. He had one of the best ever production rates for a U18 player in Finland's second division this season.
Round 4: Henri Nikkanen, C, Winnipeg Jets (No. 113)
Nikkanen missed a good chunk of the season, which probably contributed a great deal to his slipping as far as he did. That said, he has a massive frame at 6-foot-4 and 200 pounds, and he can make plays. He's expected to play in Finland's top pro league with Jukurit next season, which should test him.
Round 5: Kirill Slepets, RW, Carolina Hurricanes (No. 152)
Yes, he's average-sized and Russian, which I've been known to have a weakness for. I listed Slepets No. 50 in this draft, which as you can see was higher than teams had him. But I love the speed he plays with, and I think that's going to translate to the next level. And you never have to worry about his work ethic. I haven't had a viewing of him where he wasn't going 100 miles an hour at all times.
Round 6: Marshall Warren, D, Minnesota Wild (No. 166)
There were some really wide-ranging opinions on Warren. He has some excellent athletic tools, most notably his skating, but there have been concerns about his decisions with the puck. He was a key player for the U.S. National Team Development Program as a top-four defenseman who also saw time on the power play. I had him as a top-100 prospect due in large part to his skating ability.
Round 7: Dustin Wolf, G, Calgary Flames (No. 214)
The last of 22 goalies picked, Wolf was among the top 10 netminders in this year's class for me. He had a big season with Everett, playing in the shadow left by Carter Hart. Wolf does not have the typical size (6-foot) of a goaltender, but one goalie analyst told me he makes up for that lack of size with elite skating ability. He's also a high-end competitor who will fight for pucks and make saves any way he can. It's hard for goalies under 6-foot-2 to make the NHL, but teams are starting to see the value, and Calgary was lucky to land a high-upside goaltender late in a deep class.
PROJECT PICKS
These are the players who have some long-term upside, but are going to require some patience and extra work in these crucial development years.
Jackson LaCombe, D, Anaheim Ducks (No. 39)
Teams' opinions really rose on LaCombe over the course of the season. He's been playing defense at Shattuck St. Mary's Prep for only the past two years. He opted to stay at the vaunted prep school instead of playing junior, though he did have a few games with the Chicago Steel this season. His offensive game is impressive, and there is little doubt he has talent. But I'm curious to see how he handles higher-level hockey next season at the University of Minnesota.
Erik Portillo, G, Buffalo Sabres (No. 67)
A 6-foot-6 behemoth, Portillo had a breakout season in his first full campaign of U20 hockey in Sweden. But the Sabres took him much higher than I think most would have anticipated, considering the second-year eligible wasn't even listed by NHL Central Scouting. Portillo is coming to North America next season and will play for the Dubuque Fighting Saints before going to the University of Michigan in 2020-21.
Eric Hjorth, D, Columbus Blue Jackets (No. 104)
Having sustained a serious knee injury this season, Hjorth played in just 10 games all season. He was especially productive at the under-18 level in his very brief time. The Blue Jackets are gambling, but Hjorth started generating some buzz as the draft neared. A big defenseman with skill, there are so many unknowns about Hjorth, but there's also plenty of intrigue now.
Elmer Soderblom, RW, Detroit Red Wings (No. 159)
One of my favorite selections in the draft because I think there's some serious potential to be unlocked, Soderblom is 6-foot-7 and actually has some skill with that big frame. That hasn't always translated to his numbers, however. You see the big body and the skill and the mobility at his size, and it's hard not to like it. If you can develop that talent over time and be patient with him, there's home run potential here.