2019 NHL Mock Draft: Chicago Blackhawks pick begins the intrigue

1. New Jersey Devils – Jack Hughes, C

This is one of the two locks in the 2019 NHL Draft. The New Jersey Devils won the 2019 NHL Draft Lottery and will take Jack Hughes with the first overall pick. Jack Hughes is going to be a superstar center in the NHL and he has earned his spot atop the prospect rankings over the last few seasons, and none were better than his record-breaking year with the United States National Development Program in 2018-19.

Hughes will join a very young New Jersey Devils squad with players like Nico Hischier, Taylor Hall, and Kyle Palmieri. If Hughes turns into the superstar that we suspect he will be, then New Jersey will have a very solid top-six forward group and should be a very good team in relatively short order.

2. New York Rangers – Kaapo Kakko, RW

This is the other lock of the century. The New York Rangers are going to select Finnish forward Kaapo Kakko with the second overall pick. The Rangers are in a similar situation as the Blackhawks, as a team looking to “retool” instead of “rebuild”. They were extremely fortunate to land the second overall pick after overachieving a little bit in 2018-19, and now they are going to add what they hope to be an elite winger that should be an impact player right away.

Kakko will join an already solid young group of Ranger forwards and they have some young pieces on the blue line that might be ready to make the jump in 2019-20. This could be a team, like the New Jersey Devils, sees themselves go from rags to riches quickly.