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NHL Draft 2022: Team-by-Team Results, Grades and Analysis

Jake Rill

After seven rounds and 225 total picks, the 2022 NHL draft is complete. The league's 32 franchises reloaded with young talent over Thursday and Friday at the Bell Centre in Montreal, adding players who could become building blocks for years to come.

So, which teams did the best jobs? That could take years to find out. It may be a while before a large number of these players make an impact in the NHL.

But it's fun to analyze draft classes immediately after they're built to project which teams could be on the rise in the near future. Things could change, of course, but some franchises stood out more than others over the past two days.

Full results from this year's draft can be found at NHL.com. And here's a look at how all 32 teams fared over the seven-round event.

Draft Grades

Anaheim Ducks: B

Arizona Coyotes: A

Boston Bruins: C

Buffalo Sabres: A

Calgary Flames: C

Carolina Hurricanes: B-

Chicago Blackhawks: A-

Colorado Avalanche: D

Columbus Blue Jackets: A-

Dallas Stars: B

Detroit Red Wings: B-

Edmonton Oilers: C

Florida Panthers: C-

Los Angeles Kings: B

Minnesota Wild: A-

Montreal Canadiens: A

Nashville Predators: B+

New Jersey Devils: B+

New York Islanders: C+

New York Rangers: B-

Ottawa Senators: C

Philadelphia Flyers: B+

Pittsburgh Penguins: C+

San Jose Sharks: B

Seattle Kraken: A+

St. Louis Blues: B-

Tampa Bay Lightning: B

Toronto Maple Leafs: C+

Vancouver Canucks: B-

Vegas Golden Knights: C

Washington Capitals: B

Winnipeg Jets: B+

Analysis

This was only the Seattle Kraken's second time participating in the NHL draft. After a rough showing in their debut season during the 2021-22 campaign, the franchise set out to add young players who could help make them successful for years to come.

Consider the Kraken one of this year's big winners of the draft.

Despite owning the No. 4 overall selection, Seattle came away with a player who was No. 1 in some rankings and mocks heading into the draft. The Kraken picked Canadian center Shane Wright, getting their draft off to a great start.

But Seattle continued to add talented players on Friday, when it used four second-round selections. The first of which was at No. 35 overall, where the Kraken drafted Canadian forward Jagger Firkus, who fell out of the first round. There may be some size concerns with Firkus (5'10", 151 pounds), but he's a talented offensive player.

With its other three second-round picks, Seattle added two more offensive players (Jani Nyman and David Goyette) and a goaltender (Niklas Kokko). Overall, the Kraken acquired 11 players in the draft, assembling an impressive class that should help them for the long term.

“Obviously, we were excited with the way things fell for us [Thursday] night, getting Shane with our fourth pick,” Seattle general manager Ron Francis said, per Geoff Baker of the Seattle Times. “And then [Friday] was a good day, too. We took some swings on some guys we think have some offensive upside. Guys that we hope can score some goals for us somewhere down the road."

The Kraken weren't the only team near the top of the draft board that put together a top-tier class in Montreal.

Even though the Canadiens didn't take Wright at No. 1 as some predicted, they still got a top-tier offensive prospect in forward Juraj Slafkovsky, who has a ton of talent and potential. Montreal also acquired Filip Mesar, another forward from Slovakia, with the No. 26 pick in the first round.

While Slafkovsky was the headliner, the Habs assembled a deep 11-player class that could help them turn things around down the line.

The Coyotes also did a strong job over the two days of the draft. They did well with their three first-round picks, landing centers Logan Cooley (No. 3 overall) and Conor Geekie (No. 11), as well as defenseman Maveric Lamoureux (No. 29).

Then on the second day, Arizona added seven more players, four of whom are defensemen. So the Coyotes could have the young talent on both ends of the ice to make their ongoing rebuild successful.

   

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