Every draft is unique, whether it's the players, their skill sets, the teams, organizational needs or how it all plays off of each other.

On top of that, team executives and scouts have had to take the geopolitical situation in Russia into account when drafting from that corner of the world, given their ongoing, illegal invasion of Ukraine. Which says nothing, of course, of the two years-plus pandemic that wiped out vital developmental time and took away many live viewings.

And with each of these variables, the likelihood of a surprise on Day 1 of the 2023 NHL Draft becomes more and more likely.

Even just looking through the last handful of drafts, we’ve seen more than a few surprises. Jesperi Kotkaniemi landing third overall in 2018 was a bit of a shocker. Barrett Hayton elicited a similar l