"Naturally, we would have liked to move up in the draft, but we feel this draft has an outstanding top-10 crop of players," said Executive Vice President and General Manager Bob Murray. "Our fans are going to be very excited with the caliber of player we should be able to draft later this year."
The top ranked prospects by NHL Central Scouting include left wing Alexis Lafreniere (Rimouski, QMJHL), center Quinton Byfield (Sudbury, OHL), defenseman Jamie Drysdale (Erie, OHL), left wing Tim Stutzle (Mannheim, Germany), defenseman Jake Sanderson (USNTDP), center Cole Perfetti (Saginaw, OHL), center Marco Rossi (Ottawa, OHL), right wing Jack Quinn (Ottawa, OHL) and right wing Alexander Holtz (Djurgarden, Sweden).
Anaheim owns two picks in the first round of the 2020 NHL Draft, which will be held later this year (TBD). This marks the second consecutive year the Ducks have had multiple first-round picks, following last year's selections of Trevor Zegras (ninth overall) and Brayden Tracey (29th overall). The Ducks are currently scheduled (barring future transactions) to be the only team with two first-round selections in each of the last two NHL Drafts (2019 and 2020).
