4 Early Candidates For the 1st Overall Pick In 2019

The season hasn't started yet, but we all have a decent idea of which teams will be good or bad this year. Let's take a look at teams likely to be fighting for the 1st overall pick this year.
1. Vancouver Canucks
The Canucks are an interesting case. The Sedin twins have retired, and the next generation of the team can officially take over. The interesting part is whether or not rookies Elias Pettersson and Jonathan Dahlen can step into the league and hit the ground running. If they can, the Canucks certainly won't be a bottom-feeder team. Add those two with players like Bo Horvat and Brock Boeser, and the Canucks COULD place higher up in the standings (not a playoff team, but not bottom of the league either). However if Boeser goes through the infamous sophomore slump or Pettersson and Dahlen stumble out of the gates, the Canucks could already have a new brother tandem (Quinn and Jack Hughes)

2. New York Islanders
The Islanders were... not great last season to say the least. They certainly didn't improve over the off-season either, after losing John Tavares and replacing one mediocre goalie (Jaroslav Halak) for another (Robin Lehner). Unless Matt Barzal can carry this team or the youngsters (Ho-Sang, Bellows, Dobson) make the jump and all become Calder candidates, it'll be a long season in Brooklyn/Queens/Staten Island/wherever they'll be playing this month.

3. Montreal Canadiens
Yet another team that has gone from bad to worse this off-season. They may have improved their future with new prospects like Nick Suzuki and Jesperi Kotkaniemi (both are questionable about making the NHL this season), but they lost two of their best goal-scorers in Max Pacioretty and Alex Galchenyuk. New additions Tomas Tatar and Max Domi will probably not replace that, nor will the reunion with Tomas Plekanec. Tack on Shea Weber's injury holding him out until around Christmas and Jonathan Drouin likely stuck at centre again, and the Canadiens will probably be awful this year. Bright side is they can fill the void at centre and then some with the first overall pick if they select Jack Hughes. If they fall in the draft rankings, they could still get a decent centre and a brother tandem with Ryan Suzuki or grab Kaapo Kakko and give Kotkaniemi a fellow countryman to play with.

4. Colorado Avalanche
Well not really. The correct team would be the Ottawa Senators. The Sens opted to keep the 4th overall pick in 2018 to draft Brady Tkachuk, and give Colorado their 1st-round pick this year as part of the Matt Duchene trade. The Senators finished 30th in the league, and the loss of Mike Hoffman and an ageing Craig Anderson in net will set the Senators up for a a very rough year. Colorado almost definitely isn't trading that pick, even if it isn't #1 overall. It can still likely get them a defence-man like Philip Broberg or Bowen Byram to really bolster their defensive core. The only way I see it being dealt is if the Avs get an incredible offer at the deadline for a defence-man. Like Erik Karlsson for example... what? Too soon?

Who is your prediction for the 1st overall pick?