2024 NHL Draft Thread

[Jiri Hrdina]

Originally Posted by keenan87

So, as we get near the draft, what is the consensus on the strength of the draft?

Originally, this was supposed to be a weak draft. Is that still the case or did the emergence of some players (e.g., Iginla, Silayev) improve the outlook a bit.

I never agreed it was weak. That was put out there by a couple of draft analysts that I generally view to be amongst the most poorly informed. And it is weaker relative to last year (because of the strength of the top end last year). But I would say last year was a above average to strong draft.

Overall I think it's an average draft, but above average to strong on D.

[cral12]

Originally Posted by Sandman

Sandman's Post U-18 Top-100:

1) C Mack Celebrini
2) RW Ivan Demidov
3) D Artyom Levshunov
4) C Berkly Catton
5) D Sam Dickinson
6) D Zeev Buium
7) D Tij Iginla
8) D Zayne Parekh
9) D Anton Silayev
10) C Cayden Lindstrom
11) D Carter Yakemchuk
12) C Konsta Helenius
13) C Cole Eiserman
14) C Michael Hage
15) RW Beckett Sennecke
16) RW Liam Greentree
17) RW Ryder Ritchie
18) RW Michael Brandsegg-Nygard
19) LW Igor Chernyshov
20) LW Trevor Connelly
21) RW Yegor Surin
22) D Adam Jiricek
23) RW Matvei Gridin
24) C Sacha Boisvert
25) RW Emil Hemming
26) RW Terik Parascak
27) RW Maxim Masse
28) D Henry Mews
29) C Lucas Petterson
30) D Cole Hutson
31) LW Tanner Howe
32) D EJ Emery

33) C Dean Letourneau
34) LW Andrew Basha
35) D Aron Kiviharju
36) D Leo Sahlin Wellenius
37) LW Nikita Artamonov
38) C Jett Luchanko
39) LW Marek Vanacker
40) C Cole Beaudoin
41) D Alfons Freij
42) D Dominik Badinka
43) D Jesse Pulkkinen
44) C Luke Misa
45) C Linus Eriksson
46) D Luca Marrelli
47) D Charlie Elick
48) D Veeti Vaisanen
49) D Stian Solberg
50) LW Melvin Fernstrom
51) RW Miguel Marques
52) C Julius Miettinen
53) D Lukas Fischer
54) RW Adam Jecho
55) LW John Mustard
56) RW Brodie Ziemer
57) LW Teddy Stiga
58) D Spencer Gill
59) C Simon Zether
60) C Raoul Boilard
61) C Kamil Bednarik
62) D Harrison Brunicke
63) D Colton Roberts
64) D Will Skahan

65) RW Carson Wetsch
66) D Tarin Smith
67) RW Justin Poirier
68) RW Jacob Battaglia
69) D Daniil Ustinkov
70) C Christian Humphreys
71) LW Max Plante
72) D Matvei Shuravin
73) D Leon Muggli
74) LW Hagen Burrows
75) LW Will Zellers
76) G Kim Saarinen
77) D Tomas Lavoie
78) C Kieron Walton
79) RW Kasper Pikkarainen
80) RW Sam O'Reilly
81) D John Whipple
82) C Clarke Caswell
83) D Noel Franson
84) D Tory Pitner
85) LW Ollie Josephson
86) G Ryerson Leenders
87) D Jakub Fibigr
88) D Adam Kleber
89) RW Ondrej Kos
90) LW Alex Blais
91) LW Eriks Mateiko
92) D Nilopekka Muhonen
93) D Sebastian Soini
94) C AJ Spellacy
95) C Aatos Koivu
96) G Carter George

97) G Eemil Vinni
98) D Anthony Cristoforo
99) C Nathan Villeneuve
100) C Alex Zetterberg

Awesome - I'll add to the original post in this thread

[Sandman]

Sorry to give you so much extra work, cral!

[Sandman]

Originally Posted by dammage79

Letourneau screams Hunter Smith/Mark Jankowski to me.

Intriguing player with the size and the skating and the RHS
But how special is 127 points in high school AAA??

I'd be happier him being taken in the 2nd round or willing to risk him not getting to the 2nd round than use the Vancouver pick but I'm just a dummy fan.

I agree, he strikes me as a Joe Colbourne type, a gentle giant of sorts.

[FBI]

Hunter Smith / Mark Jankowski
(one of these things is not like the other)

[dammage79]

Originally Posted by FBI

Hunter Smith / Mark Jankowski
(one of these things is not like the other)

Hunter Smith. = Big RHS. Jankowski= high school center.

Pretty easy to connect dots.

[Mass_nerder]

Letourneau seems like a taller Joe Colborne.

[Parallex]

Hard to tell what Latourneau would be... IMO we'd need to see what he looks like after his sophmore season in the NCAA to have a proper idea... after Hagens (presumably) leaves the program for the NHL.

[dammage79]

Down around the Vancouver pick there's like 4 other centers I'd prefer. The two Swedes (Erikson and Carlsson), Cole Beaudoin, Jet Luchanko and maybe even reach deep for Koivu (I understand he didn't perform well at the U-18s but Finland wasn't that good overall).

[Fan69]

Originally Posted by dammage79

Down around the Vancouver pick there's like 4 other centers I'd prefer. The two Swedes (Erikson and Carlsson), Cole Beaudoin, Jet Luchanko and maybe even reach deep for Koivu (I understand he didn't perform well at the U-18s but Finland wasn't that good overall).

Like letourneau but cole is interesting. Built like lucic but a center. 6.2 210 pounds probably plays at 220. Not much of a shooter but great vision and passing. Hits like a truck.

Cole with our second pick, letourneau in the second. Dont think lukas fisher makes it to our bottom pick in the second. Would also be surprised though if letournaeu makes much past the first.

[Sandman]

Grain of salt time:

According to a report by Habs blogger Marc-Olivier Beaudoin, the Canadiens might surprise the hockey world by selecting RW Beckett Sennecke with the 5th-overall selection in the draft.

You know what? I wouldn't blame them if they did. Sennecke is 6'2", skates very well, and has put up 22 points in 16 playoff games. Hell, I might even be jealous...

[Erick Estrada]

His stats have been pretty unremarkable in the last two regular seasons. I wouldn't be happy with the Flames using a 5th overall pick on a 68 point forward.

[dammage79]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

His stats have been pretty unremarkable in the last two regular seasons. I wouldn't be happy with the Flames using a 5th overall pick on a 68 point forward.

The Canadiens definitely March to the beat of their own drum when they're drafting at the top of the draft

[Fan69]

Originally Posted by Sandman

Grain of salt time:

According to a report by Habs blogger Marc-Olivier Beaudoin, the Canadiens might surprise the hockey world by selecting RW Beckett Sennecke with the 5th-overall selection in the draft.

You know what? I wouldn't blame them if they did. Sennecke is 6'2", skates very well, and has put up 22 points in 16 playoff games. Hell, I might even be jealous...

If the stuff about heavily scouting tij are true they might not have a preference for wing or center. Dont see it out if the realm of possibility. Would actually heartily approved because who knows what gem drops to us. Catton? Buium? Dickinson?

[Sandman]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

His stats have been pretty unremarkable in the last two regular seasons. I wouldn't be happy with the Flames using a 5th overall pick on a 68 point forward.

He had 55 points in 61 games in 2022-23, which is uncommonly good for a draft-minus-1 season. If anything, I'm asking why he didn't get more points this season. He's showing who he really is in the playoffs. 29 points in his last 21 regular season games too.

Plus, there's plenty of star players who hovered around a ppg in their draft season.

[Fighting Banana Slug]

Not sure it will be Mtl, but I think the draft is wide open enough that a team in the top 10 will pick a surprising guy.

Just hope it isn’t the Flames.

[Fan69]

Originally Posted by Fighting Banana Slug

Not sure it will be Mtl, but I think the draft is wide open enough that a team in the top 10 will pick a surprising guy.

Just hope it isn’t the Flames.

Hage, Senecke, greentree could all make guest spots in the top ten. Im all for it.

[FBI]

Originally Posted by dammage79

Hunter Smith. = Big RHS. Jankowski= high school center.

Pretty easy to connect dots.

One with 50G/100 points in the NHL, one with never a sniff of the NHL

[Snuffleupagus]

Originally Posted by Sandman

He had 55 points in 61 games in 2022-23, which is uncommonly good for a draft-minus-1 season. If anything, I'm asking why he didn't get more points this season. He's showing who he really is in the playoffs. 29 points in his last 21 regular season games too.

Plus, there's plenty of star players who hovered around a ppg in their draft season.

Sennecke had an arm or shoulder injury early in the season and missed some time, some think he came back to soon(happens in draft years) as it took him time to get his game on track, he is a nice talent although at 5 would be a large reach.