2024 NHL Draft Thread

[Lil Pedro]

Small chance we don't have a first rounder this year with the conditions on that 1st round pick trade with Montreal?

[sureLoss]

Trevor Connelly speaks about the picture he posted and an alleged racial slur incident that he denies.

https://www.therinklive.com/junior-a...make-up-for-it

In an exclusive interview with The Rink Live, Connelly discussed an offensive photo he posted as a 16-year-old, an alleged racial remark in California, and the process he has outlined for himself in order to better himself and do his part to make hockey a more inclusive place.

“I think it’s important I talk about what happened because it was an awful mistake and I still feel terrible about it,” Connelly said.

That ‘it’ came in March of 2022 while Connelly and a teammate were in their local library. Connelly’s teammate created a swastika with children’s building blocks and Connelly took a photo, posting it to his Snapchat story and tagging him in the post.

“When I posted it, I didn’t appreciate how offensive and hurtful the post would be,” he said. “But after posting it and talking about the symbol, I removed the picture.

“I’m very sorry for my ignorant mistake and since then I’ve been doing a lot to try to make up for it.”

Along with the photo, there have also been rumblings of another incident, where Connelly allegedly used a racial slur towards an opponent during a game in 2021. However, Connelly adamantly denied those allegations.

Connelly was initially suspended for the accusation but it was ultimately lifted and removed from his record by the California Amateur Hockey Association. After a hearing with the CAHA, it was determined no violation occurred.

Connelly reiterated he’s committed to being the best person he can be on and off the ice. He’s taken several diversity, equity and inclusion training courses and has done over many hours of volunteer community service work — several of which came during the season.

So sounds like he is getting in front of the issue and has made steps to rectify his mistakes.

[metroneck]

Originally Posted by sureLoss

Trevor Connelly speaks about the picture he posted and an alleged racial slur incident that he denies.

https://www.therinklive.com/junior-a...make-up-for-it

So sounds like he is getting in front of the issue and has made steps to rectify his mistakes.

16 year olds do stupid things. I think is shortsighted to measure them by the dumb s##t they do, and not the level of accountability they hold themselves to.

This kid seems to be on the right track.

[Sandman]

Hope he gets his poop in a group, he was a human highlight reel at the Hlinka-Gretzky. Reminds me a bit of Zegras.

[cral12]

We've got our mega rankings spreadsheet updated in the preseason edition:

https://bit.ly/upside2024nhldraft

https://twitter.com/user/status/1697422435115778054

[1qqaaz]

Interesting to see the top 5 forwards all under 6 feet

[Royle9]

Originally Posted by 1qqaaz

Interesting to see the top 5 forwards all under 6 feet

That's why we drafted size this year, Craig knew next year we were going small skilled forward

[1qqaaz]

Since all 5 of the top ranked forwards are 5'11, it'll be interesting to see how many of them end up being listed as 6'0 by the time of the combine. Eiserman seems to be quite a lot larger than Catton, despite being the same height.

[transplant99]

https://twitter.com/user/status/1702305993248415867

[sureLoss]

McKenzie's top 16 preseason rankings. Celebrini first followed by Eiserman and Demidov

https://www.tsn.ca/draftcentre/mackl...king-1.2007499


Some interesting tidbits from the article:

If the scouts are excited by the trio of potential first-line NHL forward talent available this year, they are also enthused by the sheer quantity, and relative quality, of defencemen on TSN’s Pre-Season Top 16.

The No. 4 and No. 5 spots on the list are held down by blueliners — respectively, Michigan State freshman Artyom Levshunov, a 6-foot-2, 199-pound Belarusian who put up some nice offensive numbers in the USHL last season; and London Knights 6-foot-2 3/4, 204-pound Sam Dickinson, a strong-skating two-way presence from the Greater Toronto Area. Levshunov is a right shot; Dickinson is a left shot.

While Celebrini, Eiserman and Demidov are, for now anyway and it is subject to change, projected to have first-line NHL potential, Levshunov and Dickinson are viewed more as potential No. 2s and/or No. 3s on the blueline as opposed to being No. 1s.

But there was such a dearth of defence prospects in last year’s draft that having two in the pre-season top five this year, plus five in the top 10 and eight in the top 16, is quite welcome.

“Lots of interesting D,” one scout said. “Maybe no [Victor] Hedmans or [Cale] Makars, but lots of good ones, quite a few right-shot D, too, which is nice.”

Perhaps the most flat-out intriguing prospect on TSN’s pre-season list is 6-foot-6, 203-pound Russian left-shot defenceman Anton Silayev. When TSN made its initial inquiries of the scouts on the Class of 2024, Silayev was nowhere to be found. But once the KHL started playing games in the last couple of weeks, scouts were scrambling to get a handle on the Russian behemoth who seemingly came out of nowhere to create seismic shock waves in the scouting community.

The scouting opinions on Silayev are all over the place. What we do know is that in his first four KHL outings he played close to 20 minutes per game and picked up four assists. Russian scouts immediately alerted their NHL teams to this larger-than-life surprise. Some teams have already done deep (video) dives on his KHL games — as well as looking back on what seem to be pretty non-descript scouting reports from last year — while others are just now coming to the Silayev party.

But there’s an incredible buzz about Silayev because, in an admittedly minute sample size, he does look like a prospect with all the tools to be a No. 1 NHL defenceman. But where on the pre-season list do you slot him, when some of the scouts we surveyed still haven’t watched him play and aren’t quite sure yet what to make of him?

Well, one scout said Silayev could eclipse Levshunov and Dickinson as the top D prospects in the draft, and he should be immediately pegged as a Top 5 pick. Some others said it’s way premature to even put him in the pre-season Top 10. But there were enough of our 10 scouts who believe he has tools that will allow him to challenge the Big D Three of Levshunov, Dickinson and Jiricek and, given his size, could already be eclipsing a gaggle of smaller, more one-dimensional offensive defencemen.

[sureLoss]

Hockey News top 32 before the NHL season starts:
https://thehockeynews.com/news/2024-...rst-watch-list

They have Silayev ranked as the top d-man. Really fascinating that someone who had a pretty average season (for a stay at home d-man) in the MHL has skyrocketed into the discussion for the best d-man in the draft after a handful of games in the KHL.

[Canada 02]

Craig Button's top 32

https://www.tsn.ca/craig-s-list-mack...raft-1.2013672

interesting news earlier this week. Eiserman decommitted to Minnesota, will now play at BU; same school as Celebrini. Possible they never play together at BU, if one or the other turns pro in 2024

[pgsieve]

Our guy Terik is looking good! 11 points in his first three games: https://chl.ca/whl/players/29272/

[Snuffleupagus]

I have a feeling Cayden Lindstrom is going to crack the top 10 when all's said and done.

[transplant99]

No one talking much about Roger McQueen yet eh?

[FormerPresJamesTaylor]

Originally Posted by transplant99

No one talking much about Roger McQueen yet eh?

Because he's not eligible until 2025

[transplant99]

Originally Posted by FormerPresJamesTaylor

Because he's not eligible until 2025

Ahh....i thought he was 17....im a putz.

[Monahammer]

Interesting that neither ranking in the list has Tanner Howe in the first round, but I think hes going to be a good one. Played behind Bedard last two seasons, but not on same line and went ppg both seasons, pretty impressive. Rocking the C for the team this season. Not a burner and not big, but he's a decent weight for his size and plays the game with decent grit imo. Lots of points.

[IceBergYYC]

Originally Posted by Monahammer

Interesting that neither ranking in the list has Tanner Howe in the first round, but I think hes going to be a good one. Played behind Bedard last two seasons, but not on same line and went ppg both seasons, pretty impressive. Rocking the C for the team this season. Not a burner and not big, but he's a decent weight for his size and plays the game with decent grit imo. Lots of points.

Daily faceoff's got him at 25 https://www.dailyfaceoff.com/news/20...season-top-32/

Sent from my SM-S908W using Tapatalk

[CroCop]

Originally Posted by pgsieve

Our guy Terik is looking good! 11 points in his first three games: https://chl.ca/whl/players/29272/

Ya what a start! Not bad for a kid who was first cut from his hometown bantam team only a few years ago.