2024 NHL Draft Thread

[sch19lks]

Levshunov has actually looked really good since he got called up. Demidov with Bedard? Sure, I’ll give you that. But d men take longer to develop and he’s looked great so far

[FlamesDraftPrognosticator]

Originally Posted by sch19lks

Levshunov has actually looked really good since he got called up. Demidov with Bedard? Sure, I’ll give you that. But d men take longer to develop and he’s looked great so far

Oh no, I’m not saying Levshunov is a bust—I just don’t see him as a true 2nd overall pick. Sure, time will ultimately tell, and the others above are right about that, but after another year, you can already get a solid read on a prospect’s development and ceiling. Personally, I don’t see that shaping up to be the 2nd-best player in this draft; his trajectory already looks outside the top 5 and that will probably shift closer to top 10. When you draft top 3 as a scout, you can’t miss your mark.

[PepsiFree]

Originally Posted by FlamesDraftPrognosticator

It's not unreasonable to think that some people have a sharp eye for talent while others may lack this ability. It's surprising to suggest that someone can't distinguish a talented player from one who isn't. After all, this is precisely why there are good scouts and bad scouts in hockey. This disparity in talent recognition is exactly why some teams excel at identifying skilled players, while others struggle in this area.

I think it would be a interesting idea for the 2025 draft and the future drafts to put each of our talent evaluating reputations on the line assessing first rounders in this class and future classes and seeing how each of our picks turn out a few years down the road.

You’re right, it’s not unreasonable. I just don’t have any reason to believe you have the ability based on your comments. I imagine that most people in scouting and player development know, considering most fans also know, that development isn’t linear and takes more than a year to play out.

The reason consensus first overalls can turn out to be busts is because of this. If it was really just a matter of whether there were good scouts and bad scouts, these players wouldn’t be number one, because the good scouts wouldn’t rank them that highly. It’s fun to believe there’s just good ones and bad ones, but that doesn’t explain why nearly every team passed on a player like Kucherov twice, or why Wolf was a 7th round pick, or Gaudreau a 4th. It’s one thing to identify talent, but nobody can predict the future or exactly how a development curve is going to go, or how guys are going to show up once they actually turn pro.

AL was ranked between 2 and 6 most places I saw. He was predicted as a guy that needed 2-3 years before he was NHL ready and that’s looking accurate. Maybe he turns out as the second best player in the draft, maybe not, but you’re being silly if you think you know any better than I do or the many, many scouts who ranked him second.

Feel free to put your money where your mouth is and rank this year’s draft though. Go up to top 30. Will happily eat crow if you want to bring it up down the line, especially if you don’t just copy and paste someone else’s rankings lol.

[Jiri Hrdina]

The decision on who to draft #2 would be on the GM ultimately. And he would be weighing other factors, not just the talent of the player. In the case of Demidov the Russian factor would have been part of the decision.

Bob spoke at length about this in his final rankings:


It is, however, one thing for a scout to rank Demidov at No. 2 overall; it’s quite another for an NHL general manager to make the decision to actually take him there.

“I have no problem personally ranking Demidov at No. 2,” said a scout, “but I couldn’t assure you my team would take him there if we were picking second overall. There’s a lot more that goes into it now, especially that high.”

No NHL GM, or North American-based executives/scouts, have had live viewings of Demidov this season, who played for SKA’s junior team in the Russian MHL.

Because of the various sanctions against Russia due to its attack of Ukraine, the best young Russian players have not been able to play against their international peers in International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) events such as the World Junior Championship, Hlinka Gretzky Cup and U-18 World Championship.

Interestingly enough, Demidov is the only Russian prospect in this draft who has been live, or in-arena, scouted by NHL GMs and/or North American-based scouts.

Demidov, a late 2005 birthdate, was a double underager on Russia’s Hlinka-Gretzky Cup team in the summer of 2021. He had two goals and five points in five games that year. He did not make the Russian team that played in the 2021 U18 World Championships in Texas when a couple of kids named Bedard and (Matvei) Michkov went head to head.

Having to scout Russians almost exclusively from video doesn’t preclude them from being taken high in the draft — Arizona took defenceman Dmitri Simashev sixth overall last year and Philadelphia chose forward Matvei Michkov eighth overall — but it does give pause to consider, especially depending on the viability of other top prospects.

“If you’re going to take a Russian in the top five picks, your owner has to be on board,” one scout said. “It’s not just a hockey decision. Your GM has to have an idea of how soon that [Russian] player will or won’t be coming to North America. It’s not insurmountable, but there are added layers to taking a Russian really high in the draft.”

Another scout, however, believes the Russian Factor is overplayed.

“The good ones always come over,” the scout said. “Maybe you have to wait a year or two or three, but history tells us the good ones come and they’re often worth the wait.”

And sometimes the wait isn’t as long as anticipated. Look no further than the news Tuesday that Michkov is leaving SKA to sign with the Flyers only one year after being drafted when the initial expectation was it would be a three-year wait.

NHL teams welcomed the opportunity to see Demidov in the flesh last week in Florida at a camp run by agent Dan Milstein. Demidov didn’t go on the ice — he’s recovering from a minor injury — but teams were able to meet and interview him. NHL Central Scouting was there to measure him, and others. He checked in at 6 feet, 1/2 inch and 192 pounds – an inch or more taller than he was previously listed at.

NHL teams who made the trek to Milstein’s camp were told Demidov is contractually obligated to play next season in Russia, but he could come to the NHL as early as the fall of 2025.

“It was good to meet the player, talk to him, get a better idea of who he is and a sense of when he might come over,” said one scout. “My takeaway was that he very much wants to be an NHL player and there are no big issues on that front.”

If that’s the case, then the scouts can focus on more traditional prospect evaluations.

Demidov has elite passing and goal-scoring skills. His hockey sense and competitiveness are viewed as outstanding. Some scouts say his skating is only average. Whatever size concerns that existed when he was believed to be under 6-feet tall no longer apply.

“If he isn’t a No. 1 offensive winger in the NHL, he’ll be a No. 2,” said a scout. “He’s not an elite skater, like Kirill Kaprizov, but he has elite skills and competitiveness.”

But some scouts question the competition he played against in the MHL, suggesting his productivity was inflated because of it.

“Sure, we would have preferred to see him in the KHL or VHL, but if he was there playing only a few minutes a game we would be complaining about that,” said a scout, laughing.

Given all of the above, seeing which team, and at which point in the draft he’s chosen, is going to be one of the most intriguing storylines of draft day.

https://www.tsn.ca/nhl/bob-mckenzie-...rini-1.2139912

[sureLoss]

NHL Central Scouting has released final rankings:
https://www.nhl.com/news/2025-nhl-draft-final-rankings

NA Skaters: https://media.d3.nhle.com/image/priv...fgqsqrdvjg.pdf

NA Goalies:
https://media.d3.nhle.com/image/priv...2fcvhvk98g.pdf

International Skaters:
https://media.d3.nhle.com/image/priv...6fsshye6u5.pdf

International Goalies:
https://media.d3.nhle.com/image/priv...tfw3zpvsuf.pdf

[Paulie Walnuts]

37 points in 37 games for Hagens seems pretty underwhelming for a guy that was talked about as #1 overall. Or am I out to lunch here?

[Sandman]

Wrong thread guys, this is the 2024 Draft Thread. It got bumped to debate the Levshunov vs. Demidov draft scenario.

[SuperMatt18]

Originally Posted by Paulie Walnuts

37 points in 37 games for Hagens seems pretty underwhelming for a guy that was talked about as #1 overall. Or am I out to lunch here?

Ooops wrong thread.

[Jiri Hrdina]

Originally Posted by sureLoss

NHL Central Scouting has released final rankings:
https://www.nhl.com/news/2025-nhl-draft-final-rankings

NA Skaters: https://media.d3.nhle.com/image/priv...fgqsqrdvjg.pdf

NA Goalies:
https://media.d3.nhle.com/image/priv...2fcvhvk98g.pdf

International Skaters:
https://media.d3.nhle.com/image/priv...6fsshye6u5.pdf

International Goalies:
https://media.d3.nhle.com/image/priv...tfw3zpvsuf.pdf

Time for my annual complaint about these lists being divided thereby making them totally useless.

[Icon]

Originally Posted by Jiri Hrdina

Time for my annual complaint about these lists being divided thereby making them totally useless.

As a forecasted overall draft order/ranking, yeah fairly useless.

Still interesting for comparables/ranking within the lists.

[FlamesDraftPrognosticator]

Originally Posted by PepsiFree

You’re right, it’s not unreasonable. I just don’t have any reason to believe you have the ability based on your comments. I imagine that most people in scouting and player development know, considering most fans also know, that development isn’t linear and takes more than a year to play out.

The reason consensus first overalls can turn out to be busts is because of this. If it was really just a matter of whether there were good scouts and bad scouts, these players wouldn’t be number one, because the good scouts wouldn’t rank them that highly. It’s fun to believe there’s just good ones and bad ones, but that doesn’t explain why nearly every team passed on a player like Kucherov twice, or why Wolf was a 7th round pick, or Gaudreau a 4th. It’s one thing to identify talent, but nobody can predict the future or exactly how a development curve is going to go, or how guys are going to show up once they actually turn pro.

AL was ranked between 2 and 6 most places I saw. He was predicted as a guy that needed 2-3 years before he was NHL ready and that’s looking accurate. Maybe he turns out as the second best player in the draft, maybe not, but you’re being silly if you think you know any better than I do or the many, many scouts who ranked him second.

Feel free to put your money where your mouth is and rank this year’s draft though. Go up to top 30. Will happily eat crow if you want to bring it up down the line, especially if you don’t just copy and paste someone else’s rankings lol.

Your opinion is valid, and don't let my account join date mislead you—I've been lurking CP since before our cup run in '04. I'm more than willing to put my reputation on the line to prove my point, so be sure to stick around. If I'm wrong, I'll own it, but more often than not, my picks are spot on.

Spotting top-tier talent is second nature to me including finding diamond in the rough, something I've done for years—and it's not as difficult as it seems. Also, recognizing players who will underperform or be marginal NHLers in the first round can sometimes be even easier than finding stars. Many people assume that having an NHL title automatically means someone has a keen eye for player selection, but I assure you that's not true. Time will tell, and I'm perfectly comfortable having my posts etched in CP history for all to see.

[fotze2]

Originally Posted by FlamesDraftPrognosticator

Your opinion is valid, and don't let my account join date mislead you—I've been lurking CP since before our cup run in '04. I'm more than willing to put my reputation on the line to prove my point, so be sure to stick around. If I'm wrong, I'll own it, but more often than not, my picks are spot on.

Spotting top-tier talent is second nature to me including finding diamond in the rough, something I've done for years—and it's not as difficult as it seems. Also, recognizing players who will underperform or be marginal NHLers in the first round can sometimes be even easier than finding stars. Many people assume that having an NHL title automatically means someone has a keen eye for player selection, but I assure you that's not true. Time will tell, and I'm perfectly comfortable having my posts etched in CP history for all to see.

So you are like a prospect whisperer?

[Enoch Root]

Originally Posted by FlamesDraftPrognosticator

Your opinion is valid, and don't let my account join date mislead you—I've been lurking CP since before our cup run in '04. I'm more than willing to put my reputation on the line to prove my point, so be sure to stick around. If I'm wrong, I'll own it, but more often than not, my picks are spot on.

Spotting top-tier talent is second nature to me including finding diamond in the rough, something I've done for years—and it's not as difficult as it seems. Also, recognizing players who will underperform or be marginal NHLers in the first round can sometimes be even easier than finding stars. Many people assume that having an NHL title automatically means someone has a keen eye for player selection, but I assure you that's not true. Time will tell, and I'm perfectly comfortable having my posts etched in CP history for all to see.

Nothing erodes credibility faster than statements like the bolded.

[SeanCharles]

Originally Posted by sch19lks

Levshunov has actually looked really good since he got called up. Demidov with Bedard? Sure, I’ll give you that. But d men take longer to develop and he’s looked great so far

I think part of the discussion is because Rinzel who was drafted the year prior and is also a proficient 2-way RH dman is looking really solid as well. He's a bigger guy and is already playing top-4 mins, top special teams mins and isn't looking out of place.

Can never have too many good young, especially RH, dmen but the argument stands since Demidov looks like a stud top line winger for years to come.

[sch19lks]

Originally Posted by SeanCharles

I think part of the discussion is because Rinzel who was drafted the year prior and is also a proficient 2-way RH dman is looking really solid as well. He's a bigger guy and is already playing top-4 mins, top special teams mins and isn't looking out of place.

Can never have too many good young, especially RH, dmen but the argument stands since Demidov looks like a stud top line winger for years to come.

I understand, but that high in the draft, you shouldn’t be drafting for need. It should always be best player available. The Hawks obviously thought Levshunov was BPA

[Wastedyouth]

Originally Posted by FlamesDraftPrognosticator

Your opinion is valid, and don't let my account join date mislead you—I've been lurking CP since before our cup run in '04. I'm more than willing to put my reputation on the line to prove my point, so be sure to stick around. If I'm wrong, I'll own it, but more often than not, my picks are spot on.

Spotting top-tier talent is second nature to me including finding diamond in the rough, something I've done for years—and it's not as difficult as it seems. Also, recognizing players who will underperform or be marginal NHLers in the first round can sometimes be even easier than finding stars. Many people assume that having an NHL title automatically means someone has a keen eye for player selection, but I assure you that's not true. Time will tell, and I'm perfectly comfortable having my posts etched in CP history for all to see.

Post of the year candidate. lol.