2024 NHL Draft Thread (CBJ to pick 4th)

[majormajor]

Lindstrom is and probably should be falling for good reason. I don't think you can waste a top 10 pick on a guy with injury concerns, let alone a top 5 pick.

Catton is still my pick at 4 if Demidov is off the board. The team needs size but Catton is a play driving center who makes everyone around him excel. This team definitely needs more play driving centers. The knock is his size but he's not going to get smaller and only 18 years old. He basically took a team that had no business making the playoffs and brought them there with two other over-agers.

I think injury should be a bigger concern for Catton than for Lindstrom. He really gets thrown around. He has a small frame and finished the year with a hip injury.

We'll see if Lindstrom is back to full health by the combine. I would be less concerned about him reinjuring himself than Catton.

 

[The Last Red]

I have heard a few "experts" note that Reinbacher would be well behind at least 4 of the D in this draft class, based on pre-draft expectations. This draft is considered very strong for D. I believe Steven Ellis is one of those that has specifically mentioned Reinbacher. Silayev, Dickinson, Buium and Levshunov are all considered better prospects this year and there are arguments for Parekh and Yakemchuk as well. I'm no expert so I rely on what I hear when comparing, but I've heard too much about the depth of the D in this class at the top end of the draft to disagree with them. The consensus was that Bedard, Fantili and Carlsson (maybe Smith) would be on par with Celebrini and Demidov may be in that group based on skill but beyond that this top end is higher, just not apparently as deep beyong the top of the draft. most of which is driven by the defensemen.

You're not factoring in the right D angle. Levshunov is the only better right D prospect than Reinbacher, and that actually matters. There are far fewer kids in Canada and Europe who shoot right. The U.S. is the exception to that imbalance..

 

[Napoli]

I think injury should be a bigger concern for Catton than for Lindstrom. He really gets thrown around. He has a small frame and finished the year with a hip injury.

We'll see if Lindstrom is back to full health by the combine. I would be less concerned about him reinjuring himself than Catton.

From what I've seen Catton is one of those guys that is hard to hit. The WHL isn't exactly an easy league ti be productive in. I think he's been seriously underrated in general, which is fine, everyone has their own likes when it comes to the Draft. I just hope the staff sees the value in him, I guess we'll find out.

As for Lindstrom, back injuries are scary and can be chronic. The combine will be beneficial for Lindstrom to prove he's healthy.

 

[Xoggz22]

You're not factoring in the right D angle. Levshunov is the only better right D prospect than Reinbacher, and that actually matters. There are far fewer kids in Canada and Europe who shoot right. The U.S. is the exception to that imbalance..

No, I'm not forgetting that. There are plenty of LHD that can play the right side just as effectively and who says they need to be RHD to be a better defenseman? I don't care the handedness of the player has a higher ceiling. Period. I hear what you are saying and I'm not a scout, just pointing out what has been put out there. I happen to agree with it but I'm just a guy who watches a lot of hockey

 

[KJ Dangler]

https://x.com/i/web/status/1794114781869212042

 

[majormajor]

Prepare yourself for Sam Dickinson at #4.

 

[Cowumbus]

Prepare yourself for Sam Dickinson at #4.

It’s fine I guess. I’d grade it a solid B+. Why do you say that? I’ve been away for a week or so, so I’m flying blind here.

 

[majormajor]

It’s fine I guess. I’d grade it a solid B+. Why do you say that? I’ve been away for a week or so, so I’m flying blind here.

Dickinson is far from my favorite but he's going to be good, we could do worse.

Dickinson is just often ranked in that 4-6 area, with a lot of scouts in Mckenzie's poll having him there, and since then he's been really solid in the OHL final and now the first memorial cup game. There's often a late retreat to safety.

I'd take him all day over Silayev and Levshunov, I'm just hoping we don't pick them.

 

[tunnelvision]

Dickinson is far from my favorite but he's going to be good, we could do worse.

Dickinson is just often ranked in that 4-6 area, with a lot of scouts in Mckenzie's poll having him there, and since then he's been really solid in the OHL final and now the first memorial cup game. There's often a late retreat to safety.

I'm probably repeating what everybody has been saying about him but I'll do it anyway: I really like how he defended in the game. Good positioning, engaged and quick in puck battles, knows how and when to put his body and stick in front to block passes and shots, very impressive skating and explosiveness.

I thought his vision wasn't bad but he probably just doesn't have stickhandling skills to execute any difficult play with the puck. I mean he can dangle and skate around defenders on a zone entry but it's because of his great skating and reach and not because of slick handling ability. I'm not sure how often he can pull those plays off at higher levels. Pretty consistent at doing most basic stuff but very limited creativity and subtlety in his passes. Can't help but think of Bouwmeester.

 

[majormajor]

I'm probably repeating what everybody has been saying about him but I'll do it anyway: I really like how he defended in the game. Good positioning, engaged and quick in puck battles, knows how and when to put his body and stick in front to block passes and shots, very impressive skating and explosiveness.

I thought his vision wasn't bad but he probably just doesn't have stickhandling skills to execute any difficult play with the puck. I mean he can dangle and skate around defenders on a zone entry but it's because of his great skating and reach and not because of slick handling ability. I'm not sure how often he can pull those plays off at higher levels. Pretty consistent at doing most basic stuff but very limited creativity and subtlety in his passes. Can't help but think of Bouwmeester.

Have you seen much of the other defensemen? I'd be curious of your take.

 

[tunnelvision]

Have you seen much of the other defensemen? I'd be curious of your take.

Jiricek at the Hlinka, Buium and Pulkkinen at WJC, a bit of Yakemchuk, Parekh, Dickinson and Elick from CHL. Very little from Levshunov, Silayev and other Russians. Basically nothing from Freij, Solberg, Kiviharju, Emery, Roberts, Badinka.... My goal is to start studying them next week and then re-read most recent pages of this thread to see if there is something to disagree with you all.

 

[Frostybrew]

I previously posted I was hoping for Dickinson or Eiserman with 4th pick. Well I’ve changed my mind. I wouldn’t be upset if it was Dickinson but for Eiserman that’s 4 or 5 picks too early. This is my new order of preference for the 4th pick.

1. Ivan Demidov
2. Berkly Catton
3. Cayden Lindstrom
4. Sam Dickinson or trade down

 

[DankoCBJ]

I previously posted I was hoping for Dickinson or Eiserman with 4th pick. Well I’ve changed my mind. I wouldn’t be upset if it was Dickinson but for Eiserman that’s 4 or 5 picks too early. This is my new order of preference for the 4th pick.

1. Ivan Demidov
2. Berkly Catton
3. Cayden Lindstrom
4. Sam Dickinson or trade down

I like Dickinson too with his abilities and size, but I have to ask - have you looked at Zeev Buium? To me he is one step ahead / more dynamic than Dickinson.

If Demidov is gone, my next guy is (at the moment) Buium and after that Lindstrom or Dickinson.

 

[Frostybrew]

I like Dickinson too with his abilities and size, but I have to ask - have you looked at Zeev Buium? To me he is one step ahead / more dynamic than Dickinson.

If Demidov is gone, my next guy is (at the moment) Buium and after that Lindstrom or Dickinson.

I think they are both future top pairing defensemen. I’d be alright with either of them. Buium might be gone by the 4th pick. Who knows? Seems like defenseman ratings are changing up a bit. Imo the CBJ should go offensive with their pick tho.

 

[KJ Dangler]

 

[CBJx614]

He kinda reminds me of Werenski with better hands also there's a likely possible comparison that he could be the 3rd or 4th Dman taken for whatever reason and end up being the best of the bunch, just likely Werenski in comparison to Hanifin and Provorov

 

[CannonFire1]

Sorry if this is posted elsewhere, but I haven't seen it. The Hockey News Draft Preview is out. They have:
1. Celebrini
2. Demidov
3. Silayev
4. Buuim
5. Dickinson
6. Lindstrom
7. Levshunov
8. Parekh
9. Iginla
10. Helenius
11. Catton
12. Sennecke
13. Eiserman
14. Yakemchuk
15. Greentree

 

[Ice9]

Much argument about his height. I think his mind is a level above the others. I'll take the hockey sense and give back an inch...or 2...

 

[GoJackets1]

My current list of wants:

Demidov
Buium/Lindstrom/Helenius
—-Gap—-
Dickinson/Iginla

 

[Frostybrew]

Sorry if this is posted elsewhere, but I haven't seen it. The Hockey News Draft Preview is out. They have:
1. Celebrini
2. Demidov
3. Silayev
4. Buuim
5. Dickinson
6. Lindstrom
7. Levshunov
8. Parekh
9. Iginla
10. Helenius
11. Catton
12. Sennecke
13. Eiserman
14. Yakemchuk
15. Greentree

Like they know more than me. Lol

My top 15

1. Macklin Celebrini - C
2. Ivan Demidov - RW
3. Zeev Buium - D
4. Berkly Catton - C
5. Sam Dickinson - D
6. Zayne Parekh - D
7. Cayden Lindstrom - C
8. Artyom Levshunov - D
9. Anton Silayev - D
10. Konsta Helenius - C
11. Tij Iginla - C
12. Carter Yakemchuk - D
13. Cole Eiserman - LW
14. Beckett Sennecke - RW
15. Liam Greentree - RW

 

[cbjthrowaway]

craig button is usually the "super far off of the consensus" guy but looking at pronman's latest board it sure feels like he's the outlier this year. but everyone's boards are super different this year.

	Pronman	Button	EP Rinkside
1	Celebrini	Celebrini	Celebrini
2	Levshunov	Demidov	Demidov
3	Yakemchuk	Helenius	Lindstrom
4	Silayev	Iginla	Levshunov
5	Buium	Parekh	Parekh
6	Catton	Buium	Iginla
7	Sennecke	Levshunov	Catton
8	Demidov	Dicksinson	Dickinson
9	Parekh	Eiserman	Silayev
10	Lindstrom	Lindstrom	Buium
11	Dickinson	Yakemchuk	Eiserman
12	Solberg	Sennecke	Helenius
13	Iginla	Parascak	Greentree
14	Helenius	Catton	Connelly
15	Jiricek	Solberg	MBN
16	Eiserman	Silayev	Basha

button got a ton of grief for being low on silayev, but pronman is a huge outlier on demidov and iginla. my personal board is closest to EP Rinkside but i'd have helenius in the top five as button does.

 

[CBJx614]

I wonder the top 10 outside of Celebrinni being so wide open, if we see more movement from teams thinking they can move back and still get their guy. I don't think we should be one of those teams, take BPA and run. But I wonder if it might happen for some other teams.

 

[Double-Shift Lasse]

I wonder the top 10 outside of Celebrinni being so wide open, if we see more movement from teams thinking they can move back and still get their guy. I don't think we should be one of those teams, take BPA and run. But I wonder if it might happen for some other teams.

Again I say, BPA is not some universal metric. While it's possible to run all of these media boards through a blender and come up with an average/consensus, each team uses its own board. If a team's board has Catton ranked fourth, then he would be BPA when the Jackets pick. Likewise for Helenius, or Levshunov, or... you get the point.

I don't think any team is taking a player they know is worse than another player based on positional need. I think positional need may impact a decision between two equally-considered players. But drafting a player who also meets an organizational need is not automatically NOT the BPA.

I will add that, if a team thinks it can get its third-ranked player at 8OA (for example), then it should at least explore the possibility of trading into that spot. I say this as someone who typically poo-poos trading down because people seem to think it's just an easy thing to do.

 

[cbjthrowaway]

Again I say, BPA is not some universal metric. While it's possible to run all of these media boards through a blender and come up with an average/consensus, each team uses its own board. If a team's board has Catton ranked fourth, then he would be BPA when the Jackets pick. Likewise for Helenius, or Levshunov, or... you get the point.

the biggest example of this imo is the chinakhov pick from a few years ago. he wasn't on the public boards at all, but he was in the top 10 on the jackets board.

they picked him at #20 and got a load of shit for not trading back. but all they saw was a top-10 player on the board available at #20. the outsider perspective was an enormous reach, but based on their board he was an enormous value pick.

had they made assumptions based on public boards, and traded down, they may have missed out on chinakhov. is the marginal increase in draft capital via trade-down worth sacrificing a top-10 player who you can get at #20? nope.

that said, team boards start to show more variance after the top 10-15 picks. with the jackets picking fourth this year, they may have similar grades on the 4th-10th guys on their board. if a team makes it worth their while to trade back, they may still be able to get a top-5 guy on their board at 7 (ottawa) or 9 (calgary) while netting an additional first-rounder.

if they get on the clock at 4 and one of their top 3 guys is still there, though? then you make the pick and don't think twice about it.

 

[EspenK]

This year's draft seems to me to be the biggest crap shoot in recent memory.

Given that I would probably take the guy with the highest floor rather than the higher ceiling guy who might not achieve that. From all that I have read I think Sam Dickinson is the guy I'd take. I know the LD position seems set for years with Zach & Mateychuk but none of the RDs excite me too much.

All that being said Catton & Lindstrom are guys I'd also consider. If Lindstrom is 100% I'd be very happy with him. Catton's stats are very impressive but he seems a bit small. But Kane & Bedard aren't exactly large guys. Both guys would fill an organizational need. Even if Lindstrom winds up on the wing we don't a guy with his physicality ther.

Give me any of the above first and then the rest of the top d except for Silayev. Nothing about his resume impresses me other than his size.

Bottom line I will probably be happy with our pick.