2024 NHL Draft Thread - Upd: Draft Lottery is May 7th

[Kevin Musto]

Alright, thank you Scotty!

Now let's all hope for a bottom 10 finish for Tampa. I can wait a year for another top 10 pick.

I'd love for Tampa to gift us Michael Misa.

 

[CallMeShaft]

Bolts whooped the Blues tonight, but Sergachev got injured and left the game early. Could affect their standing if he's out a while.

 

[Wally1112pac]

Bolts whooped the Blues tonight, but Sergachev got injured and left the game early. Could affect their standing if he's out a while.

Lightning's Sergachev exits game vs. Blues with lower-body injury

Tampa Bay Lightning defenceman Mikhail Sergachev left Tuesday's game against the St. Louis Blues with a lower-body injury and will not return, the team announced.

www.sportsnet.ca

Blocked a shot his with left foot by mistake and was in all kinds of pain.

Could have broke something. Who knows?

 

[Mrfenn92]

Lightning's Sergachev exits game vs. Blues with lower-body injury

Tampa Bay Lightning defenceman Mikhail Sergachev left Tuesday's game against the St. Louis Blues with a lower-body injury and will not return, the team announced.

www.sportsnet.ca

Blocked a shot his with left foot by mistake and was in all kinds of pain.

Could have broke something. Who knows?

Hopefully he didn’t break anything

 

[Northernhawk]

Chicago also has Toronto top ten protected 1st in 2025!

Not sure anyone was aware but the 51st overall pick belongs to Philadelphia as compensation for not signing OBrien…

 

[Beukeboom Fan]

It's the cold, harsh reality of the situation. Where do you think he ends up? I assume he's going to want a 7 year deal in free agency.

Just IMO - but Stamkos is a weird situation. He's going to be 34 when he signs his next contract, and he's put up absolutely great numbers the last 3 years during which he's been healthy the entire time. The issue for me is that when I watch the Lightning even when putting up those numbers, I don't see him driving the play. Maybe I'm not giving him enough credit - but if he goes somewhere without Point/Kuch/Hedman I'll be interested to see how that impacts his production.

The issue is that typically the team that makes the biggest mistake contract wise gets the player in this situation. This will especially be the case because with the cap going up about $5M, there will be more active teams on 7/1 than there have been the last couple years. I think that SS has 3 options:

1) Give TB a significant haircut on what he could make on the open market and sign for 2-3 years @ $5.5M ish. This would necessitate SS swallowing his pride and bending over and taking it from Brisebois. This would save TB about $3M which would hopefully enable them to upgrade CDH to a legit NHL top 4 d-man.
2) Go to market and got for max term. Some team would probably go 4 years, not sure on the $ (I'd guess $7.5M'ish), but likely dependent on how good the team is with bad team going higher.
3) Go to market and go for max salary, but short term. SS would be betting that he ages well and go to a team like the Hawks or Sabres for 2 years @ $9M or something around there.

 

[BHawk21]

Toews
Kane
Keith
DeBrincat
Saad
Anisimov
Murphy
Schmaltz/Strome
Seabrook
Crawford

Those are some of the players on the 17-18 and 18-19 seasons of the Chicago Blackhawks when they drafted top 10 (albeit, they did get lucky in the 2019 draft).

Point is, it's easy to list off good players on a team now and expect their play not to diminish as they get older. But as us Hawks fans have witnessed, it happens. Guys get long in the tooth and team depth takes a hit. It happens to most contenders eventually.

I think you can get a real impact player at 11 this year instead of risking an unknown pick in 2 years.

Id gladly be wrong and pick in the top 5 in 2025 but I trust the lightning franchise too much that in just two years they wont be intentionally tanking with all those good young players on the roster..

 

[hawksfan50]

Top 5 targets for Hawks (talent +needs)for 1st selection in thisordsr:

1.Macklin Celebrini C
2.Cayden Lindstrom C
3.Zayne Parekh RD
4.Artyom Shinobu RD
5.Tij Iginla LW/C
______

For 2nd selection of round 1 (pick from TB):
1.Carter Yakemchuk RD (unless we got a RD with 1st selection).

2. DEAN LETOURNEAU C

3. Nikita Artamanov RW
_________

We have 3 picks in round 2...my targets for round 2 in this order:



1.Andrew Basha LW
2.Melvin Fernstrom RW Sweden J-20
3.Sam O'reilly RW -London Knights
4.Alfons Frej LD- Sweden J-20
5.Matvei Gridin RW -USHL
6.Danil Ustinkov LD
Hopefully we get 3 of these 6 it willbe a great 2nd round.

Of course drafted Milton Oscarson ...so if we drafted Melvin Fernstrom also from Sweden it would have us Milton and Melvin..and if Gridin was drafted by us it woukd give us a complete M line .

If we drafted Ustinkov, it might be a revenue bonanza in jersey sLes...Who woukd not want to wear a Ustinkov jersey...conversation starter anywhere ...YOU - STINKOV (I am sure you get the marketing possibilities) but the fact is hevis a good 2 wY dman pkayong against men i the top Swiss league ...yes only about 10 minutes a game but holding his own on the Zurich Lions at that level at this young age..

Anyway these are targets I would like to add to our pipeline..

I think if we want a RD there are only 3 of them who are likely to impact big and so after Parekh,Levshunov and Yakenchuk all off the board I do not think we should waste our 2nd 1stcrounder or any of the 3 2nd rounders on an iffy RD...better depth into 2nd round of good LD and it is a good 2nd round tovadd good winger prospects..

I have not researched round 3 cadidates ..but if Owen Alkardxstill on the board when we first pick in roundc3,I can see us taking the passed over last draft winger.He blossomed this seadon and made tge Canadian world Jr. Squad ...

 

[HjamSandwich]

Chicago also has Toronto top ten protected 1st in 2025!

Not sure anyone was aware but the 51st overall pick belongs to Philadelphia as compensation for not signing OBrien…

All the more reason for us to pay up for Nylander.

 

[wladyslaw]

Just IMO - but Stamkos is a weird situation. He's going to be 34 when he signs his next contract, and he's put up absolutely great numbers the last 3 years during which he's been healthy the entire time. The issue for me is that when I watch the Lightning even when putting up those numbers, I don't see him driving the play. Maybe I'm not giving him enough credit - but if he goes somewhere without Point/Kuch/Hedman I'll be interested to see how that impacts his production.

The issue is that typically the team that makes the biggest mistake contract wise gets the player in this situation. This will especially be the case because with the cap going up about $5M, there will be more active teams on 7/1 than there have been the last couple years. I think that SS has 3 options:

1) Give TB a significant haircut on what he could make on the open market and sign for 2-3 years @ $5.5M ish. This would necessitate SS swallowing his pride and bending over and taking it from Brisebois. This would save TB about $3M which would hopefully enable them to upgrade CDH to a legit NHL top 4 d-man.
2) Go to market and got for max term. Some team would probably go 4 years, not sure on the $ (I'd guess $7.5M'ish), but likely dependent on how good the team is with bad team going higher.
3) Go to market and go for max salary, but short term. SS would be betting that he ages well and go to a team like the Hawks or Sabres for 2 years @ $9M or something around there.

To Add... Seems like I read before season that SS was very upset w Bolts Brass NOT willing to negotiate new deal... Speaks volumes to Your "Issue" of teams making Biggest Mistakes at this point in player's career....

SS seemed a Little PISSED at Bolts... and His strong start... Might be Stamkos "Auditioning" for UFA market...

Ironically --seemed Bolts were gambling on drop in production,,, AND Now it looks like the TEAM is dropping in standings-- and SS might be holding the cards...

It will be interesting to see how this plays out

 

[kmwtrucks]

To Add... Seems like I read before season that SS was very upset w Bolts Brass NOT willing to negotiate new deal... Speaks volumes to Your "Issue" of teams making Biggest Mistakes at this point in player's career....

SS seemed a Little PISSED at Bolts... and His strong start... Might be Stamkos "Auditioning" for UFA market...

Ironically --seemed Bolts were gambling on drop in production,,, AND Now it looks like the TEAM is dropping in standings-- and SS might be holding the cards...

It will be interesting to see how this plays out

they have 8 really good players between 25-30 that is there core Stamkos and hedman are not part of that. I dont think they will trade stamkos but I think he plays elsewere next year. could be a really good option on the blackhawks. 2 yr at $8AAV? he turns 34 in 6 weeks. the money and term dry up. what was the best 34 year old contract signed last off season by a UFA? kilhorn got 4 years at 6.25 and ANA are regretting it after 20 games. he was 33 when he signed.

 

[Beukeboom Fan]

To Add... Seems like I read before season that SS was very upset w Bolts Brass NOT willing to negotiate new deal... Speaks volumes to Your "Issue" of teams making Biggest Mistakes at this point in player's career....

SS seemed a Little PISSED at Bolts... and His strong start... Might be Stamkos "Auditioning" for UFA market...

Ironically --seemed Bolts were gambling on drop in production,,, AND Now it looks like the TEAM is dropping in standings-- and SS might be holding the cards...

It will be interesting to see how this plays out

Only disagreement that I have is I think that SS was REAALLY pissed after all he had done for the organization. That said, Brisbois is a cold hearted SOB that is not sentimental - which is exactly what you need as the GM. The cap is going up about $4.7M, and Brisbois gave all that to Hagel.

Because we have their pick, I've watched them pretty closely this year, and they've got 3 guys who aren't legit NHL dmen and their bottom 6 forwards are trash. I think that Brisbois knows that he they're way too top heavy, and he needs to improve the depth, and the only way that happens is SS taking WAY below market value. Not sure if SS is salty enough to leave based on general principle, but I think it's an option.

I don't think that the Lightning were betting on a down year - I think they're betting SS wanting to stay in TB his entire career and are willing to see if he's going to take a $3-4M haircut to do so. If not - the Lightning are 100% ready to move on without him.

 

[WarriorofTime]

Only disagreement that I have is I think that SS was REAALLY pissed after all he had done for the organization. That said, Brisbois is a cold hearted SOB that is not sentimental - which is exactly what you need as the GM. The cap is going up about $4.7M, and Brisbois gave all that to Hagel.

Because we have their pick, I've watched them pretty closely this year, and they've got 3 guys who aren't legit NHL dmen and their bottom 6 forwards are trash. I think that Brisbois knows that he they're way too top heavy, and he needs to improve the depth, and the only way that happens is SS taking WAY below market value. Not sure if SS is salty enough to leave based on general principle, but I think it's an option.

I don't think that the Lightning were betting on a down year - I think they're betting SS wanting to stay in TB his entire career and are willing to see if he's going to take a $3-4M haircut to do so. If not - the Lightning are 100% ready to move on without him.

Darren Raddysh (Taylor's brother) is basically a plug and their number 4 defenseman. Perbix is basically in the same boat, and we're familiar with de Haan. Their depth is pretty terrible, but to be expected from years of not having high or many picks and paying all the core pieces. Not sure the extent of Sergachev's injury but that would be really bad for them. The more up to speed Vasilevskiy gets though, the more their season can still be rescued, they can still score a bunch (Kucherov is playing out of his mind) and Vasilevskiy is one of the few that can cover up a horrid defense

 

[CallMeShaft]

For Tampa's sake, Sergy better not be out long. I count ONE NHL defensive pairing here. If he's out long term, that 1st we've got coming probably wont be for 2024.

Edit:

 

[belfour30]

With the earlier pick if the Hawks don't get #1:

F-Lindstrom
D-Levshunov

I'd be thrilled if they walked out of the 1st round with Lindstrom and Yakemchuk.

Subject to change as the season goes on, but this is how I feel right now.

 

[hawksfan50]

For our first pick I have it:
1.Celebrini
2..Liindstrom
3.Paerkh
4. Levshunov
If we draft 3rd ior 4th I think Hawks and Hawks fans woukd be hapoy with either of these 2 RD prizes..

I rank Parekh above Levshunov only because I think he has a higher ceiling and can take over a game.. He us tgat dynamic an offensive weapon..And he has improved vastly defensively this year over last season...But Levshinov has a sixe advantage over Parekh and is more physical...both have great shots from distance but Levshunov has nitcso far in college used that weapon as much as he did in the ushl..
I just think Parekh has a potential ceiling lije Makar ...Will give defenses fits.

In any case both woukd be good 1st pair RD needs solutions allowing SJones to reduce mknutesxandcinto 2ndvpairingbrole(when they get to tge NHL)...

I do notvthink Levshunov is a 1 and done in colkege ..At least will go through a 2nd season in 2024/25 before turning pro...

Parekh will eitger turn pro after another year in juniors next season but maybe 2 more seasons to add some more weight/muscle..

But if Hawks draftat #1or#2 then you gotta grab the top center targets when you can...so difficukt to find a centerxwith good or big sixexand skills packages with later picks beyond top ten...maybecsone years you can but I doubt Hawks pass on a top Center sokution before they go to RD need ..Cebters and RD are usually priority needs for most teams drafting early but top Center prizes are prioritized first.

In any case...in terms ofvthe Blackhawks Needs for the pipeline and key solutions down tgecriad,I think my top 4 fills thisexspecific needs..I do nktvghink we draftcanotgercsnalk Center ..sotgat rukes out Demidov and Helenius..
As to tge Tampa Bay pick...I hope it is between 11-19 rang...in tgecteens..

Depending on where in the teens ,Carter Yakemchuk isxa RD target in this range and so if we took a Cekebrini or Lindstrom with our early first selection,then a no brainer taking a RD in Yakemchuk with the TB pick we own for our 2nd selection of round 1..IF Yakemchuk off the board ,OR if we took a RD at pick #3or#4if that scenario played out,THEN in that case there may remain a Big C solution ..if still on the biard then with tgexTB puck we take Big C Dean Letourneau ....some recent rankings have him atx#29 or#30 but that is only due to him playing as a prep. School (St Anrews College)..Usually prep school or high school talents go only later firsts or are 2nd rounders given their lower level of competition ...but Letourneau isxa soecial combo of great size,skill athleticism shot and explosive power in his skating that he could be off the board much earlier in tge teens ratger than end of round 1.

So if we took axRD Because we only draft at #3or#4 then I cannot see us taking another RD with our TB pick i the teens (i fTB has a goid 2nd half it may be past the teens into mid 20s or later ...but let us not be that pessimistic)...

If both Yakemchuk and Letourneau off the board with our TB pick slot on the clock...then I would RW Nikita Atrtananov or LW Tij Iginla if still on the board...

If TB rises into 20s or late first then If everyone I mentioned above is off the board I LW Andrew Basha if still on the board.

As for our 3 2nd rounders...targets I like are:

1.SEAN O'REILLY RW -London Knights
2.MELVIN FERNSTROM RW -SWE J-20
3.ALFONS FREJ - SWE -J-20
4.DANIL USTINKOV LD .- Zurich Lions -SWiTZERLAND

 

[hawksfan50]

FYI...I saw it reported that DEAN LETOURNEAu during the school break from his prep school (St .Andrews College) will play a few USHL games for Sioux Falls which holds hisp rights after drafting him...
This will give scouts a viewing to see hom play at a higher level of competition...

He is committed to Boston College in 2025/26 ...so forc 024/25"he can either return to St Andrws College or join Sioux Falks for tge USHL season then.

This means at least a minimum ofc2 more seasobs before he might turn pro.Likely a 1 and done if he rips it up in Boston College in 2025/26 as a freshman.

 

[Castle8130]

Michigan coach praised Levshunov heavily. I'm a big fan of him right now. I see him as a top 5 pick

 

[Beukeboom Fan]

Michigan coach praised Levshunov heavily. I'm a big fan of him right now. I see him as a top 5 pick

Castle - that gets your ass-kicked in a lot of places. Michigan "State" coach!!

 

[Ace Card Bedard]

As of now Hawks picking top 4 and Tampa's pick is #14.
I'd be happy if it ends up similar.

 

[TLEH]

Michigan coach praised Levshunov heavily. I'm a big fan of him right now. I see him as a top 5 pick

I don't view this as a positive or a negative, more an expected thing for a coach to hype his player.

 

[Kevin Musto]

I don't view this as a positive or a negative, more an expected thing for a coach to hype his player.

Yup.

There was an interview with Mike Doneghey last year where he said that they don't even talk to the coaches when evaluating the players. They'll talk to teammates, trainers, arena staff, friends, family, neighbours, but they don't care what the coach has to say.

Coaches always say the same thing.

 

[Northernhawk]

As of today, December 22nd tankathon has the Blackhawks selecting these five players I this summer
2.Cole Eiserman,f
15.Carter Yakemchuk,d
34.Veeti Vaisanen,d
59.Miguel Marques,f
63.Raoul Boilard,f
Mind you they don’t account for Philly receiving the 51st overall pick as compensation for losing O’Brien so our 59th would become a 60th and the 63rd would become a 64th…but…
I love the idea of drafting two players named Miguel and Raoul!!!

 

[plebskeeto]

I for sure get the fantasy of having Eiserman as our first pick, and being able to play with Bedard, but aren't one dimensional players not very conducive to winning a cup? I really liked how Lidstrom looked so far. I think he would be a perfect fit with Bedard. Maybe i'm just undervaluing/misunderstanding Eisermans tool set. A big strong forward who can win pucke battles on the walls, has elite finishing and net driving sounds really sexy right now lol.

 

[Putt Pirate]

Eiserman, it seems like he has flattened out a bit development wise. Others are rising and he has stayed pretty much the ‘same’. Not sure what to make of him at the moment to be honest. Offensively he is a scorer but he doesn’t seem to do much else.