HF Habs: 2024 NHL Draft Thread

[Hannibal]

Demidov is looking good, but man the competition he is against, ouffff. Atrocious

 

[Adam Michaels]

Anyone have any info on Dean Letouneau? He's projected to go late 1st round/2nd round. He's 6'7" and 209 lbs and will turn 18 on Feb. 21st.

He played at St-Andrew's College and played in both U18 AAA and the Ontario Prep hockey league. He was the top scorer in both competitions. He put up 110 pts in 49 GP at U18 AAA and had 25 pts in 14 GP at Prep hockey.

He's now in the USHL playing with the Sioux Falls Stampede, who drafted him in the USHL draft. He has 0 pts in 2 GP.

Curious if he's a Tage Thompson-type.

 

[WeThreeKings]

Anyone have any info on Dean Letouneau? He's projected to go late 1st round/2nd round. He's 6'7" and 209 lbs and will turn 18 on Feb. 21st.

He played at St-Andrew's College and played in both U18 AAA and the Ontario Prep hockey league. He was the top scorer in both competitions. He put up 110 pts in 49 GP at U18 AAA and had 25 pts in 14 GP at Prep hockey.

He's now in the USHL playing with the Sioux Falls Stampede, who drafted him in the USHL draft. He has 0 pts in 2 GP.

Curious if he's a Tage Thompson-type.

It's tough because he's playing against terrible competition.. I'm hoping he gets more USHL games to see how it goes. He does have a lot of interesting tools to work with as a big man.

I like him with the WPG pick if we keep it. There will be other guys as well (Boisvert, Hage and Sennecke as previously mentioned) where you are looking at tools being better than their production right now.

If you take him, you are looking at a guy that should probably spend 4 years in development, so 1 year USHL then 3 years NCAA, then sign him.

 

[Adam Michaels]

It's tough because he's playing against terrible competition.. I'm hoping he gets more USHL games to see how it goes. He does have a lot of interesting tools to work with as a big man.

I like him with the WPG pick if we keep it. There will be other guys as well (Boisvert, Hage and Sennecke as previously mentioned) where you are looking at tools being better than their production right now.

If you take him, you are looking at a guy that should probably spend 4 years in development, so 1 year USHL then 3 years NCAA, then sign him.

He's committed to Boston College, which is encouraging as they are good at recruiting. But it's for the 2025-26 season.

 

[Goldenhands]

 

[Anardil]

I fully expect the WPG pick to be included with other picks/prospects in a package deal to get another forward that is further along his development path, just as HuGo have done in the past two drafts.

Hughes has publicly said numerous times that he wants to do an accelerated rebuild. So I don't see him accumulating more picks, or trying to acquire another 1st round pick. They already have about 20 picks in the next two drafts.

Don't be surprised to see another Romanov-type deal at the draft. Hopefully not for Zegras!

 

[MTL Dirty Birdy]

With our Winnipeg pick, I wonder if we target a potential 3C, or potentially trade the pick+ for a young NHL ready 3C. We are pretty thin there at the moment. All our eggs are in the Beck basket. Is there anyone in that 20-32 range that would fit the bill?

If the Winnipeg pick is late, I’d take a flyer on Letourneau

 

[SlafySZN]

 

[HuGort]

I fully expect the WPG pick to be included with other picks/prospects in a package deal to get another forward that is further along his development path, just as HuGo have done in the past two drafts.

Hughes has publicly said numerous times that he wants to do an accelerated rebuild. So I don't see him accumulating more picks, or trying to acquire another 1st round pick. They already have about 20 picks in the next two drafts.

Don't be surprised to see another Romanov-type deal at the draft. Hopefully not for Zegras!

I probably would rather keep the pick and sign a UFA. For short term fix. Then flip him in couple of years when our pick is ready. Somebody like Toffoli.

 

[HuGo Burner Acc]

I fully expect the WPG pick to be included with other picks/prospects in a package deal to get another forward that is further along his development path, just as HuGo have done in the past two drafts.

Hughes has publicly said numerous times that he wants to do an accelerated rebuild. So I don't see him accumulating more picks, or trying to acquire another 1st round pick. They already have about 20 picks in the next two drafts.

Don't be surprised to see another Romanov-type deal at the draft. Hopefully not for Zegras!

I tend to agree and was making that case a few months ago as I figured Monahan would get a 1st. Unless they're a top tier talent like what they'll probably get with the top 10 pick, the players in this draft won't really help with an initial cup run in a few years. At most they'd be good cap replacements further on. So might as well get a more developed player around 20-21 years old

 

[Kshahdoo]

Demidov is looking good, but man the competition he is against, ouffff. Atrocious

Lol, the same level as for CHLers and USHLer. It's just he torches MHL like no one before him so people say MHL is weak. Yeah, it's stronger than it used to be when MHL teams beat CHLers in superseries, and won world U17 tournaments.

 

[Skip Bayless]

Demidov is looking good, but man the competition he is against, ouffff. Atrocious

Yeah, MHLers can hardly complete a tape to tape pass.

He's still dominating the league like no one ever has, and it's not even close.

He should be in the KHL.

 

[Sunfyre]

I fully expect the WPG pick to be included with other picks/prospects in a package deal to get another forward that is further along his development path, just as HuGo have done in the past two drafts.

Hughes has publicly said numerous times that he wants to do an accelerated rebuild. So I don't see him accumulating more picks, or trying to acquire another 1st round pick. They already have about 20 picks in the next two drafts.

Don't be surprised to see another Romanov-type deal at the draft. Hopefully not for Zegras!

I agree. WPG pick is most likely going to be a part of a package for a young Top6 forward and also hope it’s not going to be for Zegras lol.

The majority here expect MTL to draft a forward in the top 10 but might be a defenceman again. Lets say MTL draft at 5 or 6 and all of , Cellebriny, Demidov and Lindstrom are off the board and Dickinson or Levshunov is still there. You should just take one of them and dont look back. If you would get someone like Dickinson you package WPG, Calgary and Hudson for a forward.

 

[Zilo44]

How worrysome is Eiserman freefall?

 

[Jaynki]

How worrysome is Eiserman freefall?

Not worrysome if we don't pick him ;-)

 

[MTL Dirty Birdy]

Lol, the same level as for CHLers and USHLer. It's just he torches MHL like no one before him so people say MHL is weak. Yeah, it's stronger than it used to be when MHL teams beat CHLers in superseries, and won world U17 tournaments.

I was thinking the same. It’s like when Europeans were watching Sid or McDavid torch the juniors…. It’s not that the league was bad- it’s that they were that good

 

[WeThreeKings]

How worrysome is Eiserman freefall?

Not really - we probably don't pick him and even if we do, he's still gonna be a 30 goal guy in the NHL.

 

[1000eeer]

We need sheer skills and gamebreaking talent.

Demidov (please!) fits that mold with our first 1st round pick. Ryder ritchie with WPG pick.

Though, I think they will go for a player with almost as much skills but with proven character and grit: Lindstrom (if we can move up) or Ignila.

 

[crosbyshow]

Catton has 86 points in 52 games.

Catton will have a better career than Lidstrom...better IQ and vision.

I spoke to my friend about those 2 few days ago cause that they are in the same league so it is a bit easier to compare each other.

My friend never saw a clip of those 2 players and he told me: we have to pick Lidstrom.....

Why..cause he is bigger and taller than Catton.


Wow..big analysis..

Catton is 5.11 for godsake and many of the best centres in history were 5.11 or less

 

[Adam Michaels]

Does anyone know what Lindstrom's injury is and when he's slated to come back? He's been out for 2 months. His last game was December 16th.

 

[Leto]

Does anyone know what Lindstrom's injury is and when he's slated to come back? He's been out for 2 months. His last game was December 16th.

Hand injury. He should be back by the end of the month.

 

[Artaud]

I've come to believe the perfect place to finish in this draft is right where the Habs are standing, at the end of the top 10.

Besides Celebrini, there doesn't seem to be a big difference between the level of prospects in the top 10. Analysis diverge a lot on the order of the prospects. Which means that, unlike last year's draft, the 2nd pick's value is not that much higher than the 10th pick.

The main advantage of losing is thus betting lottery odds for Celebrini. But to get in the top 3 a team needs to suck to a degree that is detrimental to culture and development. I don't believe what's happening in Anaheim or Chicago is healthy for young players. They need to care about winning.

I'll put it this way: I would rather draft Catton and see players like Slaf and Guhle emerge than draft Demidov and have the team give up.

 

[KevSkillz4]

Zeev Buium is my 1st defenseman in my list. I like him like that. He is the only D that I would be truly hype if Habs pick him, He is a star in the making, no doubt about that. He have the most potential in any D in this draft class.

 

[_vivelequebec_]

Besides Celebrini, there doesn't seem to be a big difference between the level of prospects in the top 10. Analysis diverge a lot on the order of the prospects. Which means that, unlike last year's draft, the 2nd pick's value is not that much higher than 10th pick.

That's not true. Teams do interviews with players and scout them a lot more than we do, so rank 2 and 10 are not the same value.

I'll put it this way: I would rather draft Catton and see players like Slaf and Guhle emerge than draft Demidov and have the team give up.

200% agree. I don't like the losing mentality. We finished last 2 years ago, you just can get better from there and that's what I hope to see every year until we make the PO. We finished 32 in 2022, 29 in 2023, maybe 24 this year. Let's say it's 20 in 2025, well we are 4 spots away from wild card. You can't finish 32 32 32 32 and hope to go top 16 over one summer...

 

[Harry Kakalovich]

Any thoughts on Marcus Kearsey as a potential Habs draft pick?