HF Habs: 2024 NHL Draft Thread

[dauv]

Let me know when and where you're going to let loose. I'll bring my 4K camera and we'll make movies but we can't have you as John Wick. That's already taken. How about Jean Mèche?

Jean Mèche Courté

 

[dauv]

So like every yr, MTL will draft the wrong guy according to some, the right guy according to some, he will be hailed a bust shortly after, but also the best pick.

The rebuild will be ruined or on track. Hughes is genius or moronic dr evil look a like.

All this about 13 seconds after the pick.

The meltdown will likely be more entertaining as most seem overly invested in getting "their" guy drafted and being right even though when all is said and done , there is likely many right answers at that pick when you look at it 5 yrs from now

like the great Guy Carbonneau once said 33% will hate you, 33% will love you, 33% don'tcare/neutral.

 

[pylero]

Biased as he's my favourite forward from the draft, but I have this lingering feeling that Catton is a real possibility at 5, especially with Lindstrom going top 4 and echoes of Demidov slowly sliding.

Hughes hasn't shied from commiting to players he likes, he brings a driver and transitional play element that's missing from the top 6, comes with less risk than Demidov, and provides the team with more control over his development, which seems like a key aspect HuGo.

We know he has met with the team at the combine and throughout the season. He can play wing or center. The final Bob list will be very telling, but if he's ranked top 10, I think he's Montreal bound.

 

[Doublechin]

They're different because no one has said we aren't interested, most people connected still see us selecting Demidov just not that it's the slam dunk they originally thought.

I don't like the direction we are going though. It could become just like Michkov.



I think Demidov is closer to 6' than 5'10 but hey anyone can convince themselves out of a great offensive player if they want. They did it once for the best defenseman who had Size poise and a preferred handedness last year. I can't get behind it this year for the 3rd best defenseman especially when one is just the wish version of Hutson offensively and isn't particularly studly on the defensive side.

That Russian combine might provide some answers

If Demidov is suddenly 5'9 as some indicate

I think we pass

 

[Habs7631]

Anybody knows which players they took for super so far?

 

[yianik]

This Draft is out of control. Celibrini and that's it. The rest is God knows. Would be nice to have a mid teen pick as a guy or two could drop out of whatever is thought of as the top 10.

I wonder how much Bob's list helps figure it out.

 

[Team_Spirit]

MA Godin just reported that Eiserman had dinner with the Canadiens.

https://x.com/i/web/status/1800620037494956191

 

[Rob Sense]

like the great Guy Carbonneau once said 33% will hate you, 33% will love you, 33% don'tcare/neutral.

I prefer the Seinfeld saying...half silk, half cotton and half linen

 

[Egresch]

good listen, another poster commented on

I was pretty surprised they think 2025 is much weaker draft. There are around 15 very good players this year, but even at U18 WC younger players were dominant. Hagens, Martone, Radivojevic, Misa and bunch of other players who have size and skill. I think it is exact opposite and 2025 seems stronger and deeper.

 

[Andrei79]

The risk being Russian or having inflated numbers in the MHL?


I highly doubt they’d package Hutson in any realistic deal proposal

Production in a low level league that's hard to project, average speed, Russian skilled winger who's SKA property who will have no qualms about keeping him down. I'm not saying it's right, but NHL teams don't usually take that kind of risk that high. Briere did, but Philadelphia has been run like amateurs since he's arrived and they might have had an idiot savant moment having Michkov there.

 

[NobleSix]

Been saying for a long time that Lindstrom would go before Demidov and I believe that will be the case if Chicago passes. Don't see a world where Columbus doesn't take the big skilled and speedy centerman.

If Chicago takes Demidov were likely drafting a defenseman.

 

[Kents polished head]

If Anaheim wants to go D, and Columbus is dead set on going forward, I would imagine they'd be interested in swapping picks with us if we added some kind of sweetener like, say, the 26th pick or one of next season's 1st round picks.

If they're not interested in doing so, there's two possibilities;

- The optimistic one; Columbus is not so dead set on picking a forward.
- The pessimistic one; Anaheim is not so dead set on picking a D.

 

[salbutera]

Biased as he's my favourite forward from the draft, but I have this lingering feeling that Catton is a real possibility at 5, especially with Lindstrom going top 4 and echoes of Demidov slowly sliding.

Hughes hasn't shied from commiting to players he likes, he brings a driver and transitional play element that's missing from the top 6, comes with less risk than Demidov, and provides the team with more control over his development, which seems like a key aspect HuGo.

We know he has met with the team at the combine and throughout the season. He can play wing or center. The final Bob list will be very telling, but if he's ranked top 10, I think he's Montreal bound.

Zero chance, zilch

 

[montreal]

If Demidov was Jonathan Laliberté and played in the Q, we'd actually be able to compare him to the rest of the draft class better.

One of the problems with the MHL/VHL/KHL right now is its hard to actually compare them to other leagues. At least the KHL is a mens leagues with players who have played in the AHL/NHL, but we don't actually no how the MHL currently compares to the Q. All we can go on is the tantalizing tools Demidov has displayed.

There's going to be questions especially if teams couldn't get live views as I'm sure that will be a big deal for any teams that didn't.

In context though for me when you look past the league but more what he's done there. He broke the record for most points in the MHL's history for U-18 last year and then this season if he didn't miss so much time he likely would have crushed the U-19 points record of 105 pts. He did break Kucherov's U-19 ppg record for anyone that played more then 4 games. He also is the all time leader in MHL history in ppg among U-19's with more then 52 games played.

The list of MHL U-19 skaters with more then 52 games,

Demidov - 99 games - 1.46 ppg
Nikita Gusev - 86 - 1.35
Kucherov - 117 - 1.32
Michkov - 84 - 1.27
Danila Yurov - 64 1.16

Loading…

www.eliteprospects.com

 

[Captain Mountain]

There's going to be questions especially if teams couldn't get live views as I'm sure that will be a big deal for any teams that didn't.

In context though for me when you look past the league but more what he's done there. He broke the record for most points in the MHL's history for U-18 last year and then this season if he didn't miss so much time he likely would have crushed the U-19 points record of 105 pts. He did break Kucherov's U-19 ppg record for anyone that played more then 4 games. He also is the all time leader in MHL history in ppg among U-19's with more then 52 games played.

The list of MHL U-19 skaters with more then 52 games,

Demidov - 99 games - 1.46 ppg
Nikita Gusev - 86 - 1.35
Kucherov - 117 - 1.32
Michkov - 84 - 1.27
Danila Yurov - 64 1.16

Loading…

www.eliteprospects.com

Its more a question of how much does MHL production mean now compared to when, say, Kucherov was playing there. When hockey in Russia is closed off from the rest of the world, it becomes harder to try to nail down how much that actually means. It doesn't mean Demidov isn't a great prospect, its just that there isn't as much of an analytic/stats argument or a comparative argument (through WJC/ U-18s) to make, so you're relying on fitness testing and scouting (and probably mostly live viewings).

For instance, we know that scoring in the OHL and WHL doesn't translate in the same way it did, say, 10 years ago. All we can say stats-wise for Demidov is that he's torched the MHL for two years - its just not clear if that translates.

 

[jaffy27]

Been saying for a long time that Lindstrom would go before Demidov and I believe that will be the case if Chicago passes. Don't see a world where Columbus doesn't take the big skilled and speedy centerman.

If Chicago takes Demidov were likely drafting a defenseman.

If Chicago Drafts Demidov, you get on the phone with Anaheim and pitch a proposal to swap picks.

Columbus is maybe going Silayev, Dickinson or Lindstrom….I’m not taking that chance if I’m the Habs and I have Lindstrom as #2 on my list after Celebrini.

 

[dcyhabs]

The combine thread didn’t really say anything but I wonder if the results for Iginla and Lindstrom will help them. Koivu got dome top 5s and a couple of not do known guys did pretty well. We’ll see how the next rankings go.

 

[sheed36]

I don't follow prospects closely so how much better would Demidov be compared to Catton really?

The reason I ask is it doesn't seem like Catton is even considered an option for the Habs @ 5 right now (mainly due to his lack of size) but yet Demidov who is pretty much the same size as Catton would be perfectly fine to draft @ 5 it seems.

I'm assuming Demidov is the more skilled player between the 2 since he's always ranked higher than Catton on draft ranking lists but how much better is he really?

 

[WeThreeKings]

I was pretty surprised they think 2025 is much weaker draft. There are around 15 very good players this year, but even at U18 WC younger players were dominant. Hagens, Martone, Radivojevic, Misa and bunch of other players who have size and skill. I think it is exact opposite and 2025 seems stronger and deeper.

Me too. 2025 has Hagens Ryabkin Frondell Martone and I'd have a hard time picking any forward not named Celebrini over these guys and even then.

 

[Pompeius Magnus]

I always end up talking myself into wanting at least 10 different guys in the first round every year, there's never a truly bad crop in my world My only problem is not having enough picks. I fully admit I'm a draft nut though, I spend way too much time on that stuff.

 

[Andrei79]

If Chicago Drafts Demidov, you get on the phone with Anaheim and pitch a proposal to swap picks.

Columbus is maybe going Silayev, Dickinson or Lindstrom….I’m not taking that chance if I’m the Habs and I have Lindstrom as #2 on my list after Celebrini.

I would guess Lindstrom is their #2 forward after Celebrini too. He'd be a great fit with it or behind Bedard. It's him or one of the D, likely Levshunov.

 

[ReHabs]

Really? Even over Demidov for you? I'm all aboard the take a D-man train if they're the best, I'd take Dickinson if Lindstrom was the one available.

I’m not so hot on Demidov (maybe I’m missing something) but I feel Catton’s a better prospect… and Dickinson a better prospect than both.

 

[Egresch]

Me too. 2025 has Hagens Ryabkin Frondell Martone and I'd have a hard time picking any forward not named Celebrini over these guys and even then.

The good news for us, 2025 is weak draft for D, but deep for F with size.
A- teams, especially rebuilding CHI, ANA will draft D in 2024 and we might get forward of our choice
B- we might not draft in top 10 in 2025, but still draft great F

 

[Skip Bayless]

https://x.com/i/web/status/1800620037494956191

He's going to make so many jabronis eat their words in 3 years.

All the tools to be one of the greatest goal scorers the game has ever seen.

 

[Team_Spirit]

Dear HFHomies, fret not I got this.

-Your friend Nick