HF Habs: 2024 NHL Draft Thread

[NotProkofievian]

And I don’t agree with that point. Mike Green was far from being the best dmen in the league even when he was extremely productive

Its not a point that was made by anyone but le_sean.

 

[jaffy27]

Like Suzuki & Newhook (although both are sturdy)

Suzuki is what….5’11 1/2 lol

He’s 210 and solid

Newhook is there by default, he’ll be bumped to the 3rd in due time

 

[Schooner Guy]

Silayev might be a Madden guy, he likes guys with something special, not necessarily the most polished.

And Verbeek was Stevie Y's right hand man in Detroit when they drafted Seider. I remember many posters in here ridiculing the pick.

 

[Hannibal]

Habs should call Anaheim and see if they ready to drop 2 spots and still get there defenceman….if Habs are convinced Lindstrom is their player, make it happen!

That my dream scenario right now. Ive lost all hope of Lindstrom falling to us. And i think theres a legit chance of happening.

 

[sampollock]

He does drive the net and he craves physicality.

thanks for stating that. that is what the habs need asap

 

[Leto]

Count on me. Im already f***ing mad. Imagine what i’ll be in 3 weeks after marinating in my frustration towards that stupid organisation.

Timmins was here for 20 f***ing years and never drafted a centerman and he’ll pick the second best one right in front of us. f*** him

Don't forget that Timmins got a premium centerman in Fantilli last year...

 

[sampollock]

Forget Lindstrom, we aren't getting him - we would need CBJ to go Sennecke.

then habs take Sennecke

 

[VirginiaMtlExpat]

With all hockey events over, here is my final top 80 with some player comps for the top 32.
The comps are a mix of style and expected role in the NHL.

For context, a 1W is what I would want a top winger on a team to be, likely paired with a 1C. A 2W is what I would want the second best winger on a team to be, either flanking the 2C or the third member of one of the best 1st lines in the league. A 1D is a player who can elevate a #4 to form a solid top pair (think Weber/Chiarot). A 2D is a player who can elevate a #4 to form a solid second pair (Petry/Edmundson). A 3D still needs to partner with another 1/2/3 to form an effective top 4 pairing (Brett Pesce, Adam Pelech, Filip Hronek, John Klingberg).

I've expanded my tiers from previous years to avoid being too rigid and have a little more nuance within them.
Within tiers, I typically valued low-risk/high-likelihood over swinging for the fences and while I used to have it strictly C>D>W, I've come around to valuing defensemen a little more outside of the top couple of tiers.

Demidov/Catton/Lindstrom would be my order of preference at 5. They've all been discussed to death, so I'll leave it there.
Connelly is as low as I could reasonably put him but is basically DND for me. Without the question marks he'd be top 12.
At 26, players on my radar include Artamonov, Badinka, Surin, Gridin and Danford.

• Artamonov is a buzzsaw with skill, and proven at the pro level. We've seen the development in both Benson and Brindley from last year. Don't overthink it and make the same mistake twice.
• Badinka at his best reminds me of Reinbacher with a weaker shot. Excellent skating, retrievals and first pass with physicality, length and a high motor. There's a reason he played 33 games in the SHL as a foreigner. Will make some poor reads from time to time though.
• Surin is a complete wrecking ball with above average tools that could play any position up and down a lineup and has an extra gear in the playoffs.
• Gridin, on his good days, reminds me a lot of a smaller version of Slaf. Disruptive stick and great board work to go with high-end vision and shot. Compete level improved a lot towards the end of the year but is still a work in progress.
• Danford is my favorite of the glut of shutdown RHDs in the 20-50 range. He has the best baseline of tools across the board with no weaknesses and a fantastic stick. Great anticipation and IQ as well. Will sacrifice everything to block a shot. Just a beauty.

In the 2nd and 3rd rounds I'm looking mostly at defensemen. This is a seriously deep class and there are a ton of big, mobile, rangy defensemen that are worth taking a shot on. Admittedly, my viewings start to decrease significantly from picks 50 onwards, so there are surely some gems both up front and on D that I'm missing. There also weren't any goalies worth considering for a first round pick and I didn't really scout any beyond that, so they did not make the list.


Franchise
1 Macklin Celebrini - 5'11.75 C - Boston University - NCAA - Joe Sakic

2 Ivan Demidov - 5'11 RW - SKA - MHL - Claude Giroux

Low End 1C / 1W / 1D
3 Berkly Catton - 5'10.25 C/W - Spokane - WHL - Artemi Panarin

4 Zeev Buium - 6'0 LD - Denver - NCAA - Adam Fox
5 Cayden Lindstrom - 6'3 C/W - Medicine Hat - WHL - Chris Kreider

2C / 2W / 2D
6 Artyom Levshunov - 6'1.75 RD - Michingan State - NCAA - Mikhail Sergachev
7 Sam Dickinson - 6'2.75 LD - London - OHL - Jeff Petry
8 Tij Iginla - 6'0 LW - Kelowna - WHL - Chris Kunitz

9 Zayne Parekh - 6'0.25 RD - Saginaw - OHL - Mike Green
10 Beckett Sennecke - 6'2.75 RW - Oshawa - OHL - Drake Batherson
11 Carter Yakemchuk - 6'3 RD - Calgary - WHL - Dustin Byfuglien

Middle 6 C / Top 6 W / 3D / 1G
12 Anton Silayev - 6'7 LD/RD - Torpedo - KHL - Nikita Zadorov
13 Konsta Helenius - 5'11 C - Jukurit - Liiga - David Krejci
14 Michael Brandsegg-Nygård - 6'0.75 RW - Mora - Allsvenskan - Patrick Sharp
15 Nikita Artamonov - 5'11 RW - Torpedo - KHL - Brandon Hagel

16 Michael Hage - 6'0.75 C - Chicago - USHL - Ryan Strome
17 Igor Chernyshov - 6'2 LW - Dynamo Moskva - MHL - Jake Debrusk
18 Liam Greentree - 6'2.5 RW - Windsor - OHL - Andre Burakovsky
19 Cole Eiserman - 5'11.75 LW - USNTDP - Jeff Skinner

20 Dominik Badinka - 6'2.75 RD - Malmo - J20 - Brett Pesce
21 Yegor Surin - 6'1 C - Yaroslavl - MHL - Brandon Dubinsky
22 Matvei Gridin - 6'1.5 RW - Muskegon - USHL - Martin Havlat
23 Trevor Connelly - 6'0.75 LW - Tri City - USHL - Jesper Bratt

3C / 4D / Middle 6 W
24 Ben Danford - 6'1.5 RD - Oshawa - OHL - Dan Girardi
25 Stian Solberg - 6'1.5 LD - Valerenga - Norway - Brayden McNabb
26 Alfons Freij - 6'0.5 LD/RD - Växjö - J20 - Nick Leddy
27 Julius Miettinen - 6'3 C - Everett - WHL - Adam Lowry
28 Cole Beaudoin - 6'2 C - Barrie - WHL - Jason Dickinson
29 Sacha Boisvert - 6'2 C/W - Muskegon - USHL - Nick Foligno
30 Andrew Basha - 5'11.25 LW - Medicine Hat - WHL - Alex Newhook
31 Teddy Stiga - 5'10 LW - USNTDP - Joel Farabee

32 EJ Emery - 6'3.25 RD - USNTDP - Brandon Carlo
33 Cole Hutson - 5'10 LD - USNTDP -
34 Adam Jiricek - 6'2 RD - Plzen - Czechia -
35 Jesse Pulkkinen - 6'6 LD - JYP - Liiga -
36 Jett Luchanko - 5'11 C - Guelph - OHL -
37 Maxim Massé - 6'2.25 RW - Chicoutimi - QMJHL -
38 Emil Hemming - 6'1.25 RW - TPS - U20/Liiga -

39 Adam Kleber - 6'5.5 RD - Lincoln - USHL -
40 Harrison Brunicke - 6'2.5 RD - Kamloops - WHL -
41 Charlie Elick - 6'3.25 RD - Brandon - WHL -
42 Linus Eriksson - 6'0 C - Djurgårdens - Allsvenskan -
43 Sam O'Reilly - 6'1.25 C - London - OHL -
44 Miguel Marques - 5'10.25 RW - Lethbridge - WHL -

45 Spencer Gill - 6'3.75 RD - Rimouski - QMJHL -
46 Raoul Boilard - 6'1 C - Baie-Comeau - QMJHL -
47 Terik Parascak - 5'11.75 RW - Prince George - WHL -
48 John Mustard - 6'1 LW - Waterloo - USHL -
49 Ryder Ritchie - 6'0.25 RW - Prince Albert - WHL -

4C / Bottom Pair D / Bottom 6 W / High Risk
50 Henry Mews - 6'0.25 RD - Ottawa - OHL -
51 Matvei Shuravin - 6'2 LD - Krasnaya - MHL -
52 Dean Letourneau - 6'6.5 C - St Andrews - U18 AAA -
53 Tanner Howe - 5'10 RW - Regina - WHL -
54 Adam Jecho - 6'5 RW - Edmonton - WHL -
55 Luke Misa - 5'10 C/LW - Mississauga - OHL -
56 Justin Poirier - 5'8 RW - Baie-Comeau - QMJHL -
57 Marek Vanacker - 6'0 LW - Brantford - OHL -

58 Luca Marrelli - 6'1.5 RD - Oshawa - OHL -
59 Lukas Fischer - 6'3 LD Sarnia - OHL -
60 Daniil Ustinkov - 6'1 LD - Zsc - NL -
61 Will Skahan - 6'4.5 LD - USNTDP -
62 Simon Zether - 6'3 C - Rogle - J20/SHL -
63 Lucas Pettersson - 5'11.5 C - MoDo - J20 -
64 Jacob Battaglia - 6'0.5 RW - Kingston - OHL -
65 Brodie Ziemer - 5'11 RW - USNTDP -
66 Clarke Caswell - 5'11 RW - Swift Current - WHL -

67 Aron Kiviharju - 5'9.5 LD - HIFK - Liiga -
68 Tomas Galvas - 5'10.25 LD - Bili Tygri Liberec - Czechia -
69 Leon Muggli - 6'0.5 LD - Zug - NL -
70 Colton Roberts - 6'3.75 RD - Vancouver - WHL -
71 Tomas Lavoie - 6'4 RD - Cape Breton - QMJHL -
72 Tarin Smith - 6'1.25 LD - Everett - WHL -
73 Leo Sahlin Wellenius - 6'0 LD - Vaxjo - J20 -
74 Noel Fransen - 6'0 LD - Farjestad - J20 -
75 Jakub Fibigr - 6'0 LD - Mississauga - OHL -
76 Heikki Ruohonen - 6'1 C - Kiekko-Espoo - U20 SM-sarja -
77 Kamil Bednarik - 6'0.25 C - USNTDP -
78 Blake Montgomery - 6'4 LW - Lincoln - USHL -
79 Melvin Fernstrom - 6'0.75 RW - Orebro - J20 -
80 Riley Patterson - 6'0.25 RW - Barrie - OHL -

Tremendous work. A good argument for Catton at 5 continues to emerge. At 26, I'd argue that a Foligno-type forward remains an organizational need. I've argued elsewhere for the merit of a weighted sum of bpa and need, based on optimization theory.

 

[jaffy27]

You gotta out do my Poehling reaction.. it's been #1 for too long.

If I remember correctly, you wanted the Finn player that went to Nashville didn’t you…

 

[NotProkofievian]

And Verbeek was Stevie Y's right hand man in Detroit when they drafted Seider. I remember many posters in here ridiculing the pick.

I don't ridicule Madden picks and I'm not about to start if they pick Silayev lol

 

[Andrei79]

So why do they rarely win anything but individual awards. As fans, are we cheering Norris victories or Cup victories? Because guys like Drew Doughty and Alex Pietrangelo contribute to team success more than guys like Quinn Hughes and Erik Karlsson.

Waiting for someone to say “but Drew is productive”. 36 points and 37 points the two seasons his team won the Cup.

I don't think this is an accurate way to view it. Hughes and Karlsson have never had the teams Doughty and Pietrangelo did, or even close to it. The Doughty Kings were stacked. Look at Makar and Letang. No issues winning with primarily offensive defensemen. I don't even find that Hughes's problem is his defense, it's his body that's limiting him.

As far as Doughty goes, he went over ppg as a D-2 player in the OHL. He was second in scoring for defensemen as a 20 year in only his second season in the NHL, during his D+2. His production dropped the moment Sutter came in. Which is ok, the proof is in the pudding and they won. But he was a hell of a player offensively. The best defensemen usually are.

Anyways, Im moving on. I just want to simp for Parekh.

 

[WeThreeKings]

Habs should call Anaheim and see if they ready to drop 2 spots and still get their defenceman….if Habs are convinced Lindstrom is their player, make it happen!

I think they will - I guess Anaheims concern would be if they covet Silayev that CBJ has stated interest in him as well.

If I remember correctly, you wanted the Finn player that went to Nashville didn’t you…

I wanted Chytil but he was gone.. I just didn't really like Poehling, not sure who I was specifically wanting at that time but I did like Tolvanen.

 

[Kents polished head]

Count on me. Im already f***ing mad. Imagine what i’ll be in 3 weeks after marinating in my frustration towards that stupid organisation.

Timmins was here for 20 f***ing years and never drafted a centerman and he’ll pick the second best one right in front of us. f*** him

I also don't expect Lindstrom to make it to us, but don't underestimate Timmins' ability to out-4D-chess himself on a high pick.

We've been there often enough to know there's a healthy chance of that happening.

 

[CapSpace]

Don't forget that Timmins got a premium centerman in Fantilli last year...

f*** him.

 

[ginomini]

Congrats to 2024 Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins! Adding a 100 point defenceman was really the key missing piece to get this consistent playoff team over the hump. Good for them

I’ve acknowledged players that can do both. Far more valuable than one that does offence better but leaves a lot to be desired defensively. Karlsson can’t do both.

This is just a ridiculous example. The Penguins were simply a bad team. They were a bubble team Karlsson or not.

 

[jaffy27]

I think they will - I guess Anaheims concern would be if they covet Silayev that CBJ has stated interest in him as well.



I wanted Chytil but he was gone.. I just didn't really like Poehling, not sure who I was specifically wanting at that time but I did like Tolvanen.

If they Like Silayev, you’d think they’d also like Dickinson, got the size and mobility….they’d be assured of one or the other….think the compensation to swap picks would have to include a defenceman (Engstrom/Struble/Barron) and a 2025 2nd rounder.

Tolvanen was the one you pushed for, seems you were right as he turned out better the Poehling.

Obviously Chytil was long gone to NYR as we were picking 25th I believe?

 

[le_sean]

This is just a ridiculous example. The Penguins were simply a bad team. They were a bubble team Karlsson or not.

They made the playoffs like 15 straight years. They added him and turned to garbage.

 

[WeThreeKings]

If they Like Silayev, you’d think they’d also like Dickinson, got the size and mobility….they’d be assured of one or the other….think the compensation to swap picks would have to include a defenceman (Engstrom/Struble/Barron) and a 2025 2nd rounder.

Tolvanen was the one you pushed for, seems you were right as he turned out better the Poehling.

Obviously Chytil was long gone to NYR as we were picking 25th I believe?

Yeah Chytil went ahead of us and I was sour about it.. then we doubled down on low upside Poehling. Tolvanen isn't anything exceptional either, the real miss was Jason Robertson but I wasn't on him so I don't blame them for that.

 

[Schooner Guy]

I think they will - I guess Anaheims concern would be if they covet Silayev that CBJ has stated interest in him as well.



I wanted Chytil but he was gone.. I just didn't really like Poehling, not sure who I was specifically wanting at that time but I did like Tolvanen.

It's so hard to make these trades in hockey. We might have a better chance to trade with Chicago for #2 unless they want Silayev.

Has a top 5 pick moved pre-draft since the Penguins traded with Florida to move up two spots and draft Fleury at #1? That was 21 years ago.

 

[jaffy27]

They made the playoffs like 15 straight years. They added him and turned to garbage.

So they didn’t make the playoffs because of Karlsson?

 

[le_sean]

There’s not going to be a trade up. Kent will just wait and take whoever is there at 5. Those trades rarely ever happen.

 

[Andrei79]

So they didn’t make the playoffs because of Karlsson?

Yeah, it doesn't make sense. They've been on a natural decline for years now and already missed last year. They dropped the ball at the end and Florida managed to sneak in with the results we know too well.

 

[jaffy27]

It's so hard to make these trades in hockey. We might have a better chance to trade with Chicago for #2 unless they want Silayev.

Has a top 5 pick moved pre-draft since the Penguins traded with Florida to move up two spots and draft Fleury at #1? That was 21 years ago.

This year a little different though as picks 2 to 6 look interchangeable and same can be said 7 to 12….it’s almost like an NFL draft as you are picking for need in those slots

 

[Andrei79]

With everything that's coming out about Lindstroms good character and performance in off ice training, I don't see how he'll be available at 5. I've accepted that. He's a natural fit for CB. Demidov seems more and more likely.

 

[Schooner Guy]

This year a little different though as picks 2 to 6 look interchangeable and same can be said 7 to 12….it’s almost like an NFL draft as you are picking for need in those slots

Agreed but there are 40-some different positions to fill in the NFL and several of the most important positions don't even require handling the ball so BPA rarely applies. In hockey, centers, wingers and dmen all have to be able to skate and handle the puck.

It would be great to see some trades on draft day but they don't seem to happen anymore. One will happen sometime. Maybe this year.