2024 NHL Draft: WE DID IT, CELEBRINI IS OURS!!!

[Barrie22]

everyone heres ignoring the obvious pick with the pittsburgh pick: Tij Iginla, who is yes Jarome's son.

One of the youngest players in the draft, 6'0 according to EP. Played his prep school in boston, has NHL roots.

Seems like an MG fever dream.

But id actually like the pick, hes ranked in the mid teens as of now.

I would not use the pens pick for him, but maybe the devils if it is a 1st.

 

[Gecklund]

One dman that I really like around 20 is Carter Yakemchuk. Right handed, good size. Definitely an offensive D. Very good offensively. He skates well, loves the puck, and generally makes pretty good decisions with the puck.

At this moment his defense leaves a bit to be desired. He’s very active with his stick and very aggressive. When it works it’s very pretty and very effective, when it doesn’t it can be ugly. Normally I completely steer clear of these types of players. Merkley scared me away from them. The reason why I feel he’s different is he’s shown improvement basically each game.

Now for the outside his control negatives, he’s an early birthday (Sept) so I believe he’s one of the older players in the draft. He’s also on a bad team so to some his decision making looks much worse due to his teammates inability to do much. Think EK with Sharks.

I saw a comparison of Dion Phaneuf and I really like comparison I think.

 

[Le Rosbeef]

Question for you guys: if we finish last (we will) but don’t win the lottery - who do you want us to pick 2nd or 3rd and is it soul crushingly depressing to miss out on Celebrini or is 2nd/3rd very close to him in skill?

I wouldn't worry.

One of those defensemen being mooted inside the top 10 will have a stellar year and teams will start to clamour for a No.1 Dman, given the scarcity.

If Silayev maintains his strong year as a 17 year old in the KHL, at 6'7'',while potentially breaking U18/19 points records (already has 9 in 21 games), logging PP time and, all the while leading, Torpedo in hits etc he's going to make people salivate with Hedman-esque comparisons.

People love potential. He has oodles. April birthday too.

 

[Hodge]

Not to jinx it but if we do get Celebrini I think a center group of Celebrini-Hertl-Couture-Sturm could be competitive as soon as 2025-26. Add in some combo of Eklund, Will Smith, Zetterlund, Duclair, Gushchin, Zadina, Kunin, Bordeleau, Musty, Bystedt and external acquisitions on the wings and we could have a fairly strong forward group if the top 10 picks develop as expected.

We definitely need to start adding top four defensemen ASAP through free agency or trade but we should have plenty of cap space and assets to do so.

 

[coooldude]

Not to jinx it but if we do get Celebrini I think a center group of Celebrini-Hertl-Couture-Sturm could be competitive as soon as 2025-26. Add in some combo of Eklund, Will Smith, Zetterlund, Duclair, Gushchin, Zadina, Kunin, Bordeleau, Musty, Bystedt and external acquisitions on the wings and we could have a fairly strong forward group if the top 10 picks develop as expected.

We definitely need to start adding top four defensemen ASAP through free agency or trade but we should have plenty of cap space and assets to do so.

I would think we could make a competitive roster with this group, but I wouldn't consider us contenders at that point, and then the question would be, how do we build to true contender status from then on?

This might be the story Grier sold Hasso on, though, so... we'll see. I just would feel a whole lot better if this outcome also included a high pick in 2025, and I'd feel even better if we were picking high in 2026. If you look around at the other rebuilds in the league, trying to compete in 2025-26 with this outcome (assuming the 25% chance we pick 1OA) would probably have us as also-rans to the Ducks, Hawks, Devils, and more... even Vancouver has a better setup than this.

 

[Hodge]

I would think we could make a competitive roster with this group, but I wouldn't consider us contenders at that point, and then the question would be, how do we build to true contender status from then on?

This might be the story Grier sold Hasso on, though, so... we'll see. I just would feel a whole lot better if this outcome also included a high pick in 2025, and I'd feel even better if we were picking high in 2026. If you look around at the other rebuilds in the league, trying to compete in 2025-26 with this outcome (assuming the 25% chance we pick 1OA) would probably have us as also-rans to the Ducks, Hawks, Devils, and more... even Vancouver has a better setup than this.

We will most likely pick in the top 5 in 2025 regardless IMO. I expect Grier to try and add at least one if not two top four defensemen next offseason. This will be difficult to accomplish but even if he succeeds I don't think that alone would improve us enough to get out of the basement unless Celebrini and Smith also come in and have Calder candidate seasons. And I would be fine ending up with a worse pick if that's the reason.

Also looking at the rest of the tank landscape, Philly is the only team I could see being worse next season than they are right now. Chicago, Anaheim, Arizona and Columbus should be on the upswing. Not sure what to make of Montreal or Washington though, they could be really bad in 24-25.

 

[one2gamble]

I like that proposed forward group, assuming things progress as expected with each of them.

I still dont know MG is going to completely fix the D in a reasonable amount of time. Hes going to need some luck.

 

[Pinkfloyd]

I like that proposed forward group, assuming things progress as expected with each of them.

I still dont know MG is going to completely fix the D in a reasonable amount of time. Hes going to need some luck.

Depends on what you define as a reasonable amount of time, I think. I think we can reasonably expect at least the depth portions of the blue line something we can transition into guys that MG has already acquired but the top end seems to not have an answer just yet. Having Muk and Thrun on the left and Addison and Emberson on the right for the bottom two pairs seems reasonable and seems reasonable fairly soon but I don't know if they're top pair guys and if they're not, getting them seems difficult at this stage.

 

[Hodge]

I like that proposed forward group, assuming things progress as expected with each of them.

I still dont know MG is going to completely fix the D in a reasonable amount of time. Hes going to need some luck.

Depends on what you define as a reasonable amount of time, I think. I think we can reasonably expect at least the depth portions of the blue line something we can transition into guys that MG has already acquired but the top end seems to not have an answer just yet. Having Muk and Thrun on the left and Addison and Emberson on the right for the bottom two pairs seems reasonable and seems reasonable fairly soon but I don't know if they're top pair guys and if they're not, getting them seems difficult at this stage.

This is why I’m in favor of taking a run at Hanifin if he makes it to UFA as long as it doesn’t take a crazy AAV like 9+ million. If we can add a legit #2/3 like Hanifin (or Chychrun who I think will be UFA in 2025) and draft a future top pair guy in one of the next three drafts, the rest of the blueline should be relatively easy to fill in with what we already have in the system and mid-tier signings.

 

[Pinkfloyd]

This is why I’m in favor of taking a run at Hanifin if he makes it to UFA as long as it doesn’t take a crazy AAV like 9+ million. If we can add a legit #2/3 like Hanifin (or Chychrun who I think will be UFA in 2025) and draft a future top pair guy in one of the next three drafts, the rest of the blueline should be relatively easy to fill in with what we already have in the system and mid-tier signings.

I don't mind the idea. I just don't think we'll get it done. For us as a bad team with high taxes to get a top guy the FA route, we'll have to significantly overpay compared to the market. I think our team's best bet is going to be to trade for a proven commodity when the time comes and stay patient with our contractual commitments.

 

[coooldude]

We will most likely pick in the top 5 in 2025 regardless IMO. I expect Grier to try and add at least one if not two top four defensemen next offseason. This will be difficult to accomplish but even if he succeeds I don't think that alone would improve us enough to get out of the basement unless Celebrini and Smith also come in and have Calder candidate seasons. And I would be fine ending up with a worse pick if that's the reason.

Also looking at the rest of the tank landscape, Philly is the only team I could see being worse next season than they are right now. Chicago, Anaheim, Arizona and Columbus should be on the upswing. Not sure what to make of Montreal or Washington though, they could be really bad in 24-25.

Islanders, Jets, CBJ I think stays bad, PIT, WSH, Wild maybe, Oilers even. MTL as you said.

I get your vision though. Hopefully we still pick high in 2026 regardless. We'll definitely need it with some expected non-hits, and 2024 isn't that strong of a draft year with McKenna potentially extremely good in 2026.

 

[Hodge]

I don't mind the idea. I just don't think we'll get it done. For us as a bad team with high taxes to get a top guy the FA route, we'll have to significantly overpay compared to the market. I think our team's best bet is going to be to trade for a proven commodity when the time comes and stay patient with our contractual commitments.

To your point, LeBrun is reporting Hanifin turned down a $60M offer from Calgary. In order to beat that we would need to offer $8.7M+ AAV on a 7-year deal.

 

[hohosaregood]

To your point, LeBrun is reporting Hanifin turned down a $60M offer from Calgary. In order to beat that we would need to offer $8.7M+ AAV on a 7-year deal.

That might just be an "I don't want to be in calgary" rejection.

 

[Pinkfloyd]

To your point, LeBrun is reporting Hanifin turned down a $60M offer from Calgary. In order to beat that we would need to offer $8.7M+ AAV on a 7-year deal.

I think that'd be too rich for my blood for the time being. If I had to choose between Hanifin and Chychrun, I think I'd pick Chychrun but playing that sort of game in the FA market is how you put your cap sheet out of whack.

 

[Hodge]

I think that'd be too rich for my blood for the time being. If I had to choose between Hanifin and Chychrun, I think I'd pick Chychrun but playing that sort of game in the FA market is how you put your cap sheet out of whack.

You can afford one overpayment in free agency to address a need you can't count on filling through the draft (top six center, top four defenseman, starting goalie) IMO. New Jersey probably overpaid for Dougie Hamilton and may regret the contract in a few years but he filled a glaring need for them at the time and they've managed to keep a clean cap sheet around him. I'm not saying our version of that should be Hanifin or Chychrun but it will probably need to be somebody at some point in the next couple of offseasons.

 

[StanleyCup2035]

Islanders, Jets, CBJ I think stays bad, PIT, WSH, Wild maybe, Oilers even. MTL as you said.

I get your vision though. Hopefully we still pick high in 2026 regardless. We'll definitely need it with some expected non-hits, and 2024 isn't that strong of a draft year with McKenna potentially extremely good in 2026.

Give me Bedard's cousin in 2026!

 

[Pinkfloyd]

You can afford one overpayment in free agency to address a need you can't count on filling through the draft (top six center, top four defenseman, starting goalie) IMO. New Jersey probably overpaid for Dougie Hamilton and may regret the contract in a few years but he filled a glaring need for them at the time and they've managed to keep a clean cap sheet around him. I'm not saying our version of that should be Hanifin or Chychrun but it will probably need to be somebody at some point in the next couple of offseasons.

True but the Sharks are still paying for contracts which is why I'm willing to be more patient even with a cleaner cap sheet this offseason. I'd rather make a deal with a team like Montreal to take Price off their hands to allow us to get to the floor for an extra draft pick over making a commitment of that nature now. I know people are sick of losing. I am too. I just want to really build a depth of prospects while we're ending our dead money and getting younger players to get seasoned before really seeing what our team may need. My impatience more comes with waiting to give the younger players opportunities.

 

[Stewie Griffin]

Back to 2024 draft talk. If we finish last but drop to 3rd, assuming Celebrini and Eiserman go 1-2. Who does everyone like 3rd overall?

I'm leaning defenseman, but honestly not sure which one quite yet.

 

[coooldude]

We covered this somewhere else (all the threads blur), but a) it's so super early that who knows, b) I would also lean defenseman because there are 4-5 that are almost certainly solid top-4 D but none of them are likely to be a true #1 elite. Levshunov, Dickinson, Silayev, Yakemchuk, and Jiricek. Each of them would immediately become our top D prospect.

Of those, Silayev has probably the current "highest upside risk" but the year is young and so is Silayev. He exploded out the gate but has slowed down a lot, still playing solid minutes in the 2/3rd best pro league in the world as a 6'7" smooth skating 17 year old.

I've only watched two games with Levshunov vs. our boy Smith, and he didn't impress. He has a PPG and is leading MSU in +/- as a young freshman, but I wouldn't want to pin my hopes on him as our top D prospect. He plays lazy to me, and behind the play... he's got an NHL frame and skates well, but not quickly, and I just didn't see the motor or the hockey sense.

Dickinson and Yakemchuk seem like the most solid North American picks. Sounds like Dickinson's absolute ceiling would be a Pietrangelo but that would possibly be a stretch. I don't know much about Yakemchuk but he's rising.

Jiricek, it sounds like he's his brother but a little less offensively dynamic. Maybe skates a little bit better. So a very solid all-rounder 2 way D.

I'm really holding out hope that Silayev finishes the rest of the year strong, and then I would honestly feel pretty good with drafting him at 3 and going into 2025-26 expecting another two lottery picks to try to get our 1C.

Celebrini is gonna be solid, but more of a Tavares ceiling, seemingly. Eiserman is kind of a pure goal scorer Ovie type but nobody is saying they expect him to be one of the best goalscorers of all time -- this could be our Rantanen type player but I'd rather we get a top D prospect or a top C prospect than a scoring winger.

FWIW this early in the year, Pronman at the Athletic has Silayev at 2 and Eiserman at 3, in the same Tier 2 below Macklin.

 

[Gecklund]

To your point, LeBrun is reporting Hanifin turned down a $60M offer from Calgary. In order to beat that we would need to offer $8.7M+ AAV on a 7-year deal.

Not necessarily. I also don’t think Hanifin would come here because he had a deal agreed upon and then decided to wait due to Calgary’s results. It’s also been reported that he doesn’t like being in Canada.

All of this was from Friedman.

 

[Gecklund]

Back to 2024 draft talk. If we finish last but drop to 3rd, assuming Celebrini and Eiserman go 1-2. Who does everyone like 3rd overall?

I'm leaning defenseman, but honestly not sure which one quite yet.

Demidov, Dickinson, or Catton are who I want currently. I think I’ve written about all of them in this thread at one point or another so I’ll spare yall my rambling.

 

[coooldude]

Demidov, Dickinson, or Catton are who I want currently. I think I’ve written about all of them in this thread at one point or another so I’ll spare yall my rambling.

My concern about Demidov is he's like a Michkov Lite... a little taller, a little skinnier right now, faster perhaps and skilled on the puck but without the absolutely lethal and world-class offensive vision and creativity. Seems like a solid, creative offensively-minded winger but not huge. I'm not sure you build a contender around that profile.

I don't know much about Catton, but given what I have read, he projects to be a really solid 2C or 3C. We already have that in the pipeline, and nothing about him really jumps out other than being a solid future NHLer. With the 3OA, that feels like swinging for a single or double which I'm not sure I'm on board with, given the other talent available then.

 

[spintops]

Silayev continuing on his trajectory has the potential to go #2, pushing Eiserman to #3

It's way early but it's a nice possibility, or just giving us the option to land a #1 D

 

[Gecklund]

My concern about Demidov is he's like a Michkov Lite... a little taller, a little skinnier right now, faster perhaps and skilled on the puck but without the absolutely lethal and world-class offensive vision and creativity. Seems like a solid, creative offensively-minded winger but not huge. I'm not sure you build a contender around that profile.

I don't know much about Catton, but given what I have read, he projects to be a really solid 2C or 3C. We already have that in the pipeline, and nothing about him really jumps out other than being a solid future NHLer. With the 3OA, that feels like swinging for a single or double which I'm not sure I'm on board with, given the other talent available then.

Kucherov. Rantanen. Pastrnak. Those are all offense first wingers that contenders were built around. Demidov would be a fantastic compliment to what we have in the system.

Catton is so much better than you’re giving him credit for. Another very smart guy that is great two way. He’s very creative offensively. Hell I take him over Smith right now but that’s a hot take.

 

[Cas]

We currently lack literally everything, so there's no reason to consider anything save best prospect overall for #1-3. I have no problem with taking a good winger like Eiserman or Demidov if that's who looks to be the best available at our pick - we need good wingers as much as anything else.