Winners and losers of the 2024 NHL draft?

[Hockeyville USA]

I like the Avalanche selection of Will Zellers in the 3rd round. Good spot in the draft to take a home run swing. Zellers played far below his talent level for the past couple years, there's a chance he absolutely kills it at North Dakota and becomes a legitimate high end prospect & then a solid NHLer.

Then again, the Avalanche don't have the best track record outside of the top 10, outside of the 1st round in recent memory, so we'll see.

 

[Warden of the North]

It's waaaaay too early to declare either.

 

[Frank Drebin]

Nice one!

This is my favorite, from 2020:

View attachment 891740

Fans and media always think they know better than the real scouts, but no draft ever pans out as the majority thinks.

The certainty is what pisses me off.

 

[Golden_Jet]

Nice one!

This is my favorite, from 2020:

View attachment 891740

Fans and media always think they know better than the real scouts, but no draft ever pans out as the majority thinks.

Oof, who wrote that.

 

[Brodeur]

Fans and media always think they know better than the real scouts, but no draft ever pans out as the majority thinks.

I did enjoy the outrage when Ottawa selected Marian Hossa over local Ottawa 67 prospect Matt Zultek in 1997:

Marian Hossa. Never met the guy; never seen him play.

He was the Senators' first pick, 12th overall in the NHL draft yesterday. Nothing against Mr. Hossa, but hearing his name when it came the Senators' turn to pick was a big disappointment. To put it bluntly, the Senators blew it yesterday. The name the Senators should have announced was that of Ottawa 67's winger Matt Zultek.

The Senators need size and scoring up front, two commodities Zultek, who's 6-foot-4 and 218 lbs. (and still growing), has in spades. Maybe he doesn't play as tough as his size might indicate, but he can handle the pushing and shoving. He's also skilled as witnessed by his 27 goals as a rookie with the 67's last season and his win in the agility portion of the skills competition at the Canadian Hockey League's all-star game.

Since he's coached by Brian Kilrea, you know Zultek is going to come away from his junior career with a good knowledge of how to play a two-way game and what it takes to be a good national leaguer.

Hossa? He apparently has a great offensive flair. But the knock on the smallish (6-foot, 185-lb.) Slovak is he is a completely one-dimensional player, who, one scout told The Hockey News, threw snow on numerous occasions to avoid getting hit. The Senators blew a chance to pick up a good kid playing right in their own backyard. Zultek already has built-in fans right here in Ottawa and for a team struggling to sell tickets, why not take advantage of that? -- Ottawa Sun writer Chris Stevenson

I believe there was similar outrage when Ottawa "reached" for Erik Karlsson in 2008 over say another Ottawa 67 product in Tyler Cuma.

I remember a day after the 2004 draft 'winners/losers' ESPN article which declared Chicago as a winner on the basis of landing Cam Barker. Boston and Detroit were labeled as losers if only because they didn't have many picks. Meanwhile they landed David Krejci and Johan Franzen respectively.

It was more a troll job, but Calgary writer Eric Francis said that Vancouver lost by taking the Sedins in 1999 and that (WHL based) Pavel Brendl and Jamie Lundmark would be a better duo for the Rangers.

 

[Dr Jan Itor]

It's waaaaay too early to declare either.

Yeah, but would this place be any fun if we could only talk about 5 drafts ago?

 

[Hockeyville USA]

View attachment 891865

I did enjoy the outrage when Ottawa selected Marian Hossa over local Ottawa 67 prospect Matt Zultek in 1997:



I believe there was similar outrage when Ottawa "reached" for Erik Karlsson in 2008 over say another Ottawa 67 product in Tyler Cuma.

I remember a day after the 2004 draft 'winners/losers' ESPN article which declared Chicago as a winner on the basis of landing Cam Barker. Boston and Detroit were labeled as losers if only because they didn't have many picks. Meanwhile they landed David Krejci and Johan Franzen respectively.

It was more a troll job, but Calgary writer Eric Francis said that Vancouver lost by taking the Sedins in 1999 and that (WHL based) Pavel Brendl and Jamie Lundmark would be a better duo for the Rangers.

Again, it shows that generally speaking, production and league quality still matter when it comes to the draft. Not the end all be all, but Zultek produced like a mid to late 2nd rounder, even 3rd rounder (when adjusting for the fact that that was his first year in the O). Teams didn't learn and Boston drafted Senyshyn at the same slot, who had identical production to Zultek. Whoops

 

[Brodeur]

Again, it shows that generally speaking, production and league quality still matter when it comes to the draft. Not the end all be all, but Zultek produced like a mid to late 2nd rounder, even 3rd rounder (when adjusting for the fact that that was his first year in the O). Teams didn't learn and Boston drafted Senyshyn at the same slot, who had identical production to Zultek. Whoops

I'll fully admit that I liked Senyshyn in his draft year and wanted him for the Devils when they were picking at #36. When Boston took him at #15 I did feel a misplaced sense of pride. The thing I liked about Senyshyn was that he didn't get a ton of PP time and he chipped in 23 even strength goals. By comparison, that was similar to the leading guys on the same team; Jared McCann had 24 EV goals, Michael Bunting had 25, Sergei Tolchinsky had 23.

So it seemed like a safe bet that his production would increase once Senyshyn inherited PP time from the older guys going pro. Senyshyn did follow that up with 45/42 goal seasons, but naturally increased production doesn't necessarily translate.

On the flip side, I liked Luke Evangelista for similar reasons in 2020. He was on a deep London team and posted 61 points, but only 2 came from the PP.

 

[Double Dion]

Tough to say at this point. I did like some teams bets better than others, but any player between 2 and 12 could end up as the 2nd best player in this draft. I was mostly happy with my Flames selections. I thought MTL had a good draft too, which upsets me a bit.

 

[Hockeyville USA]

I'll fully admit that I liked Senyshyn in his draft year and wanted him for the Devils when they were picking at #36. When Boston took him at #15 I did feel a misplaced sense of pride. The thing I liked about Senyshyn was that he didn't get a ton of PP time and he chipped in 23 even strength goals. By comparison, that was similar to the leading guys on the same team; Jared McCann had 24 EV goals, Michael Bunting had 25, Sergei Tolchinsky had 23.

So it seemed like a safe bet that his production would increase once Senyshyn inherited PP time from the older guys going pro. Senyshyn did follow that up with 45/42 goal seasons, but naturally increased production doesn't necessarily translate.

On the flip side, I liked Luke Evangelista for similar reasons in 2020. He was on a deep London team and posted 61 points, but only 2 came from the PP.

London doesn't play their 17 year olds that much unless they're franchise rockstars. Many of them barely play as 16 year olds and/or have to play Junior B to get minutes. Hence why Robert Thomas, Luke Evangelista, Easton Cowan, and others have had just modest production in their DY. Then they get bigger minutes and explode in their D+1 &/or D+2

Senyshyn just didn't pop off for a 100 point season post DY like Toffoli, Mangiapane, and Evangelista did. Topped out about 75 point pace (for a 68 game season). 45 points in 66 games in your DY, even just in your rookie year of junior, isn't 1st round worthy for a forward. You'd need MASSIVE production jump post draft to become a quality NHLer, which Senshyn never did as I said.

 

[CheckingLineCenter]

View attachment 891865

I did enjoy the outrage when Ottawa selected Marian Hossa over local Ottawa 67 prospect Matt Zultek in 1997:



I believe there was similar outrage when Ottawa "reached" for Erik Karlsson in 2008 over say another Ottawa 67 product in Tyler Cuma.

I remember a day after the 2004 draft 'winners/losers' ESPN article which declared Chicago as a winner on the basis of landing Cam Barker. Boston and Detroit were labeled as losers if only because they didn't have many picks. Meanwhile they landed David Krejci and Johan Franzen respectively.

It was more a troll job, but Calgary writer Eric Francis said that Vancouver lost by taking the Sedins in 1999 and that (WHL based) Pavel Brendl and Jamie Lundmark would be a better duo for the Rangers.

Crazy how much older 17/18 year olds looked 30 years ago versus today

 

[a mangy Meowth]

Then again, the Avalanche don't have the best track record outside of the top 10, outside of the 1st round in recent memory, so we'll see.

That's an understatement!

 

[boredmale]

Fans and media always think they know better than the real scouts, but no draft ever pans out as the majority thinks.

The one that made me laugh was when the Wings picked Tyler Bertuzzi late in the second round in 2013. I believe he was considered a late 3rd/early 4th rated prospect at the time but the amount of people screaming wasted pick just seemed weird given it was a late 2nd round pick(and it not out of the ordinary that guys rated 4th round jump into the 2nd)

 

[Gregor Samsa]

As others have said only time will tell. I guess at this point the winners would be the teams that got fallers and “names” and the losers the ones that reached or got lesser known players. So basically measuring against consensus. Some of the big names will be good. Some will disappoint or even be forgotten. Some of the reaches and lesser known players will turn out good. Some will be forgotten

 

[Bounces R Way]

Thought the Caps and Kraken quietly had nice drafts. Was generally pleased with what the Flames did, although I think they took the riskiest boom/bust guy in the top 10.

Minny and Carolina went value and I like a lot of their picks. Habs got their 1st round right at least. Winnipeg did well for not a ton of picks. San Jose very well could have redefined their franchise.


Not sure what Edmonton, Toronto, and Philly were smoking on this one. Lots of longshots with not a ton of upside.

 

[Brodeur]

The one that made me laugh was when the Wings picked Tyler Bertuzzi late in the second round in 2013. I believe he was considered a late 3rd/early 4th rated prospect at the time but the amount of people screaming wasted pick just seemed weird given it was a late 2nd round pick(and it not out of the ordinary that guys rated 4th round jump into the 2nd)

Similar thing with Kings fans/bloggers in 2007 when they took Wayne Simmonds in the 2nd round. Simmonds was a second time draft eligible and wasn't listed among Central Scouting's top 210 North Americans.

I suppose to be fair it was a day after the team reached for Thomas Hickey, so confidence in management wasn't high.

 

[Bizz]

Anyone want to explain how Pronman though the Sharks picking Celebrini at 1st overall was just an OKAY B+ pick???

View attachment 889693

Because Pronman is a hack who has always had an anti-Sharks bias.

 

[Chainshot]

I'm somewhat pleased that Buffalo isn't falling out in either list for the most part. They didn't appear to f*** up and also there isn't a lot of expectation that somehow they killed it. It was workmanlike, leaning toward good IMO... strongly in the middle of the pack.

 

[Dr Quincy]

Because Pronman is a hack who has always had an anti-Sharks bias.

Pronman may or may not be good at picking prospects, but it's laughable that people think online draft guys have some anti-my team bias.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

The contention that Anaheim is a loser in this draft because they chose Sennecke over Demidov is so amateur. Look at the players Verbeek has drafted in the first round recently: Carlsson, McTavish, Mintyukov, Sennecke, Solberg, etc. Big, physical bodies that won't be pushed around like Zegras and Terry. Demidov doesn't fit that mold.

Since when did this become the NBA combine?

You either hit on your picks or you don’t. If Sennecke doesn’t work out, that’s pretty terrible for their draft. Maybe he will, but of course that pick will be consequential. Ability to play hockey, not size, is what will matter.

And for all those assets Verbeek has acquired they never seem to actually make the playoffs. When does their rebuild finally end?

 

[KevSkillz4]

I have Zeev Buium #1 D in my final ranking, so MIN got a pretty good one. Big W to select that type of player at 12.

SJ with Celebrini and Dickinson, that's insane. Dickinson and Buium should have gone before than 11 and 12, easily. Dickinson is a top pairing D potential with great leadership in him. SJ goth 2 big perfect piece for their young team.

MTL drafted my #2 and #16 on my final ranking. Demidov have star//superstar, he have the talent to put 90-95 pts per season, even more. Michael Hage have top 6 C or W potential. 60-65 pts season is realistic with his high offensive talent. I think he will prove that with Michigan this year.

Like SJ, MTL just grab 2 big perfect piece for their rebuild. Demidov and Hage will change the forward core. Hage would normally go higher than 21, he is a top 15 talent this draft, for sure. 75 pts in 54 USHL games at 17 years is really good. 25 pts in his first 25 games and 50 pts in his last 29 games, that's high production for a 17 years old in USHL.

 

[Rooch]

Since when did this become the NBA combine?

You either hit on your picks or you don’t. If Sennecke doesn’t work out, that’s pretty terrible for their draft. Maybe he will, but of course that pick will be consequential. Ability to play hockey, not size, is what will matter.

And for all those assets Verbeek has acquired they never seem to actually make the playoffs. When does their rebuild finally end?

What's your point? The same could be said for every team in the league.

 

[Zegs2sendhelp]

Since when did this become the NBA combine?

You either hit on your picks or you don’t. If Sennecke doesn’t work out, that’s pretty terrible for their draft. Maybe he will, but of course that pick will be consequential. Ability to play hockey, not size, is what will matter.

And for all those assets Verbeek has acquired they never seem to actually make the playoffs. When does their rebuild finally end?

I mean that’s the case with any pick…. If Demidov doesn’t work out that’s a bad pick for Montreal, if levshunov doesn’t work out that’s pretty Terrible for their draft


Pv is entering his 3rd season, but I assume when the youth takes the next step. We really didn’t commit to rebuild until PV got here

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

I mean that’s the case with any pick…. If Demidov doesn’t work out that’s a bad pick for Montreal, if levshunov doesn’t work out that’s pretty Terrible for their draft


Pv is entering his 3rd season, but I assume when the youth takes the next step. We really didn’t commit to rebuild until PV got here

I'm merely responding to the idea that Sennecke fits the mold of what the Ducks like, so the result of how it turns out isn't consequential compared to the Ducks scouting preferences. We'll see how all these players turn out. What will matter towards whether the picks were successful or not is whether they become good players, not whether they fit any mold. At 3OA you don't take a player who fits your mold. The Ducks didn't do that either. They think Sennecke was the third best prospect, and thats why they took him.

What's your point? The same could be said for every team in the league.

You are talking about fitting the mold as if it's more important than picking the best player. The Ducks definitely didn't pick at 3 for fitting a mold. They picked who they thought was the best prospect.