Prospect Info: 2024 NHL Draft Thread

[Guadana]

in my dream Eiserman, Catton, and Connolly are drafted early and everyone else goes Defense.

6'4 power forwards with high end skating, skill and physicality don't grow on trees. I have Lindstrom going #2 overall to Chicago, if draft order stays as is. But the teams drafting 3/4 are currently Anaheim and Columbus, both of whom would also likely take Lindstrom if he fell to them. No way this kid gets out of the top 5.

If Levshunov will go to Chicago/SJ and Ducks will draft Lindstrom - boy, oh, boy. McTavish, Carlsson, Gauthier, Lindstrom, Zegras, Terry. Its not fair. How did they get all of this with Mintyukov? Feels like we were longer in rebuild but our main pieces are Jack, Nico, Luke and Simon from the early draft.

We missed on Holtz. And better players from this Ducks list are two way physical skilled players. Devils should NOT miss on this draft pick.

 

[StevenToddIves]

in my dream Eiserman, Catton, and Connolly are drafted early and everyone else goes Defense.

Sorry my friend, in order for the Devils to get Lindstrom they will have to win the #2 or whatever #3 overall pick in the lottery. That's the only way.

Here's a quick mini mock. It's changed slightly from my last one, but I still have the Devils coming away with Helenius. I will also reiterate that this would be a tremendous pick for the Devils, and of course there is a chance he could go earlier since centers are drafted at a premium and the 2024 class is relatively thin at the position. But in this scenario, I have a run at the similarly coveted position of RD which forces Helenius down to NJ.

1 SJ C Celebrini
2 CHI C/W Lindstrom
3 ANH LD Dickinson
4 CLB W Demidov
5 MTL RD Levshunov
6 UTAH RD Parekh
7 OTT RD Yakemchuk
8 SEA LD Buium
9 CGY LW Iginla
10 NJ C Helenius
11 BUF LW Eiserman
12 PHI LW Catton
13 MIN RW Brantsegg-Nygard
14 SJ LD Silayev
15 DET W Chernyshov
16 STL RD Jiricek

View attachment 859479


If Levshunov will go to Chicago/SJ and Ducks will draft Lindstrom - boy, oh, boy. McTavish, Carlsson, Gauthier, Lindstrom, Zegras, Terry. Its not fair. How did they get all of this with Mintyukov? Feels like we were longer in rebuild but our main pieces are Jack, Nico, Luke and Simon from the early draft.

We missed on Holtz. And better players from this Ducks list are two way physical skilled players. Devils should NOT miss on this draft pick.

Seth Jarvis has been the best all-around F for Carolina this year. In retrospect, he probably should have been the NJ pick over Holtz at the same RW position. But I will say I still feel Holtz will be a 30+ Goal scorer in the NHL, just maybe not with NJ.

 

[Xirik]

Sorry my friend, in order for the Devils to get Lindstrom they will have to win the #2 or whatever #3 overall pick in the lottery. That's the only way.

Here's a quick mini mock. It's changed slightly from my last one, but I still have the Devils coming away with Helenius. I will also reiterate that this would be a tremendous pick for the Devils, and of course there is a chance he could go earlier since centers are drafted at a premium and the 2024 class is relatively thin at the position. But in this scenario, I have a run at the similarly coveted position of RD which forces Helenius down to NJ.

1 SJ C Celebrini
2 CHI C/W Lindstrom
3 ANH LD Dickinson
4 CLB W Demidov
5 MTL RD Levshunov
6 UTAH RD Parekh
7 OTT RD Yakemchuk
8 SEA LD Buium
9 CGY LW Iginla
10 NJ C Helenius
11 BUF LW Eiserman
12 PHI LW Catton
13 MIN RW Brantsegg-Nygard
14 SJ LD Silayev
15 DET W Chernyshov
16 STL RD Jiricek


Seth Jarvis has been the best all-around F for Carolina this year. In retrospect, he probably should have been the NJ pick over Holtz at the same RW position. But I will say I still feel Holtz will be a 30+ Goal scorer in the NHL, just maybe not with NJ.

We better not pick Eiserman, That to me would be Fitz just repeating the same mistake.

 

[My3Sons]

Sorry my friend, in order for the Devils to get Lindstrom they will have to win the #2 or whatever #3 overall pick in the lottery. That's the only way.

Here's a quick mini mock. It's changed slightly from my last one, but I still have the Devils coming away with Helenius. I will also reiterate that this would be a tremendous pick for the Devils, and of course there is a chance he could go earlier since centers are drafted at a premium and the 2024 class is relatively thin at the position. But in this scenario, I have a run at the similarly coveted position of RD which forces Helenius down to NJ.

1 SJ C Celebrini
2 CHI C/W Lindstrom
3 ANH LD Dickinson
4 CLB W Demidov
5 MTL RD Levshunov
6 UTAH RD Parekh
7 OTT RD Yakemchuk
8 SEA LD Buium
9 CGY LW Iginla
10 NJ C Helenius
11 BUF LW Eiserman
12 PHI LW Catton
13 MIN RW Brantsegg-Nygard
14 SJ LD Silayev
15 DET W Chernyshov
16 STL RD Jiricek


Seth Jarvis has been the best all-around F for Carolina this year. In retrospect, he probably should have been the NJ pick over Holtz at the same RW position. But I will say I still feel Holtz will be a 30+ Goal scorer in the NHL, just maybe not with NJ.

Would you pick Helenius over Brantsegg-Nygard if it was your team and you were just selecting for BPA (which I understand can be subjective).

 

[longislanddevil]

Sorry my friend, in order for the Devils to get Lindstrom they will have to win the #2 or whatever #3 overall pick in the lottery. That's the only way.

Here's a quick mini mock. It's changed slightly from my last one, but I still have the Devils coming away with Helenius. I will also reiterate that this would be a tremendous pick for the Devils, and of course there is a chance he could go earlier since centers are drafted at a premium and the 2024 class is relatively thin at the position. But in this scenario, I have a run at the similarly coveted position of RD which forces Helenius down to NJ.

1 SJ C Celebrini
2 CHI C/W Lindstrom
3 ANH LD Dickinson
4 CLB W Demidov
5 MTL RD Levshunov
6 UTAH RD Parekh
7 OTT RD Yakemchuk
8 SEA LD Buium
9 CGY LW Iginla
10 NJ C Helenius
11 BUF LW Eiserman
12 PHI LW Catton
13 MIN RW Brantsegg-Nygard
14 SJ LD Silayev
15 DET W Chernyshov
16 STL RD Jiricek


Seth Jarvis has been the best all-around F for Carolina this year. In retrospect, he probably should have been the NJ pick over Holtz at the same RW position. But I will say I still feel Holtz will be a 30+ Goal scorer in the NHL, just maybe not with NJ.

It seemed for quite awhile that Catton was a top 5 pick and that he’d likely not slide too much further than say 8. In this scenario, you have him at 12 which is interesting. Has his stock gone down a bit recently or is he just a victim of other prospects solidifying their draft status or even new ones emerging?

 

[longislanddevil]

This draft will get fascinating if a team pulls the trigger on Eiserman before we pick. It would open up different scenarios at 10OA. How likely is this to happen though and who could be interested in this type of player? What team lacks elite goal scoring talent that has shown a propensity to ignore these types of players with major flaws?

 

[Brodeur]

 

[JimEIV]

Seth Jarvis has been the best all-around F for Carolina this year. In retrospect, he probably should have been the NJ pick over Holtz at the same RW position. But I will say I still feel Holtz will be a 30+ Goal scorer in the NHL, just maybe not with NJ.

I think Holtz scoring 16 goals - 15 at Even Strength and 28 points while only averaging 11:38 of ice time is very impressive.

I just don't see how he ever cracks the top 6 here. I'd hate to see him score 30 somewhere else but It might be the only way possible with who is in front of him on RW

 

[StevenToddIves]

Would you pick Helenius over Brantsegg-Nygard if it was your team and you were just selecting for BPA (which I understand can be subjective).

This is actually a great question.

I have both Brantsegg-Nygard and Helenius ranked very highly, and thy are both players of need -- Helenius a center and Brantsegg-Nygard a speedy power winger who has played a *little bit* of center.

They are both excellent skaters with exceptional hockey IQs. Brantsegg-Nygard has a better power game and is a better shooter, but Helenius is a better puck-handler and line driver. They are both high-compete players who are great defensively, but Brantsegg-Nygard probably gets a slight edge there. They both project as two-way, all-situations top-six forwards and both have such great intangibles that they both have high floors as excellent third-liners even if the offense does not develop to the optimal degree.

For me, this is a win/win. It might come down to how much you believe both players will stay at center as opposed to the RW. Ask me this again closer to the draft, I'm not sure I'm ready to commit just yet. I'm going to cop-out for now and say I'd be thrilled if the Devils took either one of these players at #10 overall.

 

[StevenToddIves]

It seemed for quite awhile that Catton was a top 5 pick and that he’d likely not slide too much further than say 8. In this scenario, you have him at 12 which is interesting. Has his stock gone down a bit recently or is he just a victim of other prospects solidifying their draft status or even new ones emerging?

Yeah, that bothered me in my mock -- it was more situational than a knock on Catton. I actually really like Berkly Catton -- I feel strongly he will be a top-line, point-per-game forward at the NHL level.

However, my mock drafts consider organizational need and tendency to a fairly large degree. I do not think Catton goes top 5. Celebrini, Demidov and Lindstrom will all go higher at F, while I cannot see teams passing on Dickinson and Levshunov -- two all-situations D with superior size and skating to Catton -- for a 5'11 winger with good but not great skating -- not unless they possess the elite-across-the-board, gamebreaking offensive ability of a Demidov.

After the 5 spot, I took it team-by-team. Arizona and Ottawa both tend to draft players with size. Seattle needs D, and I also have Buium rated higher than Catton. Calgary for obvious reasons will have Tij Iginla very high on their draft board.

As for the Devils at #10? Well, I have Helenius and Catton ranked similarly, and the Devils prospect pipeline needs centers more than wingers. It's that simple.

 

[StevenToddIves]

This draft will get fascinating if a team pulls the trigger on Eiserman before we pick. It would open up different scenarios at 10OA. How likely is this to happen though and who could be interested in this type of player? What team lacks elite goal scoring talent that has shown a propensity to ignore these types of players with major flaws?

Best case scenario for the Devils at #10 is:

1) Eiserman goes top 10
2) Catton goes top 10
3) Calgary pulls the trigger on Iginla at #9
4) One of the two CHL RD (Parekh, Yakemchuk) go top 10.

Here's why.

We can be at least "very confident" that 5 of the top 9 picks will be Celebrini, Demidov, Lindstrom, Dickinson, Levshunov.

This is the one scenario I can see which would push LD Zeev Buium down to #10 where the Devils could snatch him up. And Buium could easily wind up being the best D in a 2024 class which is very strong on the blueline. The kid has elite IQ, immense offensive potential and high all-around potential. You can almost say he's like a left-shooting Nemec-type.

The idea of a future NJ blueline with three young Norris-upside types like Luke Hughes, Nemec and Buium is absolutely ridiculous. Seamus Casey is also a top-50 overall prospect right now. That gives you two high-end LD and two high-end RD for pretty much the coming decade and we haven't even mentioned the fact Dougie Hamilton will still be around awhile.

 

[StevenToddIves]

I think Holtz scoring 16 goals - 15 at Even Strength and 28 points while only averaging 11:38 of ice time is very impressive.

I just don't see how he ever cracks the top 6 here. I'd hate to see him score 30 somewhere else but It might be the only way possible with who is in front of him on RW

I really like Holtz and always have. I just didn't have him as a top 10 prospect back in 2020 when other people had him in their top 5. Like everyone I loved his shooting -- while not like everyone, I felt his passing/vision game was actually underrated.

My problem with the Holtz pick was I like Seth Jarvis a whole lot better at the same RW position in the same draft class. At RW in 2020, I had Jarvis on top with a close logjam of Quinn, Holtz, Mercer and Gunler (oops, blew one there) a bit below.

Seth Jarvis lacked the elite physical tool of shooting which Holtz has (in spades), but was superior in every other facet of the game and had the elite combination of hockey IQ/compete level which I stress more than anyone in the biz.

I do not think that GM Tom Fitzgerald trades the #10 overall pick like many have suggested. I personally feel Holtz will be the bait he uses to shore up the goaltending position this off-season. I think Nashville's run takes Saros off the table and Boston hangs onto both Swayman and Ullmark, leaving the two top available goaltenders as likely Markstrom and Gibson, either of whom could likely be had for Holtz, pretty much straight up.

 

[SteveCangialosi123]

Devil

 

[StevenToddIves]

Devil

There's a reason @Guadana and I keep touting Brantsegg-Nygard.

As has always been my style, I could care less that the consensus has him ranked in the late teens.

Brantsegg-Nygard would be an outstanding pick for the Devils at #10. If I'm Tom Fitzgerald and (as is quite likely)the high-end LD duo of Dickinson/Buium are both gone in the first 9 picks, I think the Devils' only decision should be: Brantsegg-Nygard or Helenius?

 

[longislanddevil]

Is there any chance of both Parekh and Yakemchuk being drafted in the top 9? That scenario would provide another avenue for the Devils to land Buium or Dickinson.

With the recent surge from MBN, is there a chance he could be a “surprise” pick in the top 9?

This is not a knock on Helenius but I’d select MBN over him if I’m Fitzgerald. I get the feeling he has a significantly higher ceiling and a comparable floor to Helenius. Ultimately, I would be happy to draft either player.

 

[Guadana]

There's a reason @Guadana and I keep touting Brantsegg-Nygard.

As has always been my style, I could care less that the consensus has him ranked in the late teens.

Brantsegg-Nygard would be an outstanding pick for the Devils at #10. If I'm Tom Fitzgerald and (as is quite likely)the high-end LD duo of Dickinson/Buium are both gone in the first 9 picks, I think the Devils' only decision should be: Brantsegg-Nygard or Helenius?

Is there any chance of both Parekh and Yakemchuk being drafted in the top 9? That scenario would provide another avenue for the Devils to land Buium or Dickinson.

With the recent surge from MBN, is there a chance he could be a “surprise” pick in the top 9?

This is not a knock on Helenius but I’d select MBN over him if I’m Fitzgerald. I get the feeling he has a significantly higher ceiling and a comparable floor to Helenius. Ultimately, I would be happy to draft either player.

I’m waiting of the start of new page to publish the breakdown of one game of Nygard where he literally playing center position full game, Because I hope more people will see it.

Helenius is a better playmaker. May be little better in defensive zone positioning. It’s a mark of high IQ, I wouldn’t say that Nygard has high ceiling, at least visible. Yeah, skating and speed are better, as shoot. But both players have arguments.

May be Ottawa want RD and will draft Yakemchuk, Seattle wants RD too and will draft Parekh and Calgary will draft Iginla. It would be the perfect scenario from different reasons. I like Iginla as a player, I think he is okay to good pick for Devils, but I really like Nygard and Helenius much more - both have better separation speed, Nygard is better skater, both much better positionally and defensively, Nygard is bigger. And both will play in better leagues next season. Their adaptation period should be shorter. It’s not a main factor but still has some importance.

 

[NJ DevLolz]

Can’t get pumped for this draft because I think they’ll move it for a goalie. But if they do make the pick, go best available C, LD, or LW. Preferably C.

 

[JimEIV]

I just hope we don't trade a top 10 pick for an older goalie

Saros is 29
Ullmark is about to turn 31
Markstrom is older than dirt....


We are at least two years away from Luke and Nemec becoming the type of players that you can win championships with . Those goaltenders could be dust in two years. I want that pick

 

[Guadana]

I just hope we don't trade a top 10 pick for an older goalie

Saros is 29
Ullmark is about to turn 31
Markstrom is older than dirt....


We are at least two years away from Luke and Nemec becoming the type of players that you can win championships with . Those goaltenders could be dust in two years. I want that pick

Saros is one year away from UFA. As Ullmark. Both will be cheaper on trade deadline or on the market.
Trading this pick for Markstrom is crazy. Not for Fitz but for any GM. Because we would saw this kind of a trade but we never saw them.

We even didnt saw trading top-10 pick for aged goalie(as I remember). Because GMs often dont do this crazy panic moves. And when they did - it mostly turn around badly.

 

[My3Sons]

I just hope we don't trade a top 10 pick for an older goalie

Saros is 29
Ullmark is about to turn 31
Markstrom is older than dirt....


We are at least two years away from Luke and Nemec becoming the type of players that you can win championships with . Those goaltenders could be dust in two years. I want that pick

Can you imagine someone as old as Markstrom? I feel bad for a guy like him. Practically in a nursing home.

 

[JimEIV]

Can you imagine someone as old as Markstrom? I feel bad for a guy like him. Practically in a nursing home.

I hope his next deal can cover his assisted living expenses.

 

[Nubmer6]

I just hope we don't trade a top 10 pick for an older goalie

Saros is 29
Ullmark is about to turn 31
Markstrom is older than dirt....


We are at least two years away from Luke and Nemec becoming the type of players that you can win championships with . Those goaltenders could be dust in two years. I want that pick

The only goalies I'd move the #10 pick for are Askarov, Walstedt, or Swayman.

 

[Hockey Sports Fan]

Who would you take if the Devils pick 2nd? I'm not sure what I would do.

 

[JimEIV]

The only goalies I'd move the #10 pick for are Askarov, Walstedt, or Swayman.

Moving the pick for any goalie makes uneasy.

 

[Nubmer6]

Moving the pick for any goalie makes uneasy.

Well, remember whoever we pick isn't a sure thing either.