GDT: 2024 NHL Draft (Time and place TBA)

[Langway]

Pretty boring game. None of the higher profile guys took over. Greentree was pretty good. Yakemchuk has some 1v1 moves/moxy but isn't the smoothest. Iginla was good early but faded.

 

[usiel]

Pretty boring game. None of the higher profile guys took over. Greentree was pretty good. Yakemchuk has some 1v1 moves/moxy but isn't the smoothest. Iginla was good early but faded.

Greentree and Iginla on the forward side stood out a bit for me . Starting to feel like one of those drafts the scouts really need to dig deep and find some players.

 

[Langway]

https://theathletic.com/5212603/2024/01/29/nhl-draft-2024-rankings-midseason-wheeler/

Parekh at 6.

 

[usiel]

After watching the two BC/BU games last weekend Celebrini seemed ok but he really didn't jump out to much mostly could tell the skill on the PP. He's really young to be playing at the NCAA level so kind of unfair but Smith/Perreault/Leonard jumped out way more but of course drafted the year before.

 

[usiel]

https://theathletic.com/5212603/2024/01/29/nhl-draft-2024-rankings-midseason-wheeler/

Parekh at 6.

I'm kinda liking Yakemchuk more.

 

[Langway]

Yakemchuk is bigger than Parekh and also Buium but I'm a bit wary of his late birthday. His playmaking also could be better. He's a confident player individually off the rush 1v1 but I'm not sure how much that will translate for him. He definitely should be a top 15 lock but I find the smaller two D in that range to be a bit more dynamic altogether. Physically they may struggle for a while, though, so I could see teams preferring Yak but I don't think he's quite got the same level of offensive upside.

Throw in Catton as an X factor slider and that's mainly the short list. But who knows. It's wide open after Celebrini. Parekh could dominate the OHL playoffs and Memorial Cup to the point where he goes second. Buium could finish strong and go top 5ish. Maybe Dickinson slides to their range instead. Or maybe Eiserman if teams overthink the extent of his skating or off puck concerns in a run on defensemen. I'm not sure there's a great deal separating Eiserman and Iginla really. Eiserman has the pedigree but has at least faded in the sense of being the clear competitor with Celebrini. That said, he's also an August birthday so still quite young. Another option in that 8-10 range could be Helenius but, y'know, Finland.

Celebrini's no Fantilli/Eichel but pretty comfortably the best player available this year. He probably ought to have potted a few last weekend with all of his chances. His off puck/strength areas don't allow him to completely dictate the game but the offensive instincts are really high level.

 

[usiel]

Yakemchuk is bigger than Parekh and also Buium but I'm a bit wary of his late birthday. His playmaking also could be better. He's a confident player individually off the rush 1v1 but I'm not sure how much that will translate for him. He definitely should be a top 15 lock but I find the smaller two D in that range to be a bit more dynamic altogether. Physically they may struggle for a while, though, so I could see teams preferring Yak but I don't think he's quite got the same level of offensive upside.

Throw in Catton as an X factor slider and that's mainly the short list. But who knows. It's wide open after Celebrini. Parekh could dominate the OHL playoffs and Memorial Cup to the point where he goes second. Buium could finish strong and go top 5ish. Maybe Dickinson slides to their range instead. Or maybe Eiserman if teams overthink the extent of his skating or off puck concerns in a run on defensemen. I'm not sure there's a great deal separating Eiserman and Iginla really. Eiserman has the pedigree but has at least faded in the sense of being the clear competitor with Celebrini. That said, he's also an August birthday so still quite young. Another option in that 8-10 range could be Helenius but, y'know, Finland.

Celebrini's no Fantilli/Eichel but pretty comfortably the best player available this year. He probably ought to have potted a few last weekend with all of his chances. His off puck/strength areas don't allow him to completely dictate the game but the offensive instincts are really high level.

Bolded Langway you always capture what my lazy self tends to not articulate well.

I do like the D prospects in the first round here. This feels like a draft where scouting really needs to shine. Forwards in the mid/later rounds pretty challenging to evaluate.

 

[Langway]

2024 NHL Draft prospects: Corey Pronman's midseason ranking

Corey Pronman ranks the 2024 NHL Draft class at the midseason mark — a class of prospects he continues to warm up to.

theathletic.com

Yakemchuk at 3. The lack of elite playmaking, as somewhat noted, makes me skeptical as to his ultimate upside. But the length does make him more easily projectable all-around. Less risky than Parekh/Buium perhaps but as far as the Caps go they still ideally need more of an offensive facilitator and should tolerate the risks involved. Overall pretty good stuff from the Pronman, though I'd have Greentree considerably higher and Ritchie/Parascak/Hemming top 32.

 

[pman25]

I can talk myself into any of the Dmen. Most enamored lately with Buium and Dickinson. At forward, Lindstrom seems destined to be a guy teams love and will rise but I think he recently got injured

 

[CapitalsCupReality]

Parekh all the way if a D….

 

[trick9]

One of the D's/Catton and picking up another late 1st to pick falling Kiviharju or Jiricek would be brilliant.

Pipe dream, i know.

 

[pman25]

Catton is really really good. Might be up there as the top forward in the draft and he’s probably gonna slide because size concerns you know. He’ll get the Benson treatment

 

[Ovechkins Wodka]

I am mostly against taking defenseman so high in the draft, but this draft class is different. Like we know we need centers and a scoring .

 

[Langway]

Yakemchuk also heating up lately. The top dozen or so picks are thickening up.

 

[usiel]

I like Yakem.

 

[Langway]

Who will draft Trevor Connelly? Inside the NHL's evolving scrutiny of top prospects

NHL evaluators are encountering new areas of concern when judging the suitability of prospects for their franchises.

theathletic.com

Hard to see him going in the first round, although the draft does seem to taper off pretty quickly to where it still wouldn't be shocking if he does.

 

[pman25]

I think being somewhere in the top 15ish is ideal. Obv higher the better but I am liking the crop from 2-15 really

I have a rough order of the following guys although it seems like 2-10 could go any direction. Maybe Russians slide maybe not. Lindstrom, Yakemchuk, and Iginla all seem like risers to me. Teams will love their make up.

1. Celebrini
2. Demidov
3. Levshunov
4. Silayev
5. Dickinson
6. Helenius
7. Lindstrom
8. Catton
9. Parekh
10. Iginla
11. Yakemchuk
12. Buium
13. Greentree

Then you get into guys like Jiricek, Basha, Connelly, Brandsegg-Nygaard. I like Basha more than Lindstrom right now, he’s very good creator of offense. The Norwegian, Brandsegg-Nygaard is one I noticed at WJC, good player, maybe Leonard-lite?

 

[Langway]

Don't forget Eiserman. I think there's a clear top 13 and that's your top 12 and Eiserman. As long as they're in that range they should net a very quality prospect.

After that I'd be a lot less confident. All things considered MBN would be one of the safer options thereafter, along with perhaps Jiricek and Greentree.

 

[Ovechkins Wodka]

Im prepared to be the last team to miss the playoffs, Im looking more at the 10-15 ranked players now. Atleast the pens are doing the same and dont have thier 1st rounder.

 

[pman25]

Yea Eiserman, completely blanked on him. He’s up there but seems have been jumped by quite a few players

 

[pman25]

Artanamov is someone I would be comfortable with in the 10-20 range as well, he plays with Silayev. He’s ranked lower late 1st or 2nd but think he jumps up.

 

[Langway]

Eiserman is sliding some but he's still basically a goal per game. The NTDP is relatively weak this year. The '25s playing up a year are strong but there may not be another '24 first rounder on that team (certainly not up front at least).

 

[bacchist]

Who will draft Trevor Connelly? Inside the NHL's evolving scrutiny of top prospects

NHL evaluators are encountering new areas of concern when judging the suitability of prospects for their franchises.

theathletic.com

Hard to see him going in the first round, although the draft does seem to taper off pretty quickly to where it still wouldn't be shocking if he does.

As long as he doesn't end up here, I don't really care.

 

[BiPolar Caps]

As long as he doesn't end up here, I don't really care.

Why?

He turns 18 in a few days. I can't read the Athletic article as it requires payment. What I found via the google machine was that he had posted an inappropriate photo on snapchat in March 2022, apparently shortly after turning 16. He also was accused of directing a racial slur during a 2021 (this would have been when he was 14/15) game against an opponent that he adamantly denied, resulting in an initial suspension from the league that he was playing in but evidently after a hearing the league reversed itself and found no violation.

Read the efforts that he has made and continues to be making both on and off the ice to make himself a better person. He's acknowledged his mistakes and regrets them. He was a 15/16 year old who did a stupid thing. We have 15/16 year olds carjacking and committing armed robberies who you'll never know about because they were handled through the juvenile justice system, yet we want to paint this guy as a villain.

If the Capitals are able to somehow obtain another first round pick say in the mid or late 20s and this kid's still there, take him!

 

[bacchist]

Why?

He turns 18 in a few days. I can't read the Athletic article as it requires payment. What I found via the google machine was that he had posted an inappropriate photo on snapchat in March 2022, apparently shortly after turning 16. He also was accused of directing a racial slur during a 2021 (this would have been when he was 14/15) game against an opponent that he adamantly denied, resulting in an initial suspension from the league that he was playing in but evidently after a hearing the league reversed itself and found no violation.

Read the efforts that he has made and continues to be making both on and off the ice to make himself a better person. He's acknowledged his mistakes and regrets them. He was a 15/16 year old who did a stupid thing. We have 15/16 year olds carjacking and committing armed robberies who you'll never know about because they were handled through the juvenile justice system, yet we want to paint this guy as a villain.

If the Capitals are able to somehow obtain another first round pick say in the mid or late 20s and this kid's still there, take him!

A swastika is a little more than "inappropriate".