We’ve arrived at the point that we’ve over-analyzed and fully stared at the names of prospects in line to be drafted in the first, second and even third rounds of the 2024 NHL Draft so much that we can lose the positives in the negatives, and hype can overwhelm body of work.
At this time of year, you can find dozens of lists, rankings and big boards. I shared my final Blackhawks big board earlier this week.
In an effort to create the best mock drafts and consider a long line of comments and data about the top prospects, I have been tracking (and keeping links to) rankings and mock drafts since January. How various scouts and analysts’ lists evolve over time is telling. It can also be fun (and educational) to look back after the fact to see where things changed in rankings and how the draft ultimately played out.
On Wednesday, just two days before the start of the 2024 NHL Draft, two great final prospect ranking lists hit the interwebs.
TSN’s NHL Draft Prospect Rankings
TSN’s Bob McKenzie shared his Top 100 List, which includes a lengthy write-up leading to the picks.
TSN’s draft list is a consensus ranking based on a survey of 10 NHL club team scouts. It is not a mock draft. No effort is made to match prospects with teams. It is simply an objective numerical exercise conducted in a vacuum based on where TSN’s panel of scouts rank the prospects.
When discussing the prospect they have at No. 2 overall:
In the case of [Ivan] Demidov, he is, in the eyes of our scouting panel, the clear consensus No. 2 choice behind Celebrini. Six of the 10 scouts surveyed had him at No. 2. All 10 had him in their top five. No other prospect in the draft, save Celebrini, had Top 5 unanimity.
Here’s how the top 40 sorted out at TSN:
- Macklin Celebrini, C
- Ivan Demidov, LW
- Artyom Levshunov, RHD
- Anton Silayev, LHD
- Cayden Lindstrom, C
- Sam Dickinson, LHD
- Zeev Buium, LHD
- Zayne Parekh, RHD
- Konsta Helenius, C
- Tij Iginla, LW
- Beckett Sennecke, RW
- Berkly Catton, C
- Carter Yakemchuk, RHD
- Cole Eiserman, LW
- Trevor Connelly, LW
- Adam Jiricek, RHD
- Michael Brandsegg-Nygård, RW
- Liam Greentree, RW
- Jett Luchanko, C
- Stian Solberg, LHD
- Igor Chernyshov, LW
- Sacha Boisvert, C
- Cole Beaudoin, C
- Michael Hage, C/RW
- Terik Parascak, RW
- Emil Hemming, RW
- EJ Emery, RHD
- Marek Vanacker, LW
- Dominik Badinka, RHD
- Andrew Basha, LW
- Ryder Ritchie, C/RW
- Sam O’Reilly, RW
- Charlie Elick, RHD
- Egor Surin, C/RW
- Nikita Artamonov, LW
- Dean Letrourneau, C
- Matvei Gridin, LW
- Jesse Pulkkinen, LHD
- Maxim Masse, RW
- Lucas Pettersson, C
The Athletic Consensus NHL Draft Prospect Rankings
Max Bultman at The Athletic put together a final, consensus big board for the 2024 NHL Draft. Here’s how Bultman explained how he built his top 65 list:
We started with rankings from The Athletic’s own prospect writers, Corey Pronman and Scott Wheeler, as well as FloHockey’s Chris Peters, who contributes regularly to The Athletic Hockey Show podcast. To give some outside flavor to the consensus, we also surveyed the lists of former NHL GM Craig Button, who is currently the director of scouting for TSN, and his TSN colleague Bob McKenzie, whose list is itself a composite survey of 10 NHL scouts, and is therefore a highly useful insight into the league’s thinking.
So the McKenzie list we include above had a partial role in creating this composite list. As do lists that I have considered throughout my process from the likes of Pronman, Wheeler, Button and Peters. So this is a really valuable list.
Here’s how the consensus list stacks the top 40:
*1* Macklin Celebrini, C
2. Ivan Demidov, RW
3. Artyom Levshunov, RHD
4. Zeev Buium, LHD
5. Anton Silayev, LHD
6. Zayne Parekh, RHD
7. Cayden Lindstrom, C
8. Sam Dickinson, LHD
9. Berkly Catton, C
10. Tij Iginla, C/W
11. Konsta Helenius, C
12. Carter Yakemchuk, RHD
13t. Beckett Sennecke, RW
13t. Cole Eiserman, LW
15. Michael Brandsegg-Nygård, RW
16. Adam Jiricek, RHD
17. Stian Solberg, LHD
18. Michael Hage, C
19. Trevor Connelly, LW
20t. Jett Luchanko, C
20t. Igot Chernyshov, LW
22. Liam Greentree, RW
23. Sacha Boisvert, C
24. Terik Parascak, RW
25. EJ Emery, RHD
26. Cole Beaudoin, C
27. Leo Sahlin Wallenius, LHD
28t. Egor Surin, C
28t. Emil Hemming, RW
30. Nikita Artamonov, LW
31. Charlie Elick, RHD
32. Matvei Gridin, RW
33. Ryder Ritchie, RW
34. Dominik Badinka, RHD
35. Marek Vanacker, LW
36. Andrew Basha, LW
37t. Linus Eriksson, C
37t. Cole Hutson, LHD
39. Julius Miettinen, C
40. Dean Letourneau, C
