The 2024 NHL Draft Was Interesting....

the first round of the

2024

NHL Entry Draft is officially in the books a total duration of about 4 hours I sound like a broken record I feel like we all say the same thing every year but it's too long we definitely had our There was a fair amount of surprises in terms of where certain players were

draft

ed, but in terms of trades, we didn't really get anything other than the trading of picks from teams that went up and down in the

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over the past few weeks. There was a lot of talk about how crazy this was.

Draft of the year could potentially be with all the trades that could happen, guys like NIS eer Ru mcgi yav asgarov are all names that were talked about as players that could be traded in the NHL draft along with the fourth overall pick of Columbus, there was a lot of talk about them potentially moving that, but we didn't get anything from that, so it was definitely disappointing, there will always be tomorrow, but the first round was definitely a disappointment in terms of trades, but with all that being said, let's move on and Let's take a look at the draft. picks first and second overall no surprises celebrini to San Jose and ardam linov to Chicago we knew celebrini was going to be the first overall pick in the draft all year and based on everything that's been reported over the last week, I think we were all expecting Chicago was going to pick Levanov and that's exactly what happened, third overall is where we get our first big surprise and I would say this was probably the most shocking pick of the entire first round.

The Anaheim Ducks drafted forward Becket Senica and let me tell you. No one in the world was more surprised than Beck himself in Senica when the Anaheim Ducks called his name. His reaction was priceless. He's a prospect that really rose up everyone's draft rankings towards the end of the season. He was a beast in the playoffs. oswa generals 10 goals and 22 points in 16 games heading into the draft, he's a guy. I think most people expected to go anywhere between pick range 7 to 15. I would say he's definitely a great prospect, don't get me wrong, but it was really surprising to see Anaheim reach for him with the third overall pick in the draft. .

I hope it's worth it to you. Picks four and five were as expected. Kaden Lindstrom, fourth overall for the Columbus Blue Jackets and Ivan Demidov, fifth overall for the Montreal Canadiens. I know many habits. Fans are very excited about that draft pick. Zadov has the potential to be one of the best ABS players in this draft class. I believe he will be an elite Topline forward for the Montreal Canadiens after the pick is made. Kent Hughes was interviewed by Elliot Freeman. and Elliot Freeman said you coveted Ivan Demidov for a long time, it's true and Kentu said very true, so Montreal got their guy.

I think they did very well tonight. We'll talk about his other first-round pick a little later. It was also a nice touch for them to have Selene Dion come out and announce this sixth overall pick. Utah made Taga their first draft pick in franchise history, obviously not including Coyotes history. You know what I mean, so Ainla didn't finish. drop in the Calgary Flames return ninth overall, as I know many of us expected him to go seventh overall, the Ottawa Senators selected defenseman Carter yakimchuk, it's not a surprise at all to see them go with a right shot.

Defender, he's a guy with good size. fantastic shot, there's a ton of offensive upside there and Ottawa already has players like Thomas Shabbat, Jake Sanderson and Jacob Cheran who are all left shot defensemen, a right shot defenseman was definitely an organizational need for Ottawa and they addressed that here with the eighth. overall pick, this Seattle Kraken selected a Berkeley Katton center. I love this pick from Seattle Berkeley Katton is one of the most skilled players in the entire draft class. He had 116 points in the WHL this season. He is a prospect that many people thought he could fall.

He was out of the top 10 due to his similar size to Zach Benson last year, but that's not what happened. Seattle decided to take him 8th overall and I think he's a draft pick that will age very well for them, their center depth is moving towards The future is absolutely ugly with players like Matty Baners, Shane Wright and now Berkeley Katton, 9th overall, the The Calgary Flames would select right defenseman Zayn Perek, probably the best offensive defenseman in the entire draft class. 33 goals and 96 points in 66 games this season in the ol with Sagen, one of the best scoring seasons by a defenseman in his draft year in OHL history, may struggle defensively at the NHL level, but I think it's a pretty safe bet to assume that Zan Pere is the future power quarterback for the Calgary Flames.

The New Jersey Devils selected the unicorn of the draft, 6'7 left shooting defenseman Anton CV. I actually like this pick for New Jersey. I don't think there are many offensive advantages with CV, but I feel like he fits well in his organization. They already have young, dynamic offensive defensemen like Luke Hughes and Simon Nich, so I definitely think it makes sense for New Jersey to add a prospect to their system who projects to be an absolute Beast on defense and simply a nightmare to play against with the 11th overall pick. general. They picked their second draft pick in the first round, San Jose Shark selected defenseman Sam Dickinson from the London Knights.

This is where I actually had Sam Dickinson in my mock draft. I said in that video that I think San Jose's Prospect group is lacking a top defensive prospect and now they get it, Sam Dickinson was a little surprised to see them get past the boo with him still on the board at 11th overall , but they are still getting a fantastic defensive prospect in Dickinson, moving now to the 12th overall draft pick, the Minnesota Wild actually made a trade with Philadelphia to move up one spot from 13th to 12th and I think with this 12th pick of the draft they got one of the biggest deals of the first round by selecting defenseman Zeve Boam.

Overall, in my mock draft, the second defenseman off the board after Linov, Craig Button, said that he believed Z Buam was the best defenseman in the entire draft class. Minnesota Wild fans should be over the moon with this draft pick and I think I speak for everyone when I say that the idea of ​​a Brock Faber Zeve Boam defensive pairing is absolute nightmare fuel for the rest of the NHL with the With the 13th pick overall, the Philadelphia Flyers selected center Jet Luchenko. I saw a lot of Flyers fans pretty upset on social media that Philly decided to trade the 12th overall pick down decided not to take zeve buam and then reach out for jet lenko a bit.

I think this was a little earlier than most people expected it to be in the first round. I think it's pretty clear that Philadelphia had the view. determined to draft a center here, their prospect pool is pretty weak when it comes to center, especially after the goat trade, so I feel like that was probably their thought process here, next with the 14th overall pick, The Buffalo Sabers selected a Finnish center with Helenus. who was very impressive this season in the League when he was 18 years old, he scored 36 points in 51 games on one of the best teams in the league.

He already has a pretty well-rounded 200-foot game, obviously playing a prime position in the center. I think this is a really solid draft pick for Buffalo at 14th and 15th overall, the Detroit Red Wings selected Michael Brans and I wanted them to go with Eiserman here looking at everyone left on the board. I really think Detroit is still lacking that top-tier talent and while Azman definitely has a lot of holes in his game if he hits and reaches his ceiling in the NHL, that's 30 40 goal potential, the Red Wings nevertheless decided to go for the safest route and take BRC nard, it's an ECT that I feel is kind of cut in the same way as Nate Danielson and Marco Casper high energy High competition four good Checker Not sure if he will ever become the big Topline striker which I think the Red Wings really need, but he's still a really solid prospect and projects to be a solid middle-sixth player for Detroit going into the second half of the first round.

Now I admit that when it comes to prospects who were selected later in the first round, my knowledge is much more limited than that of the guys who were selected. At the top of the draft, 16th overall, the St Louis Blues selected right defenseman Adam Urich, who is the younger brother of David Gurich of the Columbus Blue Jackets, has played in the Czech league in each of the last two seasons, the numbers no. He obviously suffered a knee injury in the first game of the

2024

World Juniors that required surgery, so he missed a lot of time and I think that definitely affected his draft stock a little bit, now moving to 17th in overall, selected by the Washington Capitals.

Right Shot Winger Tck Pisac who spent last season in the WHL with Prince George and had 105 points in 68 games. He's another Becka-like prospect who had a pretty funny reaction to being drafted. He seemed very surprised when he heard the call from the Washington Capitals. His name goes 18th overall with the second of their three first-round picks this year, the Chicago Blackhawks selecting center Sasha Bo. He has pretty good size at the center position and was very productive in the USHL. He had 36 goals and 68 points in 61 games this year with the 19th overall pick, the Las Vegas Golden Knights selected a winger Trevor Connelly had from the USL had 78 points in 52 games there this season, he is a prospect that He probably would have gone much earlier in the draft if not for I concerns.

I will just say that he has had a bit of a controversial past and has had some problems. This is a draft pick that probably isn't going to earn Vagas any fanfare, but there is something we've learned about them since they arrived. in the NHL is that they don't really care about anyone's feelings, they just want to win, they don't care about anyone's feelings when it comes to how to work around the salary cap or when it comes to trading fan favorites or players they recently acquired to free up cap space and dump the salary cap and based on this pick they obviously have the same mentality when it comes to selecting with the 20th overall pick, the New York Islanders were ultimately the team that squeezed the trigger against Cole Eiserman.

Similar to what I said about Zeve Boam going 12th overall to Minnesota. I think this was one of the most important deals of the first round. Cole Eiserman is one of the best, maybe the best natural scorer of the entire draft class. He's a guy who, if he reaches his ceiling and fulfills his potential, will be a very effective goal scorer in the NHL and for a team like the New York Islanders who need a top-line winger to play alongside Matt Barzel and Bo Horvat, I think So this is a really good bet for them. I love this choice.

Moving on now to pick number 21. The Montreal Canadians selected center Michael Haage from the USHL. He had a very productive season this year. He 33 goals and 75 points in 54 games, the same as Demidov's choice. I think Montreal again got very good value here with Michael. As I mentioned above, they had a fantastic first round in my opinion. At 22nd overall, the Nashville Predators selected center Jagor Surin, who was one of the youngest players in the draft class. Has good size at center impressive numbers in the ml this season especially in the playoffs solid value here for Nashville in my opinion with the 23rd overall pick a draft pick Anaheim traded for they ended up drafting a defenseman in styan soberg probably the most physical defenseman in the entire draft class doesn't have much offensive upside but if he ever becomes a full time nhlr he should be an absolute nightmare to play against the forward selected in the Utah's 24th pick Cole Bodwin, who has good size at 6'2 and 200 lbs., was under a point per game last season in the OHL for Barry's 62 points and 67 games is not a prospect I really want to deal with.

I am very familiar with the 25th pick in the draft, speaking of size, the Boston Bruins selected center Dean Lernau who is an absolute monster 6' 7 he moves very well and has a lot of skill for his size he absolutely dominated this season although in a weak league, he played for a private school in ontario, but he's another guy like cev who is just an absolute unicorn and is definitely a really intriguing prospect. At 26th overall, the LA Kings drafted Liam Greenre from the former team that played for Windsor this season and he put up a truly impressive point total: 36 goals, 90 points, and 64 games.

He is a greatExtreme with great skill. I think the Kings got pretty good value in drafting Green. Tree 26th overall here next with pick 27th overall Chicago's third and final pick of the first round selected another OHL winger Merrick vaner solid production this season for the Branford Bulldogs 36 goals 82 points in 68 games 28 overall The Calary Flames selected in Russian winger Matt Ves Greeden, who spent the last two seasons in the USHL, scored 38 goals, 83 points this season in 60 games at 29th overall, the Dallas Stars selected in Finnish winger Emil Heming , who scored 11 points in 40 games in the LI this season.

In sports broadcasting they compared him to Cole Eiserman in the sense that he has a great shot and is a natural scorer, but there are a lot of other holes in his game, kind of high risk. High reward pick here for Dallas, but in the end. the first round, I think it's definitely worth a bet and Dallas is a team that has a pretty good history of picking in the late first round and early second round, and now with the 30th overall pick, the New York Rangers selected right defenseman EJ. Emy played 27 games for the US National Development Team in the USHL this season, he only had six assists in those 27 games, there are not many offensive advantages, it is projected that there will be more physical defensive players in sports broadcasting, they were excited about how awesome EJ Emery was at the Draft Combine and how he was just surprising everyone with the results he was getting in the different tests, so he's definitely an intriguing prospect with the 31st pick in the draft after moving down from defenseman Right shot selected by Toronto Maple Leaf, Ben Danford, who spent this season in the Ontario Hockey League for Oswa. overall on one goal and 32 assists in 64 games.

I'll reference the Sportsnet broadcast here again. They said they wouldn't be surprised if this was a guy who would one day wear a letter on his jersey in the NHL, the kind of player who goes out and gives it his all every shift, goes to war for his teammates, isn't afraid of putting his body on the line if he can ever become a full-time NHL player, he definitely sounds like he's the type of player the Maple Leaes could use. on that blue line and now finally with the last pick of the first round, a pick that the Edmonton Oilers actually trade up for to get into the first round.

I think they traded a conditional first rounder next year or the year after, I'm not sure. what exactly the conditions are there, but it's basically a future first-round pick in one of the next two drafts and after acquiring this pick from the Flyers, the Edmonton Oilers used it to select winger Sam O'Reilly from the London Knights , is not a prospectus. Everyone who is familiar with whatever was part of that championship-winning London Knights team this season had 20 goals and 56 points in 68 games for them, 12 points and 16 playoff games, so those are the results of the first round of the 2024 NHL entry draft, as always.

I want to know how you guys feel, how do you think his team did tonight in the draft? Let me know. Down in the comments before I leave here, there was an exchange that took place today and I'll tell you my summary. Thoughts on The St Louis Blues acquired forward Alexander Texier from the Columbus Blue Jackets in exchange for a fourth-round draft pick in 2025. This deal came with an extension. Texi was given a 2 year contract with the blues, cap hit at 2.1 million per season, not really. There's a lot to unpack here, this is a buy low situation for the St Louis Blues.

Texier returned to the NHL last season after stepping away for a year and playing in Switzerland in 2022-23 this season. Texier scored 12 goals and 30 points in 78 games, he's a guy who's only really played the last six minutes throughout his career so far, he definitely has some ability. A decent playmaker could provide some scoring element to St Louis' center six, but he also might not be a factor for them, not really a whole. There's a lot of risk involved here for St Louis because they only gave up a quarter and it's not like the extension they gave him was too crazy, so those are my quick thoughts on the tech and a trade again.

I want to know what you guys are thinking especially. If you're a Blues or Columbus Blue Jackets fan, let me know what you think about this deal in the comments below. If you made it to the end of the video and ended up having fun, remember. Hitting the like button definitely helps the videos a lot and is the best way to let me know you enjoyed it and most importantly if this is your first time visiting the channel and you want more NHL content like this all year long . round, be sure to hit that subscribe button and I'll talk to you all soon