2024 NHL Draft live updates: Start time, latest mock draft, predictions ...
The Athletic brings you the view from Las Vegas plus in-depth analysis, reactions and what to know about each pick.
Sean Gentille and Sean McIndoe
June 28, 2024 at 1:00 PM EDT
(Bruce Bennett / Getty Images)
Ottawa needs some of everything, especially after several recent high picks haven’t trended well — Tyler Boucher and Lassi Thomson — but the Senators need more help keeping the puck out of their net, rather than scoring. With the No. 7 pick, they will be under a lot of pressure to draft a defenseman.
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Each team’s biggest need at the 2024 NHL Draft: Position, size and skill
The Devils have had a lot of high picks in recent years and acquired premium centers and defensemen. They have a talented roster but lack some answers in net. They won’t solve that immediate issue in the draft, but ideally they would try to find some talent in goal that, if they hit, could become their future starter.
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Each team’s biggest need at the 2024 NHL Draft: Position, size and skill
Chicago has had a lot of picks in recent years. The Blackhawks have drafted excellent young forwards and defensemen. I’m tempted to list goalie here, but we’ll see how their high second-round pick, Adam Gajan, develops. Looking at the forwards they’ve drafted, there’s a lot of skill and speed in that group, but they’re mostly small outside of Colton Dach, whom I do like. Ideally, they can add a forward with some size.
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Each team’s biggest need at the 2024 NHL Draft: Position, size and skill
Calgary hasn’t picked a defenseman in the first round since Juuso Valimaki in 2017. The Flames have picked defensemen in other high rounds, but the result has been that their system is more forward-heavy and lacks a clear blueliner of the future for their top four, unless someone such as Etienne Morin or Jeremie Poirier really hits.
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Each team’s biggest need at the 2024 NHL Draft: Position, size and skill
The Ducks have one of the best groups of young forwards in the league, arguably the best. After they traded Jamie Drysdale for Cutter Gauthier, there is a clear need for a premier young defenseman in the organization, which the Ducks will be in a prime position to acquire with the No. 3 overall pick.
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Each team’s biggest need at the 2024 NHL Draft: Position, size and skill
The goalie crop in the 2024 NHL Draft isn’t the flashiest group. I don’t expect a Round 1 goalie, and several NHL scouts are not sold on the idea that there is a sure-thing second-round goaltender — although I do expect at least one in that range. There should be at least 10 goalies picked in the draft, though, and in this story, I go through some of the names I expect to be selected.
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NHL Draft 2024 goalie tiers: Marcus Gidlof leads Pronman’s ranking
The prize of the 2024 NHL Draft class is no secret. Boston University center Macklin Celebrini is this year’s consensus top prospect, and as a result, there’s no real suspense or debate around what the San Jose Sharks will do with the No. 1 pick later this month. The Athletic’s NHL prospect writers, Corey Pronman and Scott Wheeler, have Celebrini in a tier of his own atop their final draft rankings.
After that, though? This draft gets very interesting very quickly — starting with the Chicago Blackhawks, who hold the No. 2 pick. Wheeler’s next-best player is dynamic Russian winger Ivan Demidov. Pronman has Michigan State defenseman Artyom Levshunov in a tier by himself behind Celebrini. As The Athletic’s Scott Powers has written, those two players look to be the top candidates for Chicago, as the Blackhawks begin building around last summer’s No. 1 pick Connor Bedard.
So, we asked Pronman and Wheeler to formally debate the decision Chicago will face later this month, which will set the tone for the rest of the draft.
Read the debate here.
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Should Blackhawks draft Demidov or Levshunov at No. 2? Pronman and Wheeler debate
In two straight seasons, we’ve had a draft-eligible winger from the SKA organization who is slightly undersized but dominated junior hockey in Russia.
Last season it was Matvei Michkov. Michkov was the subject of massive debate for on- and off-ice reasons in part due to his long KHL contract. Michkov was initially seen as a potential contender for the No. 1 pick in the 2023 NHL Draft. He went seventh overall to Philadelphia.
This season it is Ivan Demidov. Demidov is the back-to-back MVP of Russia’s junior league and had a great playoff leading SKA’s junior team to a title. He is in the conversation for the most skilled player in the entire 2024 NHL Draft class.
While Michkov and Demidov are not in the same draft class, their somewhat similar situations have often begged the question in scouting circles and public discourse about who is better. There are enough analogies to last season as well where I talk to scouts who have him as high as No. 2, or not even in their top five prospects. With Demidov being in the conversation for the second overall pick in this year’s class and Michkov falling to seventh last season we dive into that debate.
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How does 2024 NHL Draft prospect Ivan Demidov compare to Matvei Michkov?
Here's our annual NHL Draft Confidential. This piece comprises conversations I’ve had with NHL personnel over the past weeks and months about the top names and the biggest questions in the 2024 NHL Draft.
As a note, references to “Scout 1” or “Executive 1” across various questions do not mean those answers came from the same person — meaning “Scout 1” may appear in different questions but may be answered by different people. Scouts and executives were granted anonymity in order to speak freely about the prospects in question.
Question 1: There are big debates and important questions to get to in this draft. None of those debates revolve around the first pick, but let’s start there on what the league thinks of Boston University and future San Jose center Macklin Celebrini.
Scout 1's answer: “I came into the season thinking at worst he could be Nico Hischier. He’s much better than Hischier though. I’m not saying he’s Crosby, but he could be Sidney Crosby-lite.”
See the rest of the questions and responses.
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NHL Draft Confidential 2024: What insiders think of Celebrini, Demidov and more
As a companion to my 2024 NHL Draft board, here are scouting reports on 32 players who missed the cut. These are the prospects who were considered for my top 100 and who I view as some combination of mid-to-late-round candidates, development camp invite types, or worth following.
They include a couple of Jr. A standouts, a trio of Minnesota high schoolers, a Finn with a famous dad, a Swiss goalie and some Russians who slipped off my list in favor of equal prospects from other leagues.
Consider them honorable mentions.
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The 2024 NHL Draft prospects who missed Scott Wheeler’s final top 100 ranking
Here are my scouting reports on my top 10 re-entry players for the 2024 NHL Draft. These are players who were passed over once or twice but warrant continued consideration from NHL clubs. Three of them made my final top-100 ranking for the draft and the other seven (plus an honorable mention) were each strongly considered. I believe each of these players now has a case to be picked.
See the ranking here.
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Ranking the 2024 NHL Draft’s top 10 overaged players
The Canadian Hockey League (CHL) and USA Hockey announced Wednesday the creation of the CHL / USA Prospects Challenge, a new annual two-game series which will see the top first-year NHL draft-eligible prospects in the CHL face off against the USA Hockey National Team Development Program (NTDP).
Signed initially as a three-year partnership, the CHL’s three member leagues — the Ontario Hockey League (OHL), the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League (QMJHL), and the Western Hockey League (WHL) — will take turns hosting the series to start.
Read more.
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CHL, USA Hockey announce new CHL / USA Prospects Challenge for top NHL Draft prospects
(Illustration: Dan Goldfarb / The Athletic. Photos: Larry MacDougal, John Mersits /Cal Sport Media / AP; Maksim Konstantinov / SOPA Images / Sipa USA)
We asked The Athletic’s staff of NHL writers to prepare a mock draft of the first round of the 2024 NHL Draft, using their knowledge of the teams they cover to try to predict which direction they think the organizations may go in two weeks. Trades were allowed, though none occurred in this edition.
Macklin Celebrini was an obvious No. 1 pick. But who went No. 2 and beyond?
See the mock here.
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NHL Staff Mock Draft 2.0: Celebrini is No. 1, but where do Levshunov, Silayev, Demidov land?
I’m often asked the same questions at this time of year: How does this draft class compare to the previous one? How do the top prospects compare? So, I'll try to answer those questions.
I will take the top 10 picks from last year’s draft, incorporating their 2023-24 seasons, and compare them to the top 10 players in this year’s class. How do I determine the top 10 in 2024? I’ve decided to use the latest scout survey from TSN’s Bob McKenzie, although I should note that his survey doesn’t include Oshawa winger Beckett Sennecke or Calgary defenseman Carter Yakemchuk, two players I believe are likely top-10 picks.
Here's how the 2024 draft compares to 2023.
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How does the 2024 NHL Draft compare with the 2023 NHL Draft?
