Welcome to my first mock draft for the 2024 NHL Draft.
With the order of the first 23 selections now set following Tuesday’s draft lottery, I’ve made each of those picks (I’ll have a full first-round mock draft and a two-round mock closer to the draft itself).
As I begin to put together my final top 100 draft board, here I take a step back from my own evaluations to consider potential targets and fits for each team. After conversations with scouts, agents, those around many players and team staff, these are my best guesses based on a combination of team need, my sense for team leanings and amateur scouting department preferences, and the consensus.
Wherever I’ve felt comfortable enough to hypothesize, I’ve also mapped out some contingencies and other likely considerations for certain picks.
I believe this is a two-horse race between Demidov and Belarusian defenseman and Michigan State freshman standout Artyom Levshunov. The Blackhawks now have the next month and a half to figure out which one it’ll be. I’d expect them to meet with Demidov and his reps at Gold Star Hockey’s planned showcase in Florida the week before the draft and with Levshunov both at the combine and the Gold Star event. I’d give Demidov the pole position if everything goes well in his meeting and the Blackhawks feel comfortable with the practicalities of drafting a Russian. Either way, look for one of Dan Milstein’s star clients to become a Blackhawk. They don’t have to operate in silence, either, because they’ll get whoever they settle on. Demidov is probably the most purely individually skilled player in the draft and would complement Bedard well both at five-on-five and on the power play. He’s got the desired work ethic the Blackhawks covet as well. Sticking at No. 2 is a game-changer for them.
3. Anaheim Ducks: Artyom Levshunov, RHD, Michigan State University
After the Jamie Drysdale-for-Cutter Gauthier swap and the use of recent high picks on Leo Carlsson and Mason McTavish, the belief among scouts I’ve talked to is that the Ducks will target a defenseman with their pick. If the Blackhawks take Demidov, Levshunov comes into focus. If the Blackhawks take Levshunov, the Ducks will likely consider and do their due diligence on each of towering Russian defenseman Anton Silayev, Denver breakout star Zeev Buium and London Knights two-way stud Sam Dickinson. With what they already have in Olen Zellweger and Pavel Mintyukov, I wonder if the size and defensive ability of Silayev and Dickinson will win out over Buium’s more active game. It’s worth noting both Mintyukov and Zellweger are lefties and so are Silayev, Buium and Dickinson, which may place an even greater premium on Levshunov. It’s also worth noting they’ve had a lot of success with CHL D, which could help Dickinson factor into the conversation if they trust their scouts there — even if he’s not the consensus guy at No. 3 league-wide.
I took Medicine Hat center Cayden Lindstrom for the Blue Jackets in our staff mock, and I do still think the appeal of a one-two punch of Adam Fantilli and Lindstrom, with their similar makeups and their ideal size and skating, is and will be a strong consideration for them. But the more I’ve asked around in the last couple of days and the more I’ve thought about it, the more Silayev has come into focus. There’s the obvious connection to their many Russians within the organization, but he also just fits as a left-handed foil to a righty in David Jiricek, and the idea of their back end of the future built around the size, skating and defensive upside of Silayev; the boldness of Jiricek; and the capabilities of Denton Mateychuk is extremely appealing in its own right.
With Kaiden Guhle already established and Lane Hutson, David Reinbacher and Logan Mailloux coming, plus several other young D who could factor into the depth chart in Montreal, the Habs are in a unique position in that in a draft highlighted by its half-dozen top D prospects, they shouldn’t feel the need to target one and can instead look at the impact forwards. If the Blue Jackets don’t take Lindstrom, he’s a natural priority for the Habs as desired size down the middle and the second top-six center they so desperately need behind (or maybe someday in front of) Nick Suzuki.
6. NHL Utah: Zeev Buium, LHD, University of Denver
The strength of the Coyotes’ pool at forward (Logan Cooley, Dylan Guenther, Daniil But, etc.) and on defense (Dmitri Simashev, Maveric Lamoureux, etc.) allows them to focus on taking the best player. It doesn’t hurt that that player is a California kid who plays a short flight away in Denver and whose game could really complement the length of Simashev or Lamoureux on Utah’s blue line of the future. Buium to Utah makes a lot of sense.
The expectation is the Senators will prioritize a defenseman with this pick. I know Steve Staios, with his connections in the OHL, will have a full book on Parekh and Dickinson. I think they’d like to get a righty over a lefty if possible, though, and while that could put Carter Yakemchuk and his size-shot-skill combo in the mix, Parekh’s unique point-producing ceiling probably should — and I think will — win out.
The Kraken have made 11 picks in the first two rounds of the draft since their inception. They’ve used eight of them on forwards, just two on defensemen (Lukas Dragicevic and Ryker Evans) and one on a goalie. All three of their first-round picks have been forwards. Their first three picks in each of the last two drafts have all been forwards. They’ve built a strong pool at forward in a short period. It’s time they use a premium pick on a D and Dickinson is the best available in this scenario. I think their group will consider Yakemchuk as well (they took two WHL D last year in Dragicevic and Caden Price), but Dickinson’s better skating and defense should win out. If Parekh is available, I think they’d give him a long look as well. Their group has not shied away from betting on skill or players other teams have questions about.
If the No. 1-8 picks play out the way I have them here, or if those above eight players are all gone, this is where I think the draft will start to open up and become less predictable because the Flames have used their last four first-round picks on forwards going all the way back to Juuso Valimaki in 2017 and could use one of the top D (the acquisition of Hunter Brzustewicz helped add to a pool that was thin on D, as did taking Etienne Morin with their second-rounder a year ago, but they could still use a true stud). The best D available is Yakemchuk. He has played in their backyard all year with the Hitmen, who are jointly owned by the Calgary Sports and Entertainment Corporation. And while we’ve seen ownership connections play out before (Dallas owner Tom Gaglardi also owns the Kamloops Blazers and the Stars have drafted two of their players in recent years, for example), I do wonder if it may also work against Yakemchuk, whose warts they will also know. Sometimes overexposure isn’t a good thing.
Iginla to the Flames makes a lot of sense, and doesn’t feel like a nepotism pick either. Many believe he’s going to go in this range and he fits with the type of players the Flames have drafted. Plus, they don’t have to worry about whether he’ll want to stay, which, whether they’d admit it or not, does feel like it still looms over the Flames after the departures of Matthew Tkachuk, Johnny Gaudreau and company. Iginla would give them some scoring punch and top-of-the-lineup upside. Matt Coronato, Connor Zary and Samuel Honzek are all very good players; I’ve always been higher on those first two than most. But they’re missing a game-breaker and if things break right, Iginla could be that in a way some aren’t convinced Konsta Helenius can be. Certainly, Cole Eiserman and Berkly Catton also have that quality, but it’s close enough that I think Iginla wins out.
If the Devils don’t move this pick, the expectation is they’ll take a forward after using their last two high picks on D in Luke Hughes and Simon Nemec (they’ve obviously just signed Seamus Casey, who I think has a real chance to become a good NHL defenseman — and one I think they believe in). The three best forwards available are Helenius, Eiserman and Catton. Helenius’ pro readiness (his coach this season, Olli Jokinen, told me he thinks he’s ready to compete for an NHL job next season) fits best within their timeline. There’s appeal to the idea of Jack Hughes feeding Eiserman on the power play, but I wonder if the troubles they’ve had getting another flawed goal-scoring winger in Alexander Holtz to where they want him makes them gun-shy. And Helenius’ game is more likely to work behind Hughes and Nico Hischier than Catton’s. You can build a contending team around a 1-2-3 down the middle of Hughes, Hischier and Helenius.
11. Buffalo Sabres: Carter Yakemchuk, RHD, Calgary Hitmen
Catton and Eiserman are obviously high-end talents to be available at No. 11. Beckett Sennecke has worked his way into this range on the back of his skill level as well. Catton, in particular, fits with the kind of forward they’ve drafted in recent years. And while they have shown a willingness to keep taking like-minded and built players, I do wonder if there’s such a thing as too much of a good thing. They’ve used nine of their last 11 top-40 picks on forwards (Owen Power and Ryan Johnson being the only exceptions) and if one of the top D in the draft is available, they should be all over it. A blue line of Power, Rasmus Dahlin, Mattias Samuelsson and Yakemchuk certainly has the size every team covets nowadays, and hey, maybe they can bring back the two-D power-play unit to take advantage of Yakemchuk’s shot and skill.
A year after Matvei Michkov fell to them and they pounced, the Flyers do the same with Catton and add Matvei’s potential future linemate. Catton’s skating and skill could really function off of Michkov’s smart, tactical attacking. This feels like a no-brainer if Catton’s available, especially after losing Gauthier. They need to draft and develop a top-six center of the future and if Catton or Helenius are still there, and I think there’s a good chance one is, they should be all over it.
The Wild have used their last seven top-two-round picks on forwards and the young D in Iowa struggled last year, but Brock Faber helps reduce the need to get a premium D, and with the top defenders in the draft all gone, I like them taking a swing on Eiserman. He played his final years of minor hockey at Shattuck, committed to Minnesota before decommitting to be closer to home, and has the ability to become the one-shot game-breaker the Wild have so often lacked. After Danila Yurov’s success down the middle this season, they don’t need to feel quite as pressed about their center-ice position either. They learn their lesson in reaching on Charlie Stramel for position last year and get back to taking cuts.
With Celebrini, Will Smith, Quentin Musty, Filip Bystedt, David Edstrom, William Eklund and company, the Sharks suddenly have a really good young group of forwards to build around. And while Shakir Mukhamadullin has grown on me, I think Luca Cagnoni has a real chance to surprise some people and I don’t mind some of their other B-level prospects like Mattias Havelid, they should look to use this pick on a defenseman and can afford to be the team that takes Jiricek — viewed as a potential top-10 pick last summer before two knee injuries derailed his season and turned him into a wild card in the first round in their rebuild.
I think the Red Wings could really use an injection of a skill-first type at forward in their pool, and there are two of them here in Sennecke (who many expect to go top 15 and maybe even top 10 at this point) and Trevor Connelly, but I’ve said that over the last couple of drafts and they just keep going after the well-rounded, projectable top-nine players with high-end work ethic. Brandsegg-Nygard fits their DNA to a tee and has real secondary offense as a scorer with some B-level skill/feel/skating to complement his motor and competitiveness.
(This will be the year they break away from it and take a Sennecke or Connelly type instead.)
Based on pool needs, I’m sure the Blues would like to take a D here in a best-case scenario. But based on the talent pool in this draft, the mid-teens range is going to be where the top D and centers are gone and the gap between the high-skill wingers who are left and the next-best player at another position should be wide enough that teams take them anyway. I think Sennecke will likely be picked before this, but given the ordering of the teams and the needs of some of those in front of them, it feels like a talented forward or two will be available here. The Blues should probably take whoever that is. I could see them taking Jiricek and maybe the next player selected here as well, though.
If there’s going to be a D who jumps up into the teens and maybe surprises some fans, it’s starting to feel like it could be Emery. He left a positive final impression on everyone at U18 worlds and I think he’s going to impress more people at the combine both in the testing and interview process. His length, skating, untapped physical potential and developing puck game have a lot of draw for teams. The Capitals, after taking forwards Ryan Leonard and Andrew Cristall with their first two picks a year ago, feel like a potential fit (he also lines up with the kind of D they targeted when they drafted players like Vincent Iorio and Ryan Chesley).
18. New York Islanders: Trevor Connelly, LW, Tri-City Storm
Connelly’s the clearcut most talented player left and whenever I’ve thought about which teams might take him, I’ve come back to Lou Lamoriello (a Providence College legend, where Connelly is committed) and the Islanders (who could really use his skill).
This is the point in the draft where I think Hage’s premiums of position, size and skating (plus the talent, playmaking, etc.) will start to feel distinguished from the remaining crop of players for some teams. Those are things that teams also covet in trades, and knowing Vegas, he’ll just be moved anyway. In all seriousness, though, the Golden Knights have selected their fair share of USHL players, have gone to the Steel-to-Michigan pipeline in the first round once before with Brendan Brisson, could use a natural center in their pool after trading Edstrom, and will likely actually consider that Michigan plays their young players and a strong freshman year is a real possibility for trade value as are all the eyeballs that team gets on them. If he becomes a trade asset in their never-ending contending window, great. If they hang onto him, he might be the best player available and a real part of their future. It’s a win-win!
20. Chicago Blackhawks (via Tampa Bay Lightning): Jett Luchanko, C, Guelph Storm
If the Blackhawks take Demidov, I could see more of an urge for them to take a defenseman here. If they take Levshunov, a forward like Luchanko fits with what they’ve prioritized in recent years (chief among them: skating). I’ve got them taking Luchanko here even after taking Demidov if only because this isn’t a range in which many teams will have a D at the top of their lists and Luchanko has pushed himself from the 30s conversation into the 20s conversation. He’s going to further solidify himself in this range in combine testing, too.
Boisvert is a well-liked player whose size (with its room to fill out), competitiveness, intangibles, developing power game and decent skating and skill will have a lot of appeal for teams. I’ve had folks dangle top-15 hints to me about him, but a three-points-in-eight-games playoffs probably lands him about here and the Kings don’t have a ton in the pipeline at center anymore.
I know Barry Trotz has talked a lot about using the draft to inject skill and upside into the Predators organization, and that’s not Beaudoin’s M.O., but they’ve also seen the difference Ryan O’Reilly’s two-way game of detail and defensive positioning can make on their roster, and that’s what Beaudoin’s building toward. One of the fittest, strongest, hardest-working players in the draft, Beaudoin’s a projectable third-line center who impacts the game beyond the scoresheet and has put himself in the first-round conversation by turning himself into one of the age group’s most likeable players. If the D they like are gone, I think they’re more likely to target a center than one of the more talented wingers available here if only because they already have Matthew Wood, Joakim Kemell, Zachary L’Heureux and others coming on the wing.
There are a number of players I could imagine the Leafs group liking here. They’re always dialed in on all of the OHL guys and I could see them looking past Liam Greentree’s disappointing U18 worlds (and Marek Vanacker’s because he was banged up) and appreciating what his game is about and what he accomplished in Windsor the last two seasons. I could see them liking Medicine Hat’s Andrew Basha and his competitiveness-skill combo. I could see them liking the smarts of Terik Parascak. But they’ve also shown a willingness to draft Russians, there will be a case for Chernyshov as the best player available in the mid-20s, and his game has some of the qualities they look for.
(Illustration: John Bradford / The Athletic. Photos: Maksim Konstantinov / SOPA Images / LightRocket, Jonathan Kozub, Dale Preston / Getty Images)
MONTREAL – On a night when New York’s top line was missing in action, the bit players grabbed the spotlight and led the Rangers to a commanding 7-2 win over the Montreal Canadiens.
“That’s the kind of team we have,” said Filip Chytil, who led the Rangers with a pair of power-play goals Tuesday. “The guys on the top line had chances but when they don’t score we have three other lines to pick up the slack.”
The Rangers’ dominance was reflected in the amount of time they spent in the Canadiens zone and their 45-23 edge in shots.
“If you’ve watched us practice, you know that’s something we work on all the time,” said Chytil. “When we get the puck, we want to hold on to it.”
The Rangers grabbed a 2-0 lead on goals by Mika Zibanejad at the 56-second mark and Jonny Brodzinski at 2:05, but it was Montreal which pressed the play in the first minute.
“I thought we had a good start but they turned it around on us,” said Montreal coach Martin St. Louis.
Lane Hutson controlled the puck off the opening faceoff and had two early shots, both of which were blocked by New York’s Jacob Trouba.
“That was huge for us,” said Rangers coach Peter Laviolette. “We know (Trouba) can generate offence but he can come up with those big defensive plays.”
Montreal goalie Sam Montembeault exited at 11:05 of the first period after giving up four goals on 10 shots. Zibanejad, Brodzinski, Chytil and Reilly Smith all scored on the Habs’ starter.
His replacement, Cayden Primeau, stopped 33 of 35 shots, giving up goals to Braden Schneider, Kaapo Kakko and Chytil.
Nick Suzuki scored both of the Montreal goals, his first strikes of the season
“It didn’t really feel like a 7-2 game until the end there when you look up at the scoreboard,” Suzuki said. “But we obviously keep digging ourselves these holes, and against a good team like that, our details early on have to be really sharp. And we were definitely a little sleepy coming out and they jumped on us.”
Hutson led the Canadiens in ice time with 24:10 but this wasn’t one of his better games. Smith scored on a breakaway after taking the puck off Hutson’s stick and the rookie was minus-4 for the night.
After Tuesday’s morning practice, the Canadiens announced forward Juraj Slafkovsky will miss at least a week with an upper-body injury. Defenceman Kaiden Guhle missed a second consecutive game with an upper-body injury but the team said it isn’t a long-term ailment.
The injury situation didn’t get any better after Trouba flattened Justin Barron at 7:11 of the third period. Barron didn’t return to the ice but there was no immediate word on his condition.
The Rangers welcomed back defenceman Ryan Lindgren, who made his season debut after missing five games with a jaw injury.
Before the game, 14 players from the Canadiens’ team that won four consecutive Stanley Cups between 1976 and 1979 were introduced at the Bell Centre. Among them were Hockey Hall of Fame members Yvan Cournoyer, Serge Savard, Guy Lapointe, Bob Gainey and Ken Dryden.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 22, 2024.
Shohei Ohtani’s 50th home run ball has sold at auction for nearly $4.4 million, a record high price not just for a baseball, but for any ball in any sport, the auctioneer said Wednesday.
“We received bids from around the world, a testament to the significance of this iconic collectible and Ohtani’s impact on sports, and I’m thrilled for the winning bidder,” Ken Goldin, the founder and CEO of auctioneer Goldin Auctions said in a statement.
The auction opened on Sept. 27 with a starting bid of $500,000 and closed just after midnight on Wednesday. The auctioneer said it could not disclose any information about the winning bidder.
The auction has been overshadowed by the litigation over ownership of the ball. Christian Zacek walked out of Miami’s LoanDepot Park with the ball after gaining possession in the left-field stands. Max Matus and Joseph Davidov each claim in separate lawsuits that they grabbed the ball first.
All the parties involved in the litigation agreed that the auction should continue.
Matus’ lawsuit claims that the Florida resident — who was celebrating his 18th birthday — gained possession of the Ohtani ball before Zacek took it away. Davidov claims in his suit that he was able to “firmly and completely grab the ball in his left hand while it was on the ground, successfully obtaining possession of the 50/50 ball.”
Ohtani and the Dodgers are preparing for Game 1 of the World Series scheduled for Friday night.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — LeBron James gave his 20-year-old son a pep talk before they rose from the Lakers bench. Amid rising cheers, they walked together to the scorer’s table — and then they stepped straight into basketball history.
LeBron and Bronny became the first father and son to play in the NBA together Tuesday night during the Los Angeles Lakers ‘ season opener, fulfilling a dream set out a few years ago by LeBron, the top scorer in league history.
“That moment, us being at the scorer’s table together and checking in together, it’s a moment I’m never going to forget,” LeBron said. “No matter how old I get, no matter how my memory may fade as I get older or whatever, I will never forget that moment.”
Father and son checked into the game against Minnesota simultaneously with four minutes left in the second quarter, prompting a big ovation from a home crowd aware of the enormity of the milestone. The 39-year-old LeBron had already started the game and played 13 minutes before he teamed up with his 20-year-old son for about 2 1/2 minutes of action.
LeBron James is one of the greatest players in NBA history, a four-time champion and 20-time All-Star, while LeBron James Jr. was a second-round pick by the Lakers last summer. They are the first father and son to play in the world’s top basketball league at the same time, let alone on the same team.
“Y’all ready? You see the intensity, right? Just play carefree, though,” father told son on the bench before they checked in, an exchange captured by the TNT cameras and microphones. “Don’t worry about mistakes. Just go out and play hard.”
Their time on court together was fast and furious, just as LeBron promised.
LeBron, who finished the night with 16 points, missed two perimeter shots before making a dunk. Bronny had an early offensive rebound and missed a tip-in, and his first NBA jump shot moments later was a 3-pointer that came up just short. He checked out one possession later with 1:19 left in the second quarter, getting another ovation.
“(I) tried not to focus on everything that’s going on around me, and tried to focus on going in as a rookie and not trying to mess up,” Bronny said. “But yeah, I totally did feel the energy, and I appreciate Laker Nation for showing the support for me and my dad.”
After the final whistle on the Lakers’ first opening-night victory in LeBron’s seven seasons with the team, father and son also headed to the locker room together — but not before stopping in the tunnel to hug Savannah James, LeBron’s wife and Bronny’s mother. The entire family was in attendance to watch history — on little sister Zhuri’s 10th birthday, no less.
Ken Griffey Sr. and Ken Griffey Jr. also were courtside at the Lakers’ downtown arena to witness the same history they made in Major League Baseball. The two sluggers played 51 games together for the Seattle Mariners in 1990 and 1991 as baseball’s first father-son duo.
LeBron first spoke about his dream to play alongside Bronny a few years ago, while his oldest son was still in high school. The dream became real after Bronny entered the draft as a teenager following one collegiate season, and the Lakers grabbed him with the 55th overall pick.
“I talked about it years and years ago, and for this moment to come, it’s pretty cool,” LeBron said. “I don’t know if it’s going to actually hit the both of us for a little minute, but when we really get to sit back and take it in, it’s pretty crazy. … But in the moment, we still had a job to do when we checked in. We wasn’t trying to make it a circus. We wasn’t trying to make it about us. We wanted to make it about the team.”
LeBron and Bronny joined a small club of father-son professional athletes who played together. The Griffeys made history 34 years ago, and they even homered in the same game on Sept. 14, 1990.
Baseball Hall of Famer Tim Raines and his namesake son also accomplished the feat with the Baltimore Orioles in 2001.
In hockey, Gordie Howe played alongside his two sons, Mark and Marty, with the WHA’s Houston Aeros and Team Canada before one NHL season together on the Hartford Whalers in 1979-80, when Gordie was 51.
While the other family pairings on this list happened late in the fathers’ careers, LeBron shows no signs of slowing down or regressing as he begins his NBA record-tying 22nd season.
LeBron averaged more than 25 points per game last year for his 20th consecutive season, and he remains the most important player on the Lakers alongside Anthony Davis as they attempt to recapture the form that won a championship in 2020 and got them to the Western Conference finals in 2023.
Bronny survived cardiac arrest and open heart surgery in the summer of 2023, and he went on to play a truncated freshman season at the University of Southern California. He declared for the draft anyway, and the Lakers eagerly used the fourth-to-last pick in the draft on the 6-foot-2 guard.
LeBron spent the summer in Europe with the gold medal-winning U.S. team at the Paris Olympics, while Bronny played for the Lakers in summer league. They started practicing together with the Lakers before training camp.
The duo first played together in the preseason, logging four minutes during a game against Phoenix just outside Palm Springs earlier this month.
“It’s been a treat,” LeBron said at Tuesday’s morning shootaround. “In preseason, the practices, just every day … bringing him up to speed of what this professional life is all about, and how to prepare every day as a professional.”
The Lakers were fully aware of the history they would make with this pairing, and coach JJ Redick spoke with the Jameses recently about a plan to make it happen early in the regular season.
The presence of the Griffeys likely made it an inevitability for opening night, even though Redick said the Lakers still wanted it “to happen naturally, in the flow of the game.”
The Lakers have declined to speculate on how long Bronny will stay on their NBA roster. Los Angeles already has three other small guards on its roster, and Bronny likely needs regular playing time to raise his game to a consistent NBA standard.
Those factors add up to indicate Bronny is likely to join the affiliate South Bay Lakers of the G League at some point soon. LeBron and Redick have both spoken positively about the South Bay team, saying that player development is a key part of the Lakers organization.
Miami forward Kevin Love, who knew all the James children — Bronny, Bryce and Zhuri — from his time as LeBron’s teammate in Cleveland, said it was “an unbelievable moment” to see father and son playing together.
“I grew up a Mariners fan, so I got to see Griffey and then Griffey Sr. But this is different, because LeBron is still a top-five player in the league,” Love said. “This game, man. It’s why we have that ($76 billion) TV deal. The storylines and the things that happen like this, it’s an unbelievable story. This is really cool to see.”
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AP Basketball Writer Tim Reynolds in Miami contributed.
