The 2024 NHL Draft Lottery has finally rolled around, giving solace to the 16 teams that missed out on the Stanley Cup Playoffs. The San Jose Sharks and Chicago Blackhawks lead the odds race, with the Sharks boasting a hardy 18.5 percent chance of winning the first-overall pick. The list of runner-ups is rounded out by fringe playoff contenders in the St. Louis Blues and Detroit Red Wings, who share 0.5 percent odds at the top slot.
The 2024 NHL Draft is certainly one to be excited for. It features strong talent throughout the first round, including hotly-debated talents like Finnish standout pro Konsta Helenius and Russian big man Anton Silayev. It’s a contentious draft that kicks off a string of strong classes, with James Hagens and Gavin McKenna headlining the next two drafts.
This year’s deciding order is as follows:
1. San Jose Sharks
2. Chicago Blackhawks
3. Anaheim Ducks
4. Columbus Blue Jackets
5. Montreal Canadiens
6. Utah Hockey Club
7. Ottawa Senators
8. Seattle Kraken
9. Calgary Flames
10. New Jersey Devils
11. Buffalo Sabres
12. Philadelphia Flyers
13. Minnesota Wild
14. San Jose Sharks (via Pittsburgh Penguins)
15. Detroit Red Wings
16. St. Louis Blues
The Sharks have officially won the race for superstar prospect Macklin Celebrini – the consensus top prospect in the 2024 NHL Draft. Celebrini recently became the youngest player to win the Hobey Baker Award as college’s MVP, adding to a trophy case that’s incredibly full for his age. He’s a dynamic and incredibly intelligent centerman capable of finding and making plays in all three zones.
Meanwhile, the Blackhawks, Ducks, and Blue Jackets will be left to sift through a rich list of top defense prospects, including Artyom Levshunov, Sam Dickinson, Zeev Buium, and Zayne Parekh. Forwards like Cole Eiserman or Cayden Lindstrom could fight their way into the top spots as well, giving teams plenty of options with their lottery winnings.
Fixed!!! (Had to do it). :D
Can only comment on players I’ve seen more than a few times, but whoever picks Zeev Buium is gonna have a very good Dman for a long time.
He and Parekh are gonna go later than they should.
We’ll see. Maybe a wise scout will convince the GM to make a wise pick. ;)
SLACKIN FOR MACKLIN WORKED
Sharks still have 3-4 years of struggles ahead. Well deserved for that fan base
He’s only 17 so Grier has at least five years for the Macklin experiment to pan out. Three to play his first NHL game and two years to evaluate the Shark’s record.
Losers win and winners lose. Life in a shared-revenue salary-cap league.
Damn it, was really hoping to see Celebrini and Bedard on the same team
Okay there Gary calm yourself.
Team Canada…. Oh wait nevermind.
Don’t underestimate the value of Bedard and Celebrini playing together for Canada at the Worlds. They might just decide they really like the idea and Celebrini could force a deal. Gauthier did it.
Celebrini should force his way to Philly to bring things back into balance.
May be awhile before we see them both on team Canada. My joke was alluding to the fact that Macklin was sent home with the fresh NHL recruits making their way.
It’s going to be about 3 days.
That was my hope….
link to cbc.ca
Wow I’m amazed the Red Wings didn’t slide out of the top 16 with the way Bettman and his goons hate them with such a passion it’s disgusting. I’m sure if he could have found a way to do so he would have done it
By “hate them with such a passion it’s disgusting” you mean they did NOT rig the lottery for the Wings to win and they slid a whole 3 spots a few times.
They literally changed the rules because the Wings whined they weren’t getting rewarded enough for their tank job.
Finally! My guess was that it would take all of two posts for one of the “it’s rigged” yappers to roll in, but it took six. You must have been napping. Given that Gary Bettman, like the commissioners of all major sports, works for all league ownership, please explain why he would build up a hatred for the Wings since the owner(s) of the Wings are his employer. If we listened to you and the rest of your amusing clan, we would be led to believe that Bettman hates and loves seemingly every team in the NHL. That said, I’m willing to hear you out: please provide examples of how Bettman and his goons have singled out the Red Wings to hurt the franchise.
You better damn well complain and if you stop, we’ll send you to Ass Kissers Anonymous. Fans expect Bettman to play by the rules he establishes and the fans are the ones needing to protect the game’s fiscal integrity and sportsmanship.
El Paso, Texas won the Kraft Hockeyville award in 2020, when Buttman was trying to expand hockey into the desert and having lived in that town of 800,000, I can tell you there are not 800 people who know the name of the junior team.
No rule of law when Gary has your money.
2, Lightning pick, Hawks 2nd round pick and Reichel for Maclin. Who says no?
Who says yes? Oh, and your friends at your fantasy draft don’t count.
On paper, that’s a deal I would consider as a Sharks fan. In practice, the value you get for having the headline, “Sharks make first overall pick” is more important.
no, and im a hawks fan too, we’re in a good spot right now, to give up too much just for Cellebrini isn’t wise, He’s not like Bedard or anything or Michkov, he’ll be good but not worth a Kings ransom to only move up 1 spot, Demidov will be great too or any of the other options, your offer we lose in total value
Zayne Parekh is underrated, he’s shown statwise that he’ll be a star offensive defenseman, the perfect replacement for the loss of OEL a few years ago for Utah, actually one of the best offensive defensemen in Canadian Juniors history
I personally think Eiserman is the best fit for the Hawks, he’ll be like getting DeBrincat back or like a Caufield, we could use a high scoring winger for the Bedard line, but i still think Demidov will likely be the pick
But the scouts says all Eiserman does is score goals, and who wants that? Lol!
Depending on how the draft goes the Hawks could move up from 20 ( Or whatever the Tampa pick ends up ) to get Eiserman. Davidson was dying to get Moore last year but he fell to them without having to deal. The Hawks already have D Men coming but another would be nice. Jones is here forever. Vlasic, Korchinski, Del Mastro, Allen, Kaiser, Rinzel, Plus guys they haven’t even signed yet. Murphy with a limited NTC. Davidson still has a lot of work to do, But a D Man who can score AND move the puck would be a huge asset.
It wouldn’t be going off the board at all for the Hawks to take one of those top rated Dmen at #2.
Demidov only has 1 more season on his KHL contract and according to The Athletic he plans to come to North America after his contract
I could see why Wings fans feel “slighted”, but it’s clearly not something egregious. Bettman works for the league. The league is a business. In order to expand their business they need to build markets. To build markets you need interest. To build interest you need talent. To accrue talent you need draft picks. The last 30 years has been Bettmans crusade to expand and make the NHL more financially viable. I wouldn’t be surprised if some picks were tainted, and some draft rules were changed to help benefit new markets. Profit over fairness is the standard of today’s business practices, and has been for awhile now.
The Blackhawks already are one of the best markets in the league, can debate the best in the USA, they didn’t need Bedard to be relevant do i dont get that claim
FROM THE HIT SONG…..
“Oh, the shark, babe, has such teeth, dear
And it shows them pearly white……..
…..And someone’s sneakin’ ’round the corner
Could that someone be Mack the Knife?”
Sorry, I couldn’t help myself.