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The first round of the 2024 NHL Draft concluded last night. I wanted to highlight some of the picks I was a big fan of and some that left me scratching my head a bit, and give my overall takeaways from the night.
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Favorite picks
Chicago Blackhawks: Artyom Levshunov, RHD, Michigan State
In Levshunov, Chicago got my second-rated player in the NHL draft, but a player who by no means was universally agreed upon at that number as the Blackhawks were under tremendous public pressure to go in a different direction. Chicago has some great young defenders in its organization, but Levshunov is a whole other level of talent. He was playing at a level equivalent to pond hockey two years ago and was one of the best defensem*n in college hockey this past season. He’s big, mobile and has a ton of natural skill and offensive sense. He is a budding star who I felt was being unfairly picked apart in the pre-draft process. He is a rare piece with star upside you can build a winner around.
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Ottawa Senators: Carter Yakemchuk, RHD, Calgary
I think anyone who read my draft coverage knew I was going to be a big fan of whoever took Yakemchuk as he was my No. 3-ranked player in the draft. He’s a dynamic, big man. He has high-end skill, he can skate and he plays hard. He has the potential to be a star in the NHL even if he has to clean up some things in his all-around game. The Senators could have a great group of defensem*n presuming they extend Thomas Chabot alongside Yakemchuk and Jake Sanderson.
New Jersey Devils: Anton Silayev, LHD, Torpedo
Silayev fell further than some expected in the draft, as teams were unfamiliar with him and had some offense concerns in his game. I didn’t share those concerns. I don’t see premier offense in his game, but I see enough with his size, mobility, and physicality for him to be a premier NHL defenseman.
Minnesota Wild: Zeev Buium, LHD, Denver
Buium is exactly what the Wild need. He’s a dynamic defenseman who is one of the smartest players in the draft and carried Denver to a title. He has the potential to be a top pair/PP1 defender for the Wild and provides star upside they don’t have a ton of in their organization. He slipped a bit in the draft as teams didn’t think he had truly elite skating for a 6-foot D-man and questioned his defense in the NHL. I don’t share those concerns in a meaningful way.
Anaheim Ducks: Stian Solberg, LHD, Valerenga
Solberg understandably slid a bit, as NHL teams were concerned about drafting a player who was in the Norway pro league all season with a major pick and felt the data on him was just unreliable. I’m a big believer in the player though, especially based on what he showed in the men’s worlds for Norway. He’s super physical, skates well, has size and is good enough with the puck. He projects as a top-four defenseman and it’s hard to ask for more at No. 23. He complements the defensem*n in their organization very well, too.
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Picks I had questions about
Buffalo Sabres: Konsta Helenius, C, Jukurit
Helenius is a very good and well-rounded player. He’s smart, is very intelligent and scored versus men this season. He fits at the 14th pick on talent and projects as a top-six forward, but, yet again, Buffalo takes a sub-6-foot forward with a premium pick. I get the best-player-available angle, but there are only so many power-play jobs in the NHL, and it feels like they are backing themselves into a corner on the trade market by drafting the same player type over and over.
Washington Capitals: Terik Parascak, RW, Prince George
Parascak at No. 17 was a surprise to me. Their assistant general manager Ross Mahoney knows the WHL extremely well, and Parascak had a fantastic rookie season in the WHL, putting up huge numbers. He has a ton of skill and offensive sense, but I have some questions on his pro projection due to his frame and skating. He’s a good player who could be a middle-six wing and help an NHL power play, but there’s a lot of risk on him missing and this seemed heavy to me at this point of the draft. In Parascak and Andrew Cristall, Washington has invested major capital in similar player types, and it will be interesting to see how it plays out for them.
First-round summary
Aside from Parascak, I thought it was a relatively uneventful first round in terms of surprises. You can reasonably debate various picks in the top 10, but those players all belonged. The NHL thought there was always a clear group of 12-13 top players, even if those 13 players were not universally agreed upon. Of my top 13 ranked players in the draft, 12 of them went in the top 13 picks, with Solberg being the exception and Jett Luchanko — who I had ranked 19 — coming in.
The forwards in this draft were rated more favorably than I expected, as the second defenseman, Yakemchuk, didn’t get drafted until the seventh pick.
Igor Chernyshov was a highly rated prospect who didn’t go in Round 1. The big Russian winger ended his season on a poor note. He missed game action at Dan Milstein’s end-of-season camp in front of NHL personnel because of a bad sunburn. It left a bad taste in the mouth of some NHL people given that some scouts already had some questions on the player’s maturity, even though he is a top-20 prospect on talent.
(Photo: Dave Sandford / NHLI via Getty Images)
Corey Pronman is the senior NHL prospects writer for The Athletic. Previously, Corey worked in a similar role at ESPN. Follow Corey on Twitter @coreypronman
