It’s in 48 hours that the annual NHL draft will finally take place and we will know who the Montreal Canadiens will select fifth overall.
This year, more than ever, the selection session is absolutely impossible to predict while no analyst and expert seem to agree on the rank of the 15 best prospects available during the 2024 auction.
As each of the lists is different and it is almost impossible to navigate, I decided to compile over the last few weeks all the lists of the best prospects to make an overall ranking, in order to help our readers and fans to get a better idea of who the best prospects available this year really are.
This ultimate list includes top 34 analyst lists of prospects such as: Bob McKenzie (TSN), Chris Peters (FLO Hockey), Elite Prospects, Scott Wheeler (The Athletic), McKeen’s Hockey, Corey Pronman (The Athletic), Craig Button (TSN), Pascal Lapointe (TSLH Hopes), Marc-Olivier Beaudoin, Simon Servant (The Canadian Press), Steven Ellis (Daily Faceoff), Matthew Paradis (All About Hockey), HockeyProspect, Martin Therriault (Succession), Peter Baracchini (The Hockey Writers), Simon “Le Snake” Boisvert (Process), Andrew Forbes (The Hockey Writers), Grant McCagg (Recruits), Logan Horn (The Hockey Writers), Float Hockey, Byron Bader (Hockey Prospecting), Tony Ferrari (The Hockey News), Rick Springhetti, Jason Bukala (Sportsnet), Charles Pellerin (Drette Su’l Tape), Mike Straw (USA Today), Ryan Kennedy (The Hockey News), FC Hockey, Smaht Scouting, Simon St. Laurent (All About Hockey), HP Radio, Stéphane Leroux (RDS) et Recruit Scouting.
It is important to clarify that only the top prospect rankings and not the mock drafts were used in this exercise.
To make an accounting of all the lists, I only took the Top-15 from each of the analysts and awarded the following scores:
- 1ere place – 15 points
- 2e place – 14 points
- 3e place – 13 points
- 4e place – 12 points
- 5e place – 11 points
- 6e place – 10 points
- 7e place – 9 points
- 8e place – 8 points
- 9e place – 7 points
- 10e place – 6 points
- 11e place – 5 points
- 12e place – 4 points
- 13e place – 3 points
- 14e place – 2 points
- 15e place – 1 point
- 16th place and above – 0 points
Once all the lists have been compiled, here is the total result of the best prospects for the 2024 NHL draft, including their total score as well as their average points per compiled list.
***This is not a Mock Draft***
OVERALL RANKING – TOP HOPES 2024
- 1. Macklin Celebrini – C (NCAA) – 510pts (15)
- 2. Ivan Demidov – AG (MHL) – 451pts (13.26)
- 3. Sam Dickinson – DG (OHL) – 343pts (10.09)
- 4. Cayden Lindstrom – C (WHL) – 341pts (10.03)
- 5. Artyom Levshunov – DD (NCAA) – 323pts (9.50)
- 6. Zeev Buium – DG (NCAA) – 316pts (9.29)
- 7. Berkly Catton – C (WHL) – 269pts (7.91)
- 8. Tij Iginla – AG (WHL) – 265pts (7.79)
- 9. Zayne Parekh – DD (OHL) – 231pts (6.79)
- 10. Anton Silayev – DG (KHL) – 192pts (5.65)
- 11. Cole Eiserman – AG (USHL) – 174pts (5.12)
- 12. Konsta Helenius – C (SM League) – 156pts (4.59)
- 13. Beckett Sennecke – AD (OHL) – 135pts (3.97)
- 14. Carter Yakemchuk – DD (WHL) – 130pts (3.82)
- 15. Michael Brandsegg-Nygard – AD (SWE) – 71pts (2.09)
- 16. Trevor Connelly – AG (USHL) – 40pts (1.18)
- 17. Adam Jiricek – DD (Czech) – 29pts (0.85)
- 18. Alphonse Freij – DG (SWE) – 19pts (0.56)
- 19. Michael Hage – C (USHL) – 16pts (0.47)
- 20. Jett Luchanko – C (OHL) – 15pts (0.44)
HONORABLE MENTIONS: Stian Solberg – DG (14pts), Liam Greentree – AG (10pts), Cole Hutson – DG (7pts), Andrew Basha – AG (6pts), Scorching Parascak – AD (6pts), Igor Chernyshov – AG (5pts), Teddy Stiga – C (5pts), Sasha Boisvert – C (3pts), Yegor Surin – C (3pts), Nikita Artamonov – AG (1 point) et Marek Vanacker – AG (1 point).
Among the findings:
- Macklin Celebrini is ranked first in literally every list compiled. It’s truly a unanimous choice.
- Ivan Demidov is found in the Top-3 of 29 of the 34 lists compiled.
- The difference between Sam Dickinson, Cayden Lindstrom, Artyom Levshunov et Zeev Buium is minimal.
- Anton Silayev is the most polarizing prospect in the overall Top 10. Five lists have him in their Top 5 while four lists don’t even have him in their Top 15.
- There is a clear delimitation after the 14th position, suggesting that this is when the vintage falls into another category that can be described as less attractive according to analysts.
In short, it looks promising for the annual NHL draft which will take place this Friday, June 28 at 7:00 p.m.
Marco Normandin is the creator of the Ultimate Pool Preview a world reference in pool guides.
He is also the idiot behind the satirical hockey page, Définitivement, Pierre.
