No one but me is talking about the NHL draft. The fact that it's seven months away has a lot to do with that. But look, if teams are going to plan for the draft before the season begins we can focus on it too.
Let's start the draft discussion slowly. No need to get into a full mock draft right now. Let's look at who's currently set to draft in the top five and what players might be selected with those picks.
2024 NHL Draft Date & Time
The 2024 NHL draft is hosted by the Nashville Predators from Bridgestone Arena. The first round of the draft will be on Wednesday, June 28 at 7 PM Eastern. Rounds two through seven will take place on the 29th at 11 AM ET.
2024 NHL Draft Teams Drafting In Top Five
Ok, we got the basic stuff out of the way. Now it's time to look at what teams are drafting in the top five of the 2024 draft.
The short answer is we don't know yet. It's still early in the NHL season. BUT thankfully we don't have to settle for the short answer, we can play around with this a bit and try to establish who drafts 1 through 5.
We knew the San Jose Sharks would be at the bottom of the NHL this season. And the Sharks tank hasn't disappointed. But surprisingly the Sharks aren't alone in the NHL's basement. The Edmonton Oilers of all teams are there with them.
The Oilers - with Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl - are tied for last place in the overall NHL standings after last night's 3-2 loss to Sharks in San Jose. pic.twitter.com/veg5VV0inu
— Stu Cowan (@StuCowan1) November 10, 2023
This is the bottom of the league for now: San Jose, Edmonton, Calgary, Nashville and Chicago. Unlike the NFL, finishing last in the NHL doesn't guarantee drafting first overall. We've got the lottery to consider.
So let's run a draft lottery simulator to see how (and if) our top 5 changes.
Ran the NHL Draft Lottery sim for work. Would Ottawa fans still be happy? I don't think they should be. But 2nd OVR would be a nice consolation prize, no? pic.twitter.com/bw08hemb17
— Michel Anderson (@TLOMitch) November 10, 2023
San Jose gets the first overall pick it set out to get - the first time they draft first overall in franchise history - Ottawa jumps into second and the rest of our five teams are pushed back by a spot.
Now let's look at who they might/should draft with that pick.
2024 NHL Mock Draft: Top 5
San Jose Sharks: Macklin Celebrini
Celebrini seems like the defacto number-one pick this year. BU's center is torching the NCAA with 14 points in eight games. He's not a generational talent, which is a relief honestly, we've had that tag tossed around too freely of late.
But Macklin's got all the tools to be a number-one center in the NHL. For a team like the Sharks, this is a guy they can rebuild around.
Projected #1 #nhldraft Macklin Celebrini adjusting quite well to NCAA hockey showcasing his shoT power and shooting accuracy. @NHLCentralScout @RecScouting pic.twitter.com/jPWIxuyFL3
— Randy Skalba (@RSkalba4) November 6, 2023
Ottawa Senators: Cole Eiserman
This isn't where Ottawa wanted to be at the start of the year but with an awful opening 10 games to the season, here they are drafting second overall. And look, they could do much worse than drafting Cole Eiserman.
The 17-year-old is scoring at will in the USHL with nine goals in six games. At this rate, he'll crush the league with 83 goals. I bet drafting an elite scoring forward sounds pretty good to any Sens fan out there.
USA now leads 11-3 over Canada Red. Cole Eiserman has a hat-trick and has tied Alex Ovechkin for the all-time goal-scoring record with 12. #WorldU17 pic.twitter.com/ijH7uGKoBZ
— Steven Ellis (@SEllisHockey) November 13, 2022
Edmonton Oilers: Artyom Levshunov
Edmonton needs defense. Assuming they don't get out from the bottom of the standings, drafting Artyom Levshunov is the right call to make.
This is a kid whose skating is NHL-ready, his defensive play is improving exponentially and he can move the puck out of danger and into an attacking area. That checks ALL of the boxes for Edmonton.
Calgary Flames: Konsta Helenius
I know Ivan Demidov likely makes a few lists in the top three, but I still feel like the Russian question is going to come up and push Demidov's draft stock back. It's why we saw Matvei Michkov fall as far as he did last year.
So Finnish center Konsta Helenius goes fourth overall to Calgary. The right-shot forward has 10 points in his last 10 games for Jukurit in the Finnish Liiga. Remember, that's not a junior league, this is a European elite league where 17-year-old Helenius is playing against men. Very impressive.
Nashville Predators: Sam Dickinson
Dickinson is easily going to tickle the fancy of defense-minded GM Barry Trotz. The Predators' GM loves defensemen who can excel in any situation and have endless skill.
Dickinson is already big by NHL standards at 6'3" and 204 lbs. He's got that full four-way mobility to his skating game. And he scores a lot of points. If Nashville has a chance to draft him you know they will.
