5 NHL Draft winners and losers in 2024, starring the Canadiens, Ducks, and more

The 2024 NHL Draft is over, and it’s always one of the most difficult to interpret. With so many young players and multinational scouting, the majority of the players selected on Friday and Saturday won’t play on NHL ice for several years. So this is more of an effort to bolster the pipeline than to directly build a team.

While it can be hard to evaluate a class right after the draft, the best we can do is look at the class based on how well each team used their draft capital and how scouting services looked at those picks prior to the event itself. Because of this, some teams were big winners in 2024, while others were total head-scratchers.

Winner: San Jose Sharks

If you have the No. 1 pick and get the best player, you’re obviously going to be a winner, but what the Sharks have done is much more than just Macklin Celebrini. This team acquired incredible value from the top to the bottom of the draft board, bolstered their defense with Sam Dickinson, and added Igor Chernyshov with the 33rd pick (he was 17th on my big board).

This was a forward-heavy class for the Sharks, who are struggling with a scoring deficiency. With a clear approach to rebuilding the team the right way, this class could be a turning point for a franchise that is finally getting some momentum back in the Shark Tank.

Loser: Anaheim Ducks

Things weren’t much better for the Sharks’ neighbors to the north, which certainly has a lot to do with the selection of Beckett Senneke with the third overall pick. It’s not that Senneke is a bad player; in fact, he could be pretty good; the problem is a total misunderstanding of how to run your draft capital and board.

Multiple teams were hoping to move up to the top four of this class, which has elite players ready to play in the NHL right away, and not only did the Ducks fail to land one of those top players, they also failed to move down the ranks to get anything in return, and when you surprise everyone enough to even surprise your top pick… well, that’s not a very good sign.

The Ducks were -15 against the overall rankings for their first three picks, meaning they consistently got players earlier than independent scouts predicted, which could mean the Ducks were right and everyone else was wrong, but that rarely works out that way.

Winner: Montreal Canadiens

The biggest beneficiary of the Ducks’ surprise move was the Canadiens, who got an absolute bargain in Ivan Demidov at No. 5. As the No. 1 wing in this class, Demidov wouldn’t be a surprise pick for the Blackhawks at No. 2 if they choose to prioritize offense over defense.

Montreal needed to find a star in this class, and they got it with both Demidov and Michael Hage. The Canadiens may have to wait a while for Demidov to make the leap, but it’ll be worth it. He’s been a dominant player in the MHL at just 18 years old, racking up 60 points in 30 games. If that momentum continues in the KHL, we could have a monster player in the making. finally Change the fate of this team.

Winner: Carolina Hurricanes

The Hurricanes have always found ways to replenish their stock while staying competitive, and the 2024 NHL Draft was no exception. With Jake Guenzel signing with the Lightning and Martin Necas becoming a wild card, it will undoubtedly be an offseason with a lot of changes in Raleigh. Nevertheless, the draft itself was a huge boon for the organization as its first test since GM Don Waddell left for the Blue Jackets.

Despite the Hurricanes dropping down multiple times in the draft, still I hit +24 on my first three picks and provided a lot of value in my selections compared to the combined rankings, which was really set by selecting Nikita Artamonov with the 50th pick, despite him being the 25th best player in the rankings and 29th on my board.

There’s a good chance Artamonov will be a top-15 selection, and the Hurricanes can afford to let him develop in Russia until it’s time to bring him over. He’s a good enough No. 2, do-it-all forward who could be a star down the line.

Losers: Trade Alert

Holding the NHL Draft at the Las Vegas Sphere has produced some of the most amazing footage in the history of the event, but unfortunately it has also produced some extreme fear as a loud warning horn and the words “TRADE ALERT” sounded at the Sphere every time a trade was made during the draft.

It was enough to frighten everyone who saw it.

It was like an alien invasion with every trade. Stop TRADE ALERT before it’s too late.