The Athletic’s prospects writers, Corey Pronman and Scott Wheeler, get asked a lot of questions in the months leading up to the draft. This year, as part of our 2024 NHL Draft coverage, they decided to answer the 10 biggest ones together.
Here are their responses to the most common questions they’re asked, from how to differentiate the top D to who the second-best prospect in the draft is and more.
How good is Macklin Celebrini, and how does he compare to recent No. 1 picks?
Corey Pronman: I think in light of the hype train behind Connor Bedard, and given that he didn’t have the lights-out world juniors that Bedard did, it has gotten a little under the radar how good Celebrini is. He’s one of the most well-rounded hockey players I’ve ever seen. As a pro prospect, he is not far off Bedard at all even if I would have him marginally behind. He projects as a true franchise No. 1 two-way center. He is a lot closer to Bedard than to Owen Power/Nico Hischier at the same age.
Scott Wheeler: Celebrini is a legitimate A-level prospect. This kid is a summer birthday who followed up the best 16-year-old season in the history of the USHL by becoming the youngest Hobey Baker Award winner in NCAA history. He was dominant at U18 worlds with a bad shoulder as an underager, and dominant on a disappointing Team Canada at the world juniors. And he looks the part — a strong, sturdy center with high-end ability as a skater, handler, shooter, playmaker, driver. He’s not the A+ prospect Connor Bedard and Connor McDavid were, but he’s a clear cut above Juraj Slafkovsky, Power, Alexis Lafrenière and Hischier, and right there in the echelon Jack Hughes was in in his draft year for me. He might not become a superstar but he projects to be a frontline center and star player whom you can build a winning team around.
Who is the second-best prospect in the draft and why?
Pronman: Artyom Levshunov. He projects as a potential star No. 1 defenseman in the NHL, which is among the hardest profiles to acquire. He’s a 6-2, mobile defender full of offense and he’s shown he can make stops at the college level too. He had a better draft season in the Big Ten than Power or Quinn Hughes did. There are other appealing options, forwards with more skill, or defensemen with a better quality in some area, but he has the cleanest profile and a ton of upside.
Wheeler: I had Levshunov and Ivan Demidov behind Celebrini on my list all year, with Levshunov holding the spot for the majority and Demidov finishing there. There are teams who will make a case for Anton Silayev as the No. 2 prospect, but I was never able to quite get there. Ultimately, Demidov’s individual skill level on the puck (and word from a source that his work ethic was off the charts) sealed it for me. He’s got game-breaking upside that I just don’t think the others quite have — and I love Levshunov’s upside.
How do you group and distinguish the top group of defensemen?
Pronman: There are four defensemen I think project as No. 1 defensemen in the NHL, which is a highly unusual statement in itself: Michigan State’s Levshunov, Calgary’s Carter Yakemchuk, Torpedo’s Silayev and Denver’s Zeev Buium. Levshunov, Yakemchuk and Silayev all have size, mobility, compete and skill, although there are varying degrees for them on those fronts. Buium isn’t as big, but he’s an excellent skater with high-end offensive abilities and dominated college hockey this season. After them, it would be a drop for me toward Saginaw’s Zayne Parekh, London’s Sam Dickinson and Stian Solberg from Norway. They all look like potential top four defensemen but Dickinson and Solberg may not have elite NHL offense, and Parekh’s defense will worry teams until it doesn’t.
Wheeler: There are half a dozen premium D prospects in this class for me and they divide into three different tiers: Levshunov (top 2-3), Buium, Parekh, Dickinson and Silayev in a grouping (top 5 consideration), and Yakemchuk (top 10 consideration) on the cusp of that first group. Levshunov’s two-way ceiling, range, physical maturity, and free-spirited game make him the best prospect of the bunch for me, but all are high-end players, with concerns about Yakemchuk’s skating and decision-making leaving him sixth. I’m a big believer in Parekh’s offense being of a special quality and winning out to turn him into a star.
Where does my team need to pick to have a realistic expectation of landing a future top-six forward or top-four defenseman?
Pronman: I have 18 players in this draft that I’m very passionate about and project as top-six forwards or top-four defensemen on competitive teams.
Wheeler: A clear top-17 emerged for me in this draft, and I think all of those players project as that caliber of player. I expect 14 of those players to be gone in the front half of the first round but there are three who could conceivably linger into the late teens or 20s: Michael Brandsegg-Nygard (the least likely of the bunch to linger), Trevor Connelly and Michael Hage, all of whom are forwards. There are others who I think could become that (players like Solberg and Adam Jiricek could become second-pairing D, for example, and there are others who will develop nicely and become second-line forwards) but my “expectation” does lower once those 17 are taken. If your team is drafting in the top 15 this year, you’re going to get a very good player. There may be a small group of them available for a short time after that.
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