2024 NHL Draft Results: Team-by-Team Grades for Notable Picks

The San Jose Sharks kicked off the 2024 NHL Draft on Friday with the selection of Boston University phenom Macklin Celebrini.

With all seven rounds of the draft over, here’s a look at what the other 31 NHL teams decided to do once Celebrini was off the board— and what grade each franchise received for their most notable pick.

Anaheim Ducks

Grade: A-

Notable pick: Beckett Sennecke, RW (Round 1, Pick 3)

The Ducks’ quest to rebuild around a talented young core continued with the selection of OHL winger Sennecke at No. 3. Sennecke, who scored 27 goals and 68 points in 63 games before a strong playoff run the OHL’s Oshawa Generals last season, jumped up the draft after a growth spurt took him from 5-foot-10 to 6-foot-3 by the end of the season. The Ducks don’t think he’ll be ready for the NHL right away, per AnaheimDucks.com’s Matt Weller, but believe Sennecke will be a game-changer once he’s ready to join other young developing stars like Leo Carlsson, Mason McTavish and Cutter Gauthier.

Boston Bruins

Grade: B

Notable pick: Dean Letourneau, C (Round 1, Pick 25)

The Bruins used their first opening-round pick of the last three drafts on incoming Boston College freshman Letourneau, who at 6-foot-6 measured in as one of the tallest prospects available in the draft. Letourneau is an interesting prospect both because of his athleticism— his coach at St. Andrew’s College says he is an unusually agile skater for a prospect of his size, per NHL.com’s Adam Kimelman— and because he chose the prep school development route over joining the OHL despite his selection in the 2022 draft. His freshman season at BC will give a better idea of his ability to translate those skills to the NHL.

Buffalo Sabres

Grade: A-

Notable pick: Konsta Helenius, C (Round 1, Pick 14)

The Sabres selected Helenius after his historic debut season in Finland’s top professional league. The 5-foot-11 forward recorded 36 points in 51 Liiga games, the fourth-most ever recorded in the league by a player under 18 years old, per Jourdon LaBarber and Katelyn Kardaman. That’s a very similar path as the one Stanley Cup champion Aleksander Barkov took to get into the league in 2013. The Sabres could be hoping Helenius’ success as a playmaker while playing professionally overseas could mean he’ll be ready to contribute to Buffalo in the near future.

Calgary Flames

Grade: A

Notable pick: Zayne Parekh, D (Round 1, Pick 9)

Parekh was frequently listed higher on mock draft boards, and an early run on forwards means the Flames might have gotten a steal by drafting the six-foot defenseman fresh out of his Memorial Cup season with the OHL’s Saginaw Spirit. After racking up 33 goals and 96 points, the most among OHL defenders, in 66 games, Parekh has proved he can be an elite producer in major junior hockey. The Flames will now join Parekh with another puck-moving blueliner in Hunter Brzustewicz, who led OHL defensemen in assists last season and signed with the Flames in April.

Carolina Hurricanes

Grade: B

Notable pick: Nikita Artamonov, LW (Round 2, Pick 50)

Artamonov was slated as a first-rounder in some mocks, so that Hurricanes are lucky to have snagged the KHL standout this late in the second. The 5-foot-11 winger has experience competing against adults and plenty of offense to show for it, with 23 points in 54 career KHL games. That’s the highest point-per-game rate among any draft-eligible KHL prospect in history behind Matvei Michkov, Artemi Panarin and Vladimir Tarasenko, per Ryan Pike of Flames Nation. Artamonov is signed in the KHL through the 2025-26 season, but his experience in the pros will make him an intriguing prospect for Carolina down the line.

Chicago Blackhawks

Grade: B+

Notable pick: Artyom Levshunov, D (Round 1, Pick 2)

Defenseman Levshunov shot to the top of draft boards after developing into a star during his freshman season at Michigan State, where he scored nine goals and added 26 assists for 35 points in 38 games. At 6-foot-1 and with a right-handed shot, Levshunov has proven to be a driver of offense in the NCAA and USHL, although it’s unclear whether he’s returning to college for another season before learning if his playmaking skills can translate to the NHL. The Blackhawks chose Levshunov over another top NCAA blueliner in Zeev Buium, so all eyes will be on their parallel developments for an eventual evaluation of this pick.

Colorado Avalanche

Grade: B

Notable pick: Ilya Nabokov, G (Round 2, Pick 38)

The Avalanche entered the draft with just one non-NHL goaltender signed with the organization in 2019 second-round pick Trent Miner, per Corey Masisak of The Denver Post. Colorado addressed that need by using their first selection of the draft on Nabokov, who backstopped the KHL’s Magnitogorsk to a title last season after posting a .930 save percentage in 43 regular-season games. The 21-year-old is 6-foot-1, making him relatively short for a goaltending prospect, but the Avs need positional depth and are hoping they’ve found it in a player who has already proven he can succeed in the pros.

Columbus Blue Jackets

Grade: B

Notable pick: Cayden Lindstrom, C (Round 1, Pick 4)

After using the No. 3 pick of the 2023 draft on Adam Fantilli, the Blue Jackets went once again for a center in 6-foot-3 WHL standout Lindstrom. Lindstrom, who scored 27 times in 32 regular-season games for the Medicine Hat Tigers last season, has the size and physicality to add a strong presence down the middle behind Fantilli or flanking the top line. The back injury that caused him to miss 36 games last season raised some concerns, but Lindstrom eased those somewhat by returning for the WHL playoffs.

Dallas Stars

Grade: B

Notable pick: Emil Hemming, RW (Round 1, Pick 29)

Hemming joins the Stars organization already boasting experience playing against adults after recording seven goals and 11 assists in 40 regular-season games while playing a fourth-line role in Finland’s top professional league last season. Stars director of amateur scouting Joe McDonnell described Hemming as “an excellent two-way player who has a great one-timer and wrist shot.” The Stars are hoping that shot will help him eventually develop into an NHL-ready player.

Detroit Red Wings

Grade: B+

Notable pick: Michael Brandsegg-Nygard, RW (Round 1, Pick 15)

Brandsegg-Nygard has experience playing against adults in Norway’s top league, where he recorded 18 points in 41 games last season. The Red Wings seem to be looking to add some physicality with this pick, and that’s an area that was lacking in Detroit as the team missed the playoffs by one point last season. Brandsegg-Nygard, who is projected by some scouts as a power forward in the NHL, is the first Norwegian first-round pick in league history.

Edmonton Oilers

Grade: C

Notable pick: Sam O’Reilly, RW (Round 1, Pick 32)

The Oilers’ high opinion of O’Reilly is evident in that the Stanley Cup runners-up gave up a conditional first-round pick to get him. A standout performer in the OHL playoffs, where he recorded five goals and 12 points in 16 postseason games to lead the London Knights to the OHL championship, O’Reilly climbed draft boards last season as he worked on developing into a two-way player. Before trading up, Edmonton wasn’t slated to pick until late in Round 2, and the jump was costly. With Leon Draisaitl’s future with team uncertain, draft capital would likely be more valuable for the Oilers at the 2025 trade deadline, so losing that pick now is a risky move.

Florida Panthers

Grade: B+

Notable pick: Linus Eriksson, C (Round 2, Pick 58)

The Panthers traded a 2025 second-rounder and 2024 seventh-rounder to move up to the second round and draft Eriksson, who ranked as a top-10 international skater in NHL Central Scouting’s prospect rankings. The 6-foot-0 forward played last season in Sweden’s second-tier league, so he’ll need some development to play at the NHL level. But FloridaPanthers.com’s Jameson Olive described Eriksson as an “aggressive forechecker,” so he should slot in well with the Cup winners in Sunrise.

Los Angeles Kings

Grade: B-

Notable pick: Liam Greentree, RW (Round 1, Pick 26)

Greentree is an interesting prospect given that he has proven he can consistently produce offense— he ranked 12th in the OHL last season with 90 points for the Windsor Spitfires— despite multiple scouts expressing concerns about his skating speed. ESPN’s Rachel Doerrie wrote that Greentree could have been a top-10 pick had his skating been at a higher level. The Kings took a chance on a prospect who could develop into an NHL-caliber playmaker, but only if he is able to adapt that area of his game.

Minnesota Wild

Grade: A

Notable pick: Zeev Buium, D (Round 1, Pick 12)

The Wild watched Buium drop out of the top 10, saw the opportunity, and dealt a 2025 fifth-rounder for the chance to trade up one pick and draft the University of Denver defenseman. If Buium is able to build on the dominance he displayed in the NCAA last season as he led all college hockey players in total ice time on Denver’s top pairing (per Elite Prospects, h/t Hockey Wilderness) this could end up being the steal of the draft. Buium scored 11 goals and 50 points in 42 games as a freshman while helping lead Denver to the NCAA title in a campaign that convinced Wild scouts he could eventually develop into a playmaking power-play anchor at the NHL level.

Montreal Canadiens

Grade: A

Notable pick: Ivan Demidov, RW (Round 1, Pick 5)

The Canadiens say they have wanted to draft Demidov for over a year, and they very nearly didn’t get the chance to. TSN’s Pierre LeBrun reported that the Chicago Blackhawks offered an unprotected 2025 first-round to trade up to No. 4, where they could have snagged Demidov. But the Blue Jackets, who wanted Lindstrom, held fast, and Kent Hughes and the Habs got their wish. Demidov is a highly-touted prospect playing in Russia’s top junior league who the Canadiens are hoping will eventually be able to add scoring to a club sorely in need of offensive talent.

Nashville Predators

Grade: B

Notable pick: Egor Surin, C (Round 1, Pick 22)

Surin made his KHL debut last season but spent most of the campaign in the Russian junior league. There he recorded 52 points in 42 games, good for ninth among MHL skaters. One NHL scout projected him as “a third-liner on a good team,” Alex Daugherty reported for The Tennessean. Although Surin’s skating raised some criticism from scouts, Predators general manager Barry Trotz said Nashville tried to move up in the draft to get him because of how much they liked his ability to play physically and protect the puck, per Emma Lingan of The Hockey News.

New Jersey Devils

Grade: B

Notable pick: Anton Silayev, D (Round 1, Pick 10)

Silayev was a standout last season with the KHL’s Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod not only because of his 11 points in 63 games against adults, but because of his height of 6-foot-7. Another surprise fall in a draft full of them, Silayev was projected in some mock as a top-three pick. That led the Devils to make a somewhat surprising choice to go for Silayev after previously being connected with other defensive prospects like Sam Dickinson (per NJ.com’s Ryan Novozinksy), who ended up going to San Jose with the following pick.

New York Islanders

Grade: A-

Notable pick: Cole Eiserman, LW (Round 1, Pick 20)

Eiserman was one of the hardest-to-predict picks in the 2024 draft. He is arguably one of the best scorers in the draft, ranking first in USA Hockey’s National Team Development Program history with 127 career goals. But the Boston University commit earned scouting criticism for the defensive side of his game, which might have caused his slide out of the top 15. This is a bet worth taking for the Islanders, a team that struggled to score goals last season, as if Eiserman is able to develop his game at BU he could become a significant boost to the New York offense.

New York Rangers

Grade: B+

Notable pick: EJ Emery, D (Round 1, Pick 30)

USA Hockey National Team Development Program product Emery has described himself as a “lockdown guy.” Like fellow NTDP product K’Andre Miller, the Rangers’ 2018 first-rounder who spent two years at the University of Wisconsin before breaking into the NHL, the Rangers are hoping Emery can now develop at the University of North Dakota before joining the team as a stay-at-home defender who could potentially serve as a counterpoint to the more offensively-minded Miller.

Ottawa Senators

Grade: B-

Notable pick: Carter Yakemchuk, D (Round 1, Pick 7)

The picks above No. 7 didn’t impact this one, as the Senators say they went into this draft planning on drafting WHL blueliner Yakemchuk, per Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Citizen. Garrioch wrote that the club “couldn’t resist taking a right shot blueliner that has offensive ability and will get involved physically.” Yakemchuk led all WHL defensemen with 30 goals in 66 games for the Calgary Hitmen last season, although the defensive side of his game earned some criticism from scouts. The Senators, who are looking to build a blueline around 2020 No. 5 pick Jake Sanderson, will now add an offensive-minded defenseman to the depth chart.

Philadelphia Flyers

Grade: C

Notable pick: Jett Luchanko, C (Round 1, Pick 13)

After gaining a 2025 third-rounder by trading down one spot in the draft, the Flyers selected OHL center Jett Luchanko, who scored 20 goals and totaled 74 points in 68 games for the Guelph Storm last season. The Flyers entered the draft in clear need of center depth, and this is a pick that targets that need. Luchanko is 5-foot-11, putting him on the smaller side for a center, and Helenius, a center with experience playing against adults in Finland’s top league, was still on the board. But if the Flyers were set on Luchanko, they could have potentialy considered trading down even further and getting extra picks on the way. The OHL prospect was projected out of the top 20 on several mocks and could have been available at a lower selection.

Pittsburgh Penguins

Grade: B

Notable pick: Harrison Brunicke, D (Round 2, Pick 44)

The Penguins made history by becoming the first NHL team to draft a South African-born player in Brunicke, a 6-foot-3 WHLer who describes himself as a “two-way defenseman,” per Penguins team reporter Michelle Crechiolo. Brunicke recorded 10 goals and 21 points in 49 games during his second season with the Kamloops Blazers, during which Sportsnet described him as “a defensive-minded player with offensive potential.” Having entered the draft with one of the thinnest pools in the league, the Penguins have added a right-handed prospect who can join the AHL full-time in 2026-27.

San Jose Sharks

Grade: A+

Notable pick: Macklin Celebrini, C (Round 1, Pick 1)

Sharks fans may not have enjoyed watching the team begin the 2023-24 season with a record-tying 11-game losing streak, but in the end San Jose picked a good season in which to finish with the worst record in the league. Like 2023 top pick Conor Bedard, Celebrini is projected as a elite NHL talent. The two-way game and playmaking vision he displayed during his Hobey Baker-winning season at Boston University will make him the right player for the Sharks to shape their rebuild around.

Seattle Kraken

Grade: A

Notable pick: Berkly Catton, C (Round 1, Pick 8)

The Kraken needed a center to add to their prospect pool after projecting top forward prospects David Goyette and Carson Rehkopf as wings, per NHL.com’s Bob Condor. Enter Catton, who was the top-scoring draft-eligible WHLer (h/t Condor) after racking up 54 goals and 116 points in 68 games last season for the Spokane Chiefs. Seattle will now work to develop Catton as a center as the team looks to build their depth down the middle.

St. Louis Blues

Grade: B-

Notable pick: Adam Jiricek, D (Round 1, Pick 16)

The Blues, a team that entered the draft in need of additional blue line depth, made an attempt to move up in the first round of the draft, where they could have potentially drafted Zeev Buium, according to The Athletic’s Jeremy Rutherford. St. Louis was unsuccessful and ended up taking Jiricek with the No. 16 pick. The Czech defenseman and younger brother of Jackets prospect David Jiricek is less of a sure thing because of multiple knee injuries that have allowed scouts limited glimpses at his puck-moving skills. Jiricek has a high ceiling, but the injury risk makes this an uncertain bet for a team in need of defensive prospects.

Tampa Bay Lightning

Grade: B

Notable pick: Jan Golicic, D (Round 4, Pick 118)

Golicic, the first Slovenian player to be drafted by the Lightning, recorded three goals and 26 assists in 65 games for the QMJHL’s Gatineau Olympiques last season. With their first pick coming in the fourth round, the Lightning weren’t expected to make much of a splash in the draft, but the addition of a 6-foot-6 blueliner to their prospect pool is an intriguing one.

Toronto Maple Leafs

Grade: B+

Notable pick: Ben Danford, D (Round 1, Pick 31)

The Leafs traded down from No. 23 to gain two picks slightly farther down in the draft. They then used one of the pair to pick Danford, a two-year OHLer who was voted one of the best defensive defensemen in the league for his work as a shot-blocker for the Oshawa Generals. Toronto is another team in need of defensive prospects, so Danford’s success as a shutdown blueliner in the OHL will make him an intriguing prospect to watch as he develops over the next few seasons.

Utah Hockey Club

Grade: B-

Notable pick: Tij Iginla, C (Round 1, Pick 6)

Tij Iginla became the first NHL player drafted by Utah after racking up 47 goals and 84 points in 64 games for the WHL’s Kelowna Rockets last season. Iginla’s breakout offensive season, as well as his relationship to six-time All-Star Jarome Iginla, makes him an intriguing offensive prospect. But in a draft heavy with talented defenders, Utah could have considered several highly-ranked blueliners still on the board for their first pick.

Vancouver Canucks

Grade: B+

Notable pick: Melvin Fernstrom, RW (Round 3, Pick 93)

The Canucks began the draft late in the third round with the selection of Swedish winger Fernstrom. Any draft pick this late comes with some uncertainty as to their ceiling, but Fernstrom is an intriguing pick out of the Swedish junior league after leading J20 Nationell with 31 goals in 45 games. The achievement earned Fernstrom a brief elevation to the SHL at the end of the season. Scouts have expressed concern about Fernstrom’s scoring and puck protection, but he looks to be trending in the right direction and could end up being a late-round gem as he continues to develop.

Vegas Golden Knights

Grade: C

Notable pick: Trevor Connelly, LW (Round 1, Pick 19)

Connelly established himself as one of the best playmakers in the USHL last season after he finished second in the league with 78 points in 52 games for the Tri-City Storm, but his draft stock dropped over the last few years, which has been well-documented.

Washington Capitals

Grade: A-

Notable pick: Terik Parascak, RW (Round 1, Pick 17)

Parascak will join the Capitals organization after leading all CHL rookies with 43 goals and 105 points in 68 games for the WHL’s Prince George Cougars last season. The winger thrived on the Cougars’ first line, and his ability to find a way to immediately succeed in juniors will make him a must-watch prospect in the Capitals’ organization.

Winnipeg Jets

Grade: B+

Notable pick: Alfons Freij, D (Round 2, Pick 37)

This was just the second time since relocating in 2011 that the Jets have not had a first-round pick. They opened the draft with the selection of Freij, who recorded 14 goals and 33 points in 40 games for Sweden’s junior league last season. That’s a notably high output for a J20 Nationell blueliner and gives the Jets reason to hope Freij could develop into an offensively-minded defenseman with eventual power-play upside within their system.