The 2024 NHL draft is an interesting one after scouting it for the past year. There is a consensus number one pick, but after that, it’s anyone’s guess who will go next. A lot of the public scouting sphere that is plugged into the NHL has Levshunov as the number two pick in this year’s draft, whereas if you just went by consensus rankings you’d have Ivan Demidov as the number two pick. I know that my rankings start to deviate from consensus rankings at the third pick, and there seems to be a consensus top 14/15 players in this draft and then it goes off the rails of who will be picked in the second half of the first round and beyond.

I find a lot more defensemen in the top portion of my draft than I’ve had in the past which is probably supporting the narrative that this is a defense-heavy draft. However, I will say there have been several North American forwards that I have felt strongly about and would love to take a swing on. The tiers are pretty solidly split until my 44th ranked player and then I have one giant tier of players that I’d be happy to take anywhere from the 3rd-7th round.

I currently work as the North American crossover scout at Smaht Scouting and scout for a junior team. I’ve been scouting since 2010 and have been doing public rankings and scouting since 2017 starting at Die By the Blade. Over the years I’ve changed philosophies, have done 180s on archetypes of players that I like and dislike, and have tweaked my microstat tracking system every year since Will Scouch brought the hand-tracked microstat data model to my attention in 2018. I lean more toward qualitative than quantitative still, but microstat data has been a big tool for me to get over my biases. Sometimes I walk away from a game not very impressed with a player only to go back and track the game and find that they were a lot more effective than I had thought.

Starting in 2019 I started faux drafting for the Sabres as if I were the GM or Director of Scouting making the picks. I have taken one defenseman (Seamus Casey) in the first round in 5 years, and I haven’t taken any defensemen in the second round. This year I will be somewhat shocked if I don’t end up taking a forward in the first round and a defenseman in the second given my rankings. Below is my current faux prospect pool for the Sabres.

Before we get into the draft rankings a couple of disclaimers:

1.) Pay attention to tiers and not ranks

Truthfully, I’ve thought about getting rid of the numbered ranks next to the players altogether for the past two years. The players are grouped in a manner that if you put the tier in a blender I could make a logical argument about the order they would come out in. While I am placing the players in how I would select them; the tiers system is meant to show the small gaps between players in case the Sabres select within the tier.

2.) I have predominantly focused on the North American prospects this year

My role at Smaht has led me to hyper-focus on the players playing in Canada and the United States this year. I lean on our European scouts to tell me who to watch for rankings and then watch those players to determine where they fit within the large amount of North American players I have data on. I may be blind to players overseas who may be ranked by other scouting agencies based on the evaluation of our scouts, but I do believe we have some of the best scouts when looking across the pond.

3.) I’m going to be wrong

Probably on a lot of prospects. With the vast majority of a draft class not making a case for NHL consideration until at least 3 years after they are drafted there’s a lot of nuance to the process. Disagree with me. It’s A-Okay! I’ve been working on scouting since 2010 and I still have much to learn.

4.) Understand my biases

I value players who keep control of the puck in transition. I like players who pass and shoot from dangerous parts of the ice. I value rush lane differentiation, small area skill/agility, and how players respond in pressure situations. I care about how a player dictates their opposition defensively using anticipation and puck separation techniques. I use a 9-category data tracking system to evaluate players offensively, and 3 categories defensively. I place less emphasis on skating mechanics, size, and physicality. I care more about how you operate when time/space is condensed and the plays that generate out of those situations. I deemphasize special teams and place a lot of time and notetaking at even strength. You may lean heavily into pNHLe or point production models, favor one league or another, or value size, physicality, and/or skating ability to a higher level than I do. It’s okay. We can differ. Just know the lens I’m coming from when I make these evaluations.

5.) These are rankings specific for the Sabres

My rankings are slightly different, but this is a Sabres community so I’ve made the rankings specific to the team. My rankings still have the same players in the same tiers, but there are a couple of players I’ve moved around. For example, I would be shocked if we took an LHD in the first round this year given the gluttony of LHDs that have a term on the NHL roster. While this didn’t impact Zeev Buium’s ranking, it did impact some of the other LHDs I have in the first round.

6.) There is no consensus in the public sphere about team building for the NHL draft

This is what makes the NHL draft so much fun in my eyes, but also turns off casual fans to the NHL draft. Imagine if the NFL draft was conducted after high school. Go look at the ESPN Top 300 or the 247 college football rankings for this year. Then compare them to the NFL draft order 3 years later. That’s essentially the disadvantage NHL scouts are working with when projecting three to five years out from a draft.

There are also very few universal rules to the NHL draft compared to the NFL draft. We know which positions in football you draft high, which ones you can extract value from, and have a general idea of how to grade drafts using somewhat universal team-building philosophical arguments. Outside of the consensus that no one can predict which goalies are going to be great, there are no such team-building philosophies in the NHL.

Over the last fourteen years, I have established my own set of cardinal rules. There are always exceptions to these rules, but they are as follows:

• Never trade up.
• The early 2nd round usually has 5-10 players who I love. It’s a great place to live in the draft.
• Don’t draft a defenseman who doesn’t have power-play potential in the first round.
• When debating players: always go with the one with the elite trait (if applicable).
• After round 1, the forwards who usually hit big are either: undersized, wingers, or European. They are usually some combination of the three.
• Late-round defensemen who hit are usually overagers who have played in a men’s league or the NCAA.
• Consistent, high-end save percentages work out better than size for goalies.

Let’s get into the 2024 rankings

Tier 1: The First Overall Pick(s)

– The top pick in this year’s draft is a two-horse race in my mind. Celebrini is a high-end talent offensively who is relentless as a two-hundred-foot center. He possesses very good skill, skating ability, and high-end intelligence to be able to play a step or two ahead of the puck defensively and to find passing lanes or create plays that don’t seem obvious on the first puck touch. He is the safest option to take as the number one pick this year given that there are little flaws to his game and he possesses NHL-ready skill and awareness with a ceiling as a top 6 center and great point producer who plays a two-way game.

– If you’re a gambling person, then Demidov might be the player for you. There isn’t a more exciting player in this draft offensively than Demidov. His skill is high-end, his offensive brain is high-end and he plays enough defense in the MHL to not have concern that his defensive game could end up balancing out his insane offensive ability. If there is a reason why I didn’t put Demidov at number 1 it’s simply that, for the Sabres, I’d rather take the center and that Demidov never got the games or ice time against men in Russia for me to make the comparison between Celebrini and Demidov. Demidov looked like you let a starting varsity play in a good JV league when Demidov played in the MHL.

Tier 2: The Dream Sabres Tier

– Berkly Catton might be the second-best draft-eligible from the WHL since 2019 if I were just to base the analysis on my dataset. He averaged over 7 shots a game with almost two-thirds coming from dangerous areas of the ice. He’s a transition monster being involved in over 57% of all of his team’s successful offensive transitions when he’s on the ice. He is successful on over 92% of his offensive transitions. He’s a high-volume passer and is in the top 5 per 60 on total passes a game, completes 74% of them, and 29% are going to dangerous areas of the ice. He’s also sporting over a 69% Corsi through all games.

It’s an absurd data profile, backed up with great lateral agility and he’s surgical at gaining the offensive zone or picking apart set defenses. His shot is deceptive but not as lethal in power/accuracy as some of the other top goal-scorers in this class. I can’t see a reason why he’s slipping outside the top 5 in consensus rankings unless it’s a concern about his size. I’d run to the podium to grab Catton at 11 if I’m the Sabres.

– Zeev Buium was the best defender on last year’s USNTDP team, and then he transitioned to the NCAA where he put monster numbers while being the top defenseman on a National Champion NCAA team. His offensive game is what propels him up the list of defenders in this draft for me. He’s the one player who has the shiftiness at the blueline with lateral agility and great puck skill to get by oncoming forecheckers and offensive zone pressure to get into dangerous of the ice himself and create from the backend.

He’s not dependent on being a high-volume shooter, nor is he strictly a power-play quarterback who racks up secondary assists with the man advantage. I’m a bit more bullish on his defensive game than most because his Corsi was nearly 61% in games tracked against some of the hardest competition he faced all year. He may not be perfect in his own zone, but he tilts the ice to the other end with his great transition and offensive game.

Tier 3: Do you take Trevor Connelly? tier

– This is where I think I start to deviate from the mainstream. Trevor Connelly’s hockey ability puts him at sixth overall. If you’re an Athletic subscriber, you can see the concern teams are going to have about his character here. You can’t discount Connelly’s past behaviors and actions, and not bake them into where you put him on your draft board if you’re an NHL team.

On the ice, Connelly is one of the most gifted offensive players in this draft. He attempts the most shots per 60 in the dataset, most from high danger, most passes to dangerous areas to the ice, second in passing attempts, and is involved in 47% of all transitions for his line. He flies the zone early and needs some work in the defensive zone with his awareness and ability to successfully pressure opponents into turnovers, but if you’re looking for instant offense, and one of the more exciting players, on the ice, then Connelly is a great option. If the Sabres pass on him if he’s available and the highest-ranked player on my board I won’t blame them given what has been documented of his past behavior.

– Levshunov started the year playing defense as if he was forward. You’d oft find him activating at any opportunity and consistently chasing offense at the cost of abdicating defensive responsibility. As the year wore on he was able to balance his activation with smart walks of the blue line in a more conservative role. In the NCAA playoffs, I thought he was one of Michigan State’s strongest players and was dangerous whenever he was on the ice. He’s more likely to go second overall than to drop out of the top 5 given his size and skill which makes him a more NHL-ready prospect than Catton and Buium.

– Lindstrom battled an upper-body injury since the mid-point of the season and missed a large chunk of the back stretch before returning at the end of the season. He’s a big-bodied and highly skilled pivot with a lot of developmental growth to his game. For me, if he finds another gear by getting more aggressive and puck-dominant he could be one of the best players to come out of this draft. His production stats are greater than his microstats in my dataset, which to me signifies that he could have a big leap next year in the WHL. He’s currently sitting at 44% offensive involvement, 3.8 shots a game, and 19.5% of his passes going to dangerous areas of the ice. If he can bump that shot attempt number up to 5 and over 24% dangerous passes his numbers could explode, especially if Andrew Basha remains on his line.

Tier 4: The Realistic Who Will Be Left For the Sabres Tier

– In past years I’ve stuck my neck out for Mackie Samoskevich and Gavin Brindley and ended up putting them way higher than consensus in my rankings. This year, that player is Michael Hage from the Chicago Steel. In the second half of the season, Hage put the Steel on his back to carry them from outside the playoffs to earn a playoff birth almost entirely through his offensive workload.

Outside of the next two players ranked after him, he had the third-highest shot share in the dataset (Hage’s shots/team shots at even strength). He took just under half of his team’s dangerous shot attempts. He was 8th in the dataset in passes per game and top 15 in passes per 60, with 21% of them going to dangerous areas of the ice. Qualitatively he carved up defenses with his puck skill and vision. He can solve defensive pressure so easily and can take over a shift multiple times a game. They put Hage out to get offense a lot in the games I watched. His defensive game as a center is a tough one to analyze because the Steel worked to get him out in space. However, I think that Hage is a perfect fit at the University of Michigan and Brendon Naurato’s system that it will be fun to watch how he develops and if this ranking ends up being justified.

– Iginla and Eiserman being back-to-back have just felt right to me for the last month. They play different games but have similar datasets. Iginla has a bit more finesse to his game and lateral agility and puck skill to create, while Eiserman attacks with aggression and speed at almost all times. Both of them are highly involved transition players and when they hit that blue line they are looking to get that puck into a position for them to use their biggest weapon: their shot.

The biggest difference between the two is that Iginla is farther ahead in terms of processing beyond scoring. He makes great reads with his passing and creates for others more proactively than Eiserman. Eiserman, at this time, seems to look for the pass only after he’s been driven to a bad angle shot, and by then he forces passes to cover teammates. Both play with a physical edge (Eiserman sometimes will cross the line chasing hits), but I’d lean toward Iginla in terms of the more complete offensive player.

– Michael Bransegg-Nygard reminds me a lot of a Zemgus Girgensons archetype with more upside. He skates very well, and plays very hard at all times and in all facets of the game, but doesn’t pop with his skill or playmaking ability. He outworks his opponents and I think there’s a solid middle-six winger there, but I would shocked if he were to have offensive outputs higher than the three forwards ahead of him.

– I’d be somewhat shocked if either Parekh or Dickinson fell to us at 11. I’m a bit lower on these two than consensus. Zayne Parekh is a shooting machine. He had over 20(!!!) shot attempts in their eventual loss to London in the OHL playoff elimination game. He’s got a lot of skill, though, and can make great zone entries and exits with the puck on his stick or make nifty short passes in transition or the offensive zone. I like his aggressive off-puck nature and he’s smart in defending the neutral zone by eliminating passing lanes. However, his one-on-one zone entry defense and his lack of engagement along the boards in the defensive zone are concerning. Sam Dickinson flashes elite traits as a two-way defenseman, but it’s just flashes.

For a lot of the game, he’s making simple reads or missing on stretch zone exits. If the Sam Dickinson that shows the offensive skill and defensive ability shows up with more consistency next year then he might end up being the best defender to come out of this draft.

– Liam Greentree was inside my top 10 until the last two months when I felt he became a bit too disengaged from play and wasn’t putting up nearly as dominating microstats as he did to start the year. His skating is a concern, as well as his lack of engagement in the defensive zone at times, but when he’s on he’s able to use deceptive skill and stop-and-starts to get around defenders and shields the puck better than most in this draft.

– Teddy Stiga just plays the game like I would want one of my players to play hockey. He makes the right play almost every time, values possession, gets to dangerous areas of the ice for his shot and doesn’t waste many of shot attempts from low-danger areas, and competes hard on the forecheck and in the defensive zone. He may have played on a line with potential 2025 first overall pick James Hagens, but Stiga was no slouch on the line. He averaged over 7 shots a game, was a top 10 player in shot share, was top 10 in pass attempts per 60, 20% of his passes went to dangerous parts of the offensive zone, and was involved in 49% of his line’s offensive transitions. Sleep on Teddy Stiga at your own peril.

Tier 5: 2nd Round Sabres Dream Scenario if Someone From Here Falls

– If Alfons Freij wasn’t a LHD he’d probably be up a tier. He’s looked great every time I’ve seen him and played extremely well against top competition at the u18s. He’s a smooth skating, elusive defenseman with a wicked shot as well. I’m not quite sure why he’s not being pumped up more outside of a few scouts in the public sphere, but in my mind he should be, at the very least, a late teens/early 20s pick in this year’s draft.

– Carter Yakemchuk is the player I’ve waffled on the most this entire draft season. On one hand, he’s 6’3 with the puck skill of a smaller, skilled defenseman who also gets up into the zone to take his shot and doesn’t just loft shots from the blue line. On the other hand, his skating isn’t great but his defensive IQ has been poor when I’ve watched him play. From making unnecessary gambles in the neutral zone, to puck watching and skating with the puck up the boards in the defensive zone and leaving his man unattended in the front of the net, to activating for no reason and leading to multiple odd-man rushes and goals, Yakemchuk is the scariest proposition for me to the Sabres. Can skating and defensive awareness be developed? Of course.

You’d be banking on that development if you select him. What drove him down my board was just his passing decisions under pressure in the defensive zone. He doesn’t have the footwork to evade the pressure and he’s more apt to make errand passes and turn it over than to try to find a safety outlet to keep possession. If the Sabres take him at 11 I won’t groan, but I definitely will think it’s a bit of a developmental gamble.

– If you go to my cardinal rules above, that’s why Anton Silayev is where he is on this draft board. I see the size and skating, but I haven’t seen much in his offensive game to want to take a defensive LHD that high. He is extremely raw in his skill, so a long development could prove me wrong, but the draft is a risk/reward game and at 11 I think the risk that you left talent on the board is too great. I’d be more comfortable selecting him in a trade-down to the teens.

– The other Russians joining this group bring different traits and projectability to the table. Chernyshov doesn’t look out of play at the KHL and makes a few nice plays to dangerous areas every game I’ve seen of him. He’s not a great skater but that isn’t hurting him as a draft-eligible player in the KHL. I think a few years of development where he can put together more individual puck skills and gain a larger role could pay dividends to the NHL team that selects him. I watch Artamonov and just think of a tiered-down version of Bransegg-Nygard. I don’t see the skill that Bransegg-Nygard has, but I do see a very projectable bottom-six player who could drive positive analytical results.

– Boisvert/Ritchie/Sennecke are not the same players, but all of them are players that displayed tremendous skill but without the micostat profile or production I’d expect with players of their skill level. Sennecke has eons of skill but was a low-volume passer with less-than-ideal execution and didn’t generate many dangerous shots/passes compared to his peers in North America. When he does create, he flashes high-end talent which lands him the first. Boisvert was a high-volume passer and creator in the offensive zone, but a low-volume shooter and one of the least involved players in transition despite his skillset. Ritchie would have a few highlight reel plays a game, but similar to Sennecke, was a low-volume shooter and shot outside dangerous areas and preferred simple passes over making passes to dangerous areas of the ice.

– Andrew Basha is electric on the ice. He was near Teddy Stiga until Cayden Lindstrom went down and then Basha had a two-game tracking stretch that didn’t line up with his production when Lindstrom was healthy. His skating and skill pop every time you put on the tape, even when you’re watching another player, you end up pausing and being like “Was that Basha again?” and shake your head. His data didn’t line up with the eye test, but with such a skillset and a heavy offensive transition involvement of 49%, I think there’s a lot of runway for him to become a top-six winger in the NHL. However, the risk is pretty high to me as he didn’t generate a lot compared to team shot share, and only 15% of his passes went to dangerous areas of the ice, and he plays a very offensive-leaning game.

– Luke Misa can fly. He may take the cake as the best pure skater I watched in North America this year. Despite less 5v5 ice time than a lot of the draft-eligible prospects in the dataset, he proved to be a highly efficient transition player and used his off-puck intelligence to find soft areas to get his shot off. He was more of a facilitator than a play-creator in my viewings, but his puck skill is good and his hands keep up with his feet. Despite being an older player in the draft, I do think there is room for development within his game to grow into an offensive weapon in the NHL.

– Luchanko can fly and I like the offensive potential in his game. Beaudoin is the answer to the people who want a two-way center as an answer to the third-line center question. Beaudoin doesn’t have the dataset, but his u18s performance was great at driving offensive and defensive results.

– I’m still a big believer in Cole Hutson’s offensive potential. He is among the best in the draft class at manipulating defenders and slipping passes into dangerous areas of the ice as a defenseman. His lack of size and his defensive lapses are going to lead to an uphill battle to establish himself in the NHL, but I believe there is another level he can go offensively to establish himself as a powerplay quarterback in the NHL.

Tier 6: Round 2 Realistic Options and Round 3 Dream Scenarios

– Terik Parascak scored over 40 goals and had over 100 points, yet I have him as the 35th-ranked prospect. The main reason why is that so much of his game is based on off-puck spatial awareness and having a good shot. He was highly involved in exit transitions but I found he struggled to maintain control of entry transitions, especially if he was pressured and had no immediate passing option. He doesn’t have the size to run as a power forward as a passenger on a line, but there is enough skill that I think he could end up in a scoring role in the top six.

– Matvei Gridin has so much skill and a fantastic shot. I love his one-touch passing in the offensive zone and his scoring should translate next year at the University of Michigan. He is very passive defensively and does not engage physically much as a forward. Combined with his low involvement in transitions, there’s a lot of potential in Gridin’s skillset, but also there runs the risk that he either plays a scoring role for a team or never sees the NHL.

– I just like the way Marek Vanacker plays hockey. He knows his role and plays it very well. He’s one of my favorite two-way wingers in the draft. He uses his reach on the forecheck and in the neutral zone to create turnovers and get his stick into passing lanes. He’s got NHL-level skill but nothing that will overly impress. He was very involved in offensive transitions and looked to make plays to dangerous areas of the ice, but his passing metrics consisted of low completion rates and sometimes a struggle to facilitate play in the cycle game.

– I’m a big John Mustard fan. His speed and skill pop off the screen whenever you watch him play. He’s very raw as a prospect though, and there will need to be more details added to his game if he’s going to reach his full potential.

– Raoul Boilard was going to be my favorite prospect in the 2024 NHL class before the QMJHL playoffs. I love his game so much. He has small-area skills that is so great, makes complicated plays and can get inside, and engages in a 200ft game as well. However, he was inconsistent in his involvement and disappeared for too long in the QMJHL playoffs. He hits all the big microstat profile metrics I look for, and if he’s able to keep a consistent impact level next year, could end up being one of the steals of this draft.

– Ustinkov is a highly mobile defenseman who has a lot of potential but is a high-risk, high-reward type of pick. I think he will end up in the 3rd-5th round, but the reward could end up being a late 1st/2nd round value.

Tier 7: Ideal Mid-Late Round Picks

– Some quick thoughts on this extremely large tier of mid-late round picks I’d make:

– Tomas Galvas has a lot of offensive tools and skating that I like in a prospect, but his size and inconsistency in my viewing dropped him to this tier compared to some of the similar archetype defensemen I have ranked above him. Noel Fransen I’ve been debating about as well who is a similar archetype but I’m not sure his game will translate going through the Swedish men’s leagues.

– This tier has some of your defensive-defensemen who don’t showcase much offensive upside. Charlie Elick, Harrison Brunicke, and Adam Kleber. They play slightly different games but look like a bottom-four, PK defensemen if they end up making it to the NHL.

– The offensive-leaning defensemen in this tier are the rest of the defensemen here. Of all of them I think the ones with the farthest runway and most potential are Ben Danford, Tarin Smith, and Luke Osburn. I think there’s more to their games that can be developed than some of the rest.

– Mac Swanson is 5’7, but he was the Most Valuable Player in the USHL playoffs, led the team in scoring, and then there are the microstats. Swanson led my dataset in passing attempts per 60 minutes for forwards, and over 21% of them went to dangerous areas of the ice. He was able to generate about 3.5 shot attempts a game with 75% of them from dangerous areas of the ice. For as small as he is, he can generate offense on the inside at even strength. He may not get drafted at 5’7, but I would take a swing on him in the late rounds.

– Miguel Marques was the one player in North America that has fallen the farthest from my initial rankings at the beginning of the season. He has so much pace and skill that I thought he was going to put it all together by the end of the season. He does a lot of facilitating with the puck but does not drive dangerous shot attempts or dangerous passing attempts. He facilitates play up the ice, and there’s a skill to do more, but his low shot volume and his 9% dangerous pass rate aren’t good indicators of someone poised for a massive breakout.

– Brodie Ziemer played himself into this tier at the u18s for me. I thought he was the perfect blend of energy and F1 forechecking that the Stiga/Hagens line needed. He showed a bit more skill than I had seen from him the last time I watched him a month and a half prior.

– Marelli/Muggli/Kearsey are fun dart throws for me as players who I enjoyed watching flashes of their game and hoping the other parts round themselves out.

– Alexandre Blais was my favorite QMJHL player last year, and this year he did nothing but continue to impress me. I understand his size limitations, but the player leads so many of my microstat categories, plays a fast-paced game, and had to do so much for a pretty bad Rimouski team, that I find it hard that he’s barely ranked by the consensus. He was one of the top shooters, efficient passers, and transition players in the entire data set. He facilitates a bit too much from the outside in the offensive zone, but I love his game and think he’s worthy of a 5th-round pick

Tier 8: The Last Tier I’d be Comfortable Picking From

– One of the first pieces of advice I received from an NHL scout back in 2013 was to look for flashes of high-end ability when looking at players for the first time. Many of these players flashed while watching other players this past year, and then after watching them again, I thought there could be something there.

– Jesse Heslop came onto my radar watching Julius Mietinnen. On a line with Miettinnen and Ben Hemmerling I found Heslop not to be a passenger on the line, but facilitating a lot of the zone entries and flashing skill as an offensive zone facilitator. His data set ended up showing that as well. For having relatively low even-strength ice time in my viewing, he showed a great ability to be involved in his team’s shot share, was involved in over 40% of their transitions, and was an above-average puck distributor. He’ll have to play more to the inside the next two years as he develops, but there is enough there to warrant a late-round selection.

– I’ve followed Christian Humphreys, Aidan Park, and John Whipple since their u14 years. Humphreys played down the road at Bishop Kearney and played in a few tournaments as my son growing up. Park was one of the more noticeable omissions from the USNTDP during his u16 year, and Whipple had tremendous offensive ability at Shattuck-St. Mary while playing defense behind Eiserman and Celebrini. In fact, in the 2021 MacPhearson Cup that was held in Buffalo, when Kazimier Sobieski was out with an injury, I thought for sure we might see John Whipple make an appearance on the SSM prep team. Humphreys and Whipple have more offensive talent than the role they played in the USNTDP indicates, and I thought Park dominated prep hockey this year and transitioned very well to the USHL at the end of the year.

– Will Felicio plays a very quiet, yet efficient, puck-moving game. He has the highest passing completion percentage in my dataset at 79% completion percentage and was in the top 10 for defensemen in offensive transition involvement almost exclusively through defensive zone exits. He also was a smart shooter from the point and did show the ability to activate from time to time. Going to the University of Michigan where the offensive talent from the blue line has just Ethan Edwards left, I think he could end up being a player that blossoms in his D+1 or D+2 year.

– Noah Powell looked like a man playing amongst boys in the USHL this year. His 43 goals were often talked about, but his play creation is a skill that popped up more often than not when I watched him play. Felix Lacerte has great skill but couldn’t put it all together in my viewings or dataset. I’d take a shot on him as a late-round player who maybe puts it all together next year to become a 90-point player in the QMJHL.

Tier 9: Trey Fix-Wolansky Award Nominees

– These are players that I didn’t see enough to feel like they should be 100% guaranteed NHL draft picks, but I enjoyed watching throughout the year.

– When Liam Greentree began to be less puck-dominant, it was Cole Davis who stole some of that workload. He has very good north/south speed and I thought made things happen outside of Greentree on that line.

– Jacob Therrien pops off the screen when you watch him play. He makes some of the most “gets you out of your seat” skilled plays I have seen all year. He also is a little pest, even in ancillary viewings, where you’re like “Who is that little player doing that dirty stuff?” and, more often than not, it was Therrien. His point total and size all but guarantee he doesn’t get selected, but he was a fun one to watch this year.

– Brayden Edwards is a D+1 forward who just seemed to be EVERYWHERE whenever I watched Lethbridge play. He was a puck hound, he was a transition monster, and he was involved in nearly every aspect of his line’s success whenever I put on the tape of a draft-eligible forward that played for or against Lethbridge. It got to the point I was hoping I was going to watch a game with Lethbridge in it just to see what Edwards did. He’s a late ’04 birthday and his point totals aren’t exactly mesmerizing nor is his skill popping off the screen. However, he was one of my favorite players to watch all year.

– Gavyn Thoreson is going to have one fun NCAA career in my opinion. He’s undersized, but he is just an offensive wizard at times in the USHL and his ability to make his teammates better was a skill I wasn’t expecting to see. I’d probably wait to see what he does in the NCAA and try to sign him from there if I’m an NHL team, but I do think he deserves to be an NHL draft pick.

– Nolan Ling just flashed a few times. His dataset is nothing remarkable it goes against putting him on this list. His defensive metrics weren’t good and his offensive metrics were average. However, he made a few plays with the puck on his stick including puck-skill and creativity passing plays and I thought he was a perfect candidate for the Trey Fix-Wolansky award.

Photo Credit: University of Denver