The San Jose Sharks chose center Macklin Celebrini with the first overall pick in the 2024 NHL Draft on Friday in Las Vegas.
Celebrini, who turned 18 on June 13, was the youngest player in NCAA Division I last season and the youngest to win the Hobey Baker Award after producing 32 goals and 32 assists in 38 games at Boston University.
He was just the fourth freshman to be named the top college player.
Former Sharks star Joe Thornton announced Celebrini as the first pick.
“Just a surreal feeling,” Celebrini said on the ESPN broadcast. “I’ve dreamed about this moment ever since I was a kid and for it to come true, it’s an amazing feeling.”
Celebrini, who is 6-foot, 190 pounds, also starred at the 2024 IIHF World Junior Championship last winter in Sweden, totaling four goals and four assists in five games for Canada.
The Sharks landed the top pick for the first time in franchise history after finishing with the fewest points in the NHL last season (47).
Connor Bedard, the No. 1 overall pick by the Chicago Blackhawks last season, announced 18-year-old defenseman Artyom Levshunov as the second overall pick for Chicago.
Levshunov, a native of Belarus, was the third-youngest player in college hockey as a freshman at Michigan State last season.
“That’s awesome,” Levshunov said of hearing Bedard announce his name. “Now it’s real.”
The Ducks picked third and surprised many by taking Beckett Sennecke, a 6-foot-2 forward for the Oshawa Generals of the Ontario Hockey League.
He had 27 goals and 41 assists during the regular season before putting up 10 goals and 12 assists in the playoffs to help the Generals to the OHL finals.
“I had a couple meetings yesterday and today and Anaheim wasn’t one of them,” Sennecke said. “I didn’t think it was a possibility, but obviously I’m super happy.”
Cayden Lindstrom went fourth overall to the Columbus Blue Jackets. Lindstrom is a power forward who scored 27 goals in 32 games for Medicine Hat of the Western Hockey League before missing the second half of last season with a back injury.
Celine Dion came on stage to announce that the Montreal Canadiens selected Russian right winger Ivan Demidov fifth overall.
Demidov’s offensive skills are impressive on tape, but scouts have had few opportunities to view him in person while playing in the KHL’s junior league.
The Utah Hockey Club made its first pick in franchise history and grabbed Tij Iginla, the son of Hockey Hall of Fame forward Jarome Iginla, the 11th overall pick of the 1995 NHL Draft.
“You dream of it, (but) you don’t know how the day’s going to be,” Jarome Iginla said. “He’s worked hard and it’s a good day.”
Tij Iginla, who won’t turn 18 until August, had 47 goals and 37 assists in 64 games for the Kelowna Rockets of the WHL last season, and another nine goals and six assists in 11 playoff games.
The Ottawa Senators also selected a player that many analysts didn’t have in their top eight, taking defenseman Carter Yakemchuk of the Calgary Hitmen seventh overall.
Yakemchuk scored 71 points for the Hitmen last season, which was second-most on his team and fifth among all defensemen in the WHL.
The Seattle Kraken followed by selecting center Berkly Catton eighth overall, and the Calgary Flames drafted defenseman Zayne Parekh ninth.
The New Jersey Devils rounded out the top 10 by taking 6-foot-7 Russian defenseman Anton Silayev.
The Sharks owned the 11th pick after a trade with the Buffalo Buffalo earlier this week and selected London Knights defenseman Sam Dickinson, whom many expected to go in the top five.
The Philadelphia Flyers traded the No. 12 pick to the Minnesota Wild for their pick at No. 13 and a third-round selection in 2025.
The Wild then chose defenseman Zeev Buium, who led all NCAA blue-liners with 50 points (11 goals, 39 assists) in 42 games for University of Denver last season.
Boxing announcer Michael Buffer then took the stage and shouted out Jett Luchanko as Philadelphia’s pick at No. 13.
The Sabres selected Finnish center Konsta Helenius at No. 14.
The Red Wings then made history at No. 15 when they selected right winger Michael Brandsegg-Nygard, the first Norwegian-born player drafted in the first round of the NHL.
The St. Louis Blues went 16th and chose Adam Jiricek, a defenseman from Czechia who is recovering from a knee injury.
The Washington Capitals followed by taking forward Terik Parascak at No. 17.
After taking a defenseman with the second pick, the Blackhawks grabbed a center with their second pick of the opening round, selecting Sacha Boisvert at No. 18.
The Vegas Golden Knights took left winger Trevor Connelly with the 19th pick, drawing a mixed reaction from the home crowd.
Many teams reportedly backed away from Connelly because he briefly posted a racial symbol on social media two years ago as a 16-year-old. Connelly reportedly addressed the situation with diversity training and volunteer work.
“We certainly did our due diligence,” Vegas general manager Kelly McCrimmon said. “We interviewed Trevor on two different occasions, as recently as a couple days ago, and feel that he’s going to represent our organization in a way that we expect.”
Left winger Cole Eiserman went to the New York Islanders at No. 20, and the Canadiens selected center Michael Hage at No. 21. The Nashville Predators took Russian forward Yegor Surin at No. 22.
The Toronto Maple Leafs traded pick No. 23 to the Ducks, who selected defenseman Stian Solberg from Norway.
Solberg is noted for his 6-foot-1, 205-pound frame and his physical style of play. At just 18 years old, he’s likely to get even stronger.
The Colorado Avalanche then traded No. 24 to Utah and it selected Cole Beaudoin, a center from the Barrie Colts of the OHL. He produced 28 goals and 34 assists in 67 games last season.
The Boston Bruins chose center Dean Letourneau at No. 25.
Letourneau, who is 6-6 and 214 pounds, had the longest wingspan at the NHL Combine at 83.25 inches.
He led his preparatory school, St. Andrew’s College, with 61 goals and 127 points in 56 games last season. Letourneau has already committed to play at Boston College next season.
The Los Angeles Kings took big-bodied right wing Liam Greentree with pick No. 26. He played for the Windsor Spitfires of the OHL last season, leading the team in goals (36) and assists (54) in 64 games last season.
The Blackhawks made their third pick of the first round after acquiring No. 27 from the Carolina Hurricanes.
Chicago selected left wing Marek Vanacker, who scored 36 goals in 68 games for the Brantford Bulldogs of the OHL. He recently revealed he played most of the season with a torn labrum in his shoulder, which was surgically repaired on June 3.
The Calgary Flames selected right wing Matvei Gridin, who played in the Russian junior leagues until he was drafted by Muskegon in the 15th round of the 2022 USHL entry draft.
He led the USHL in scoring last season with 83 points (38 goals, 45 assists) in 60 games.
The Dallas Stars then grabbed Emil Hemming, a right wing from Finland, at No. 29. Hemming has NHL size (6-1, 205) and played in his country’s top professional league last season, totaling seven goals and four assists in 40 games.
The New York Rangers went next and selected defenseman EJ Emery from the USA Under-18 development team. He recorded the best horizontal jump in NHL combine history at 123 inches, 4.7 inches farther than the next closest participant this year.
Emery plans to play next season for the University of North Dakota.
The Maple Leafs took right-shot defenseman Ben Danford with the 31st pick. Danford scored just one goal for Oshawa of the OHL last season, but pitched in 32 assists in 64 games.
The Flyers had the 32nd and final pick of the opening round, but they traded it to the Edmonton Oilers, who previously did not have a first-round pick.
The Oilers chose Sam O’Reilly, a right wing from the London Knights. He had 20 goals and 56 points last season while playing the entire regular season as a 17-year-old.
–Field Level Media
