2024 NHL Draft: Potential Second Round Targets and Late Round Swings
Stiga, Basha, Parascak, Vanacker, Ritchie, Marques, Caswell, Humphreys, Petterson, Eriksson, Surin, Artamanov, Pulkkinen, Freih, Montgomery, Powell, Becher, Romani
While I’ve already covered plenty of players who could be available at 36th overall, should the Blue Jackets choose to keep it (they should), now I’ll take a look at some other potential players that would be worth considering at the position.
Many of the defensive defensemen (Kleber likely, Brunicke likely, Danford likely, Pitner guaranteed, Elick, Badinka potentially) may be there and it’s also possible, though less likely, one of Beaudoin or Luchanko are there.
Undersized, Feisty and Talented Wings
Teddy Stiga and Andrew Basha played in good programs alongside talented players, Hagens and Lindstrom respectively, and played significant parts in making them better.
They are highly talented and also have “B” games.
Basha wants the puck and utilizes puck touches much more frequently. He gained an increased puck carrying role in the absence of Cayden Lindstrom and was highly successful in a great volume of transition responsibilities.
He accesses the inside well and is a diverse offensive threat. When inside the zone he’s manipulative and inside driven. He is great at getting off the wall and creating playmaking sequences.
His downside is that he probably tries to overplay plenty of pucks. He isn’t elite in any physical dimension so these overextended sequences likely won’t work at the NHL level. He’s also on the older side of the draft.
He’s got a lot of flags that may result in him dropping. I wouldn’t be comfortable betting against a player who can bring the pace, intensity and play connecting that he does.
Stiga played a less puck dominant role, usually alongside James Hagens (the presumptive 2025 1st overall), but contributed equally to the offensive output. He, too, is excellent at playing for teammates and getting pucks off of walls.
Alongside his less puck-reliant game (at least when compared to Basha) Stiga also brings great forechecking intensity and small volume but highly projectable transition plays. The USNTDP has a history of silo’d roles for players but Stiga made the most of becoming a perfect complementary player to high talent.
Though, like Basha, there’s room to doubt his stature making his forechecking and offensive game translate to the NHL easily, I would find it incredibly difficult to bet against them.
If the Blue Jackets go Lindstrom at 4OA, perhaps they could pick up his complement in either of these two wings like they may have also done with Adam Fantilli and Gavin Brindley.
Inconsistent Flashes or Translation Issues
In Terik Parascak and Marek Vanacker we have two CHL players who were fairly silo’d in their responsibilities.
Parascak was a rookie in the WHL this past season and was primarily focused on getting the puck in the neutral zone and creating efficient rush offense. He was highly productive on an excellent Prince George Cougars team. His defense isn’t horrific but he isn’t a dynamic skater or overly strong player.
There’s tremendous translatability risk, especially in being completely uninvolved at exiting the zone, but that’s also quite a lot of production. He doesn’t drive space creation in a way that says there are anything more than “empty calorie” points or that he’s going to become the next Jason Robertson, but again that’s quite a lot of production.
Marek Vanacker isn’t a player I have had live viewings of, so everything I’m about to say is coming from purely stats projection.
Given his high rate of xG/60, and shooting in general, as well as in-zone offense, body positioning and cycle escapes to inside, I think we get a pretty good idea of the type of forward that Vanacker is. He peels the puck off the wall and shoots from high value areas.
He’s mostly uninvolved in transition and doesn’t have any remarkable defensive abilities. This feels quite a lot like Boone Jenner in his early years just only more refined with the advancement of hockey in the previous 10 years.
Ritchie and Marques are two WHL wingers who didn’t have particularly excellent growth curves this past season.
That being said, they look like they have talent and can create offense.
Ritchie has more robust playmaking but Marques has more shot improvement. Both perform well in-zone but don’t bring too much off the rush. Where Marques generates exits more successfully, Ritchie has total better involvement and volume on entries.
Ritchie has some highly translatable habits and techniques in transition. Marques is good, at times, but doesn’t come close to comparing in crosslane and delay plays. On the flip side, Marques shows more potential on the forecheck and and in getting off the wall.
It looks like Ritchie, also one of the youngest players in the draft, is a more connective and talented playmaker whereas Marques, who had some poor consistency, has a more wall oriented game.
Christian Humphreys and Clarke Caswell are two players I would heavily consider for 3rd and later round bets, depending on other availability.
Both have some tantalizing translatable passing habits and could be set for bigger breakout years coming shortly.
They both grade out quite similarly, all being said. The only difference being Humphreys’ dominance at generating entries and Caswell’s more robust exit profile and forechecking. Humphreys is better at passing crosslane and using the inside lane whereas Caswell prefers to skate through and use delay plays.
Both of the players built possession well in advance of their scoring totals. Humphreys played down the lineup on the USNTDP, so it’s possible he was just lost in the shuffle.
Humphreys will be attending the University of Michigan which could make him an excellent long term project. I’d be excited to add him to the team, especially as a right handed playmaker, but he would certainly be something of a long term project.
For both players, their capacity to complete passes and bump pucks off the wall remains a skill that could be worth better on.
Underscouted Europeans
Linus Eriksson and Lucas Pettersson are two centers in the J20 who didn’t produce points that scream high quality draft picks.
Pettersson’s microstats grade out much more favorable but mostly paint a solid, if otherwise unremarkable, player. How much room should an NHL team have for a player that doesn’t stand out in a relatively poor quality league? It likely comes down to his skating and pressure tools.
Having no weaknesses, being a generally responsible player and having good skating and motor means he could be a reliable bottom six forward. His playmaking, high entry involvement and high offense involvement
Linus Eriksson is perhaps similar. Where he isn’t as well-rounded, he is more involved defensively and uses his body more. Really, that’s all there is to say. They both project to be bottom six centers most likely but Pettersson is probably the better bet for a quality one.
Nikita Artamonov probably doesn’t truly qualify as underscouted, he played on the same team as Anton Silayev, but instead small and feisty and should probably be mentioned alongside Basha and Stiga.
He is an excellent playmaker and transition passer who is surprisingly good at improving the possession and getting off the wall. He was competing in the KHL for the duration of these stats and should not be underestimated.
Yegor Surin played his draft year in the MHL. While his stats look unreasonable, the MHL isn’t the highest quality league.
Still, he moves with intensity, upgrades possession consistently and finds his fair share of stops in the defensive zone.
The Overagers (and Alfons Freij)
Jesse Pulkkinen is a highly intriguing, 6’6” defenseman who showed out extremely well in Finland’s junior league and earned himself some reps in Liiga. He only seriously committed to hockey a season ago and Lassi reports that his tracking data was pretty good last year as well.
While his overall defensive stats are quite good, they also hide some of the risk in his game. Similarly, he’s got a long way to go in terms of translating his game to the NHL level. His skating needs work and his reads aren’t always consistent.
But he’s also a 6’6” defensemen with a boatload of confidence.
Alfons Freij is an extremely dynamic but undersized Swedish defenseman. He’s an excellent passer with sublime skating and vision. He didn’t play in a great league for NHL translatability and the EP scouts believe he follows patterns rather than truly reads the game.
He could be an interested bet to place on improved coaching because his tools are quite exciting.
Blake Montgomery and Noah Powerll are two of my favorite overage prospects and players that I would love for the Blue Jackets to take especially in the 4th and later rounds.
Blake Montgomery is tall, fast and has fantastic hands. That makes him an excellent transition player, a dynamic rush creator and capable of creating his own open ice. To round that out, he’s also got some fantastic defensive metrics and uses his body well.
For me, he’s an extreme target given the potential of hesitance at drafting a USHL overager.
Noah Powell was the top power forward in the USHL in his D+1 season. He’s committed to Ohio State so the Blue Jackets would get to watch him develop in their backyard.
His wall-to-middle playmaking looks like a skill to bet on. His skating needs work but there’s hardly a better schedule than NCAA hockey for exactly that kind of work.
Ondrej Becher and Anthony Romani are overagers from the CHL. Both were extremely productive and could be worth taking.
Romani is a rush creator who was extremely involved in offense but wasn’t as adept at improving possession outside of the neutral zone. Still, he utilized the inside lane in transition quite a lot and was a dual threat offensively.
Becher just completed his D+2 and was part of the dominant Prince George line including Terik Parascak. He primarily created from in-zone sequences and brought some defensive contributions.
This was only his 2nd year in the WHL and he added 10 points in 7 games for Team Czechia at the WJC20.