The 2024 NHL Draft is here this weekend. Just hours away from now, over 200 teenaged hockey players will get drafted by one of 32 teams and a major chapter begins in their hockey journey.
But beyond all the storybookness of this event, there is some real talent. And not just the talent that will be taken in the first round that will get all the spotlight on Friday night — no, we’re talking about diving deep into the middle of the rounds and players who will be picked in the triple digits.
There has been so much digital ink spilled on the first 32 picks and names that if you are a major hockey fan, should be familiar with enough by now. But, what about the other rounds? We, here at Broad Street Hockey, have a few NHL Draft freaks on staff and decided to really just let our feelings out in a therapeutic way. Almost every single year, there are prospects who might not get taken until the fourth or fifth round, who we fall in love with. Whether it is a certain highlight we saw or an attribute we love about them, there is just something that sticks and makes you want to follow their career.
So, that’s what we’re going to do here. Gush about some players we would either want the Philadelphia Flyers to select after the first round or are just happy they will get selected.
Let’s nerd out.
Thomas:
Beyond all the skilled players with highlight-reel plays coming out of every pore on their body, who might be taken in the later rounds because of some flaws like their size or awareness, there stands one player who is most likely going to be taken in the second or third round of the upcoming draft, who has just grabbed my attention with both hands.
Maybe it’s because he’s from the small Ontario town of Madoc and played youth hockey around my favorite place in the province – Prince Edward County, for those not stuck in Ontario – or that he plays for my childhood OHL team (we have those up here), but defenseman Ben Danford is someone to really look out for.
The two holes in his game are shooting the puck and handling the puck. But everything else, his mobility, physicality, and the ability to think ahead of plays and read plays, are above-average. Danford just feels like one of those solid second-pair shutdown defensemen at the NHL level. He just kills most plays that come by him and that is a way more translatable skill for professional hockey than a junior-hockey dangler who loves to take 1-on-1 challenges and then the second he steps foot in the AHL, gets completely leveled by someone who knows exactly what he’s doing. You sometimes need thinkers more than doers in the later rounds.
Jacob:
Matvei Gridin is a talented Russian winger who spent last season alongside first-round talent Sacha Boisvert for the Muskegon Lumberjacks of the USHL. Gridin was actually the USHL’s scoring leader this past season, potting 38 goals and finishing with 83 points in his second season with Muskegon. He has a wicked shot that he uses effectively in any situation, and has a good sense of how to maneuver himself in the offensive zone to get open for his teammates. He has a chance to become a real offensive star, and with him committing to the University of Michigan for next season, there is a good chance you’ll only be hearing more and more about him.
Another unsung possibility later on in the draft is Ondrej Becher, a 6’1 center from Prince George of the WHL. Becher amassed 96 points in just 58 games, and is a very steady playmaker who combines well with other skilled linemates. His interplay with draft eligible forward Terik Parascak and Wild prospect Riley Heidt looked like one of the better lines in the WHL at times, and Becher’s presence had a lot to do with that. Becher is a smooth skater too and can really get his legs moving in open ice, he is a very capable finisher when he has space, and he has an innate ability to feel out the defense’s blind spots off the rush. There’s an argument to be made that Becher has a more NHL ready skill set than Parascak does, despite the latter being projected to go in the first round, while Becher will more than likely be available deep into round three.
Miguel Marques is another unsung WHL talent who put up points last season with the Lethbridge Hurricanes. Marques had 28 goals and 74 points with the Hurricanes, and has a plethora of offensive tools that he is able to unleash in order to beat defenders, despite his 5’10 frame. Marques is one of those players who would definitely be looked at in the first round if he had a few more inches of height on him, but even still, his offensive game has very few holes and his craftiness on that side of the ice is enticing.
And finally, just for a bit of fun, there is the 6-foot-7 hulk that is Miroslav Satan Jr. The son of the long time NHL winger, Satan Jr. has a massive frame that he uses to be a nuisance in front of the opposing net as well as in his own zone. He had some success with the Slovakian U-18 team, and there could be a little something more there.
Joe D:
There are several non-first-round players I’d like to see the Flyers take a crack at, but some of them might not fall that far: Dominik Badinka is one I’m really high on, but may only be available at the Florida pick; Cole Hutson and Aron Kiviharju are intriguing options in the second round, and I like Yegor Surin there too.
But let’s get weird with it and go even further: I’ll throw my hat in for Tomas Mrsic, a 6-foot center and right-winger with an elite shot and good skating, but questions about pace and hockey sense. He’s ranked No. 46 in the Elite Prospects Draft Guide, but doesn’t even make the top prospects lists of Corey Pronman or Scott Wheeler at The Athletic (Pronman has Mrsic mocked to the Senators with the last pick of the fourth round, 129th overall). Mrsic scored 23 goals and 62 points in 63 games with the Medicine Hat Tigers last season–that’s on a team that included top-five prospect Cayden Lindstrom (27 goals, 46 points in 32 games), as well as surefire first-rounder Andrew Basha (30 goals, 85 points in 63 games). Mrsic’s shot is first-round caliber, but the rest of his game might not pop enough to cut it in the NHL–but he’s exactly the kind of player you’d like to see the Flyers take a gamble on in the 3rd or 5th round (because they don’t have a 2024 fourth-round pick…yet).
A close contender here was Justin Poirier, a 5-foot-8 winger who scored 51 goals and 82 points with the Drakkar in the QMJHL. The last 17-year old to put up 50 in the Q? Sydney Crosby. Questions remain about Poirier’s size and the translatability of his game, but the goal scoring ability is clear–plus, he’s apparently got a mean streak, and we all know how much Flyers fans love players with an edge.
Jason M.:
Although his skating has scared many scouts and teams away, Maxime Massé has turned a few heads after a promising two seasons in the QMJHL. His 2022-23 season with Chicoutimi saw him with 29 goals and 33 assists for 62 points in 65 games. This past season earned him the Michael Bossy Award in mid-April for “top professional prospect” in the league after scoring 36 goals and adding 39 helpers in 67 games. Massé seemed to get stronger as this past season went on, often able to either maintain the puck in the corners or coming out of them winning the puck and the one-on-one battle.
Again his skating has been a part of his game that has dropped him most likely out of the first-round conversation (and as late as 57th according to Elite Prospects). But if he was still there with the compensatory pick the Flyers received from the league for not signing their 2018 pick Jay O’Brien, the Flyers could have a darkhorse that with time could be a diamond in the rough.
Quigz:
The team that drafts Aron Kiviharju will be getting a very good hockey player. A year ago, he was considered one of the top prospects eligible for the draft, but due to an early-season ACL injury, the Finnish defenseman’s draft stock has fallen considerably. Still, he’d be a worthwhile gamble in the second round.
Kiviharju is a two-way, puck-moving defender who compares himself to Adam Fox, singling out his stellar hockey IQ as the top weapon in his toolkit. Kiviharju managed just two points in his seven games in Finland’s top pro league, but stood out at the U-18 World Juniors while serving as captain for the Finns. Despite still recovering from his ACL injury — and taking a skate blade to the face in his first game back from knee surgery — he logged three assists in five games.
The Flyers have seen what knee injuries can do to young defensemen — look no further than Sam Morin, who suffered two ACL injuries within a 19-month span. But if Kiviharju can prove to be the player he was pre-injury, he has the potential to be a rock-solid NHL blueliner for a long time.
