NHL
Centers and defensemen are considered the premium positions when building a hockey team and will be at the front of teams’ minds come NHL Draft time. Today we’re previewing the 2024 draft’s center crop based on talent and thoughts about whether the players will stick in the middle as they advance levels.
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Celebrini is a player NHL teams can pencil in as their potential 1C for the next decade. He’s an excellent skater with a high-end sense and compete. He projects as a tough-minutes all-situations center.
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Luchanko and Beaudoin are easy players to like. Luchanko isn’t that big and Beaudoin isn’t that fast, but both look like pro pivots. Luchanko is a blazer who competes and is super smart. Beaudoin is a high-end competitor with size and has enough offense to potentially be a third-line center in the league. I can see a world where both are taking penalty-kill draws and playing tough minutes.
Lindstrom has a lot of appealing qualities that can make him an NHL center. He’s huge, powerful, physical and a great skater. It’s easy to imagine him as a matchup center in the league. Several scouting directors polled for this article felt there was a strong chance Lindstrom may have to be a wing in the NHL due to his so-so hockey sense. That’s ultimately what the evaluation difference comes down to. “If you think he’s smart, he’s a star. If you don’t, he’s a top-six wing or a second/third-line center. Our staff is divided on that,” said one NHL scout. “People didn’t love Dylan Larkin’s hockey sense in his draft year and it never held him back from being an impactful pro center,” said another scout.
Helenius is 5-foot-11; that could be the only thing holding him back from being a likely NHL center. Otherwise, he is very smart and competitive, skates well and has played the middle well versus men already.
Eriksson and Boisvert don’t have the loud tools Lindstrom has, but they are well-rounded players who compete and skate well and have a good chance to stick down the middle. Miettinen’s 6-3 frame and strong skating give him a strong chance as well.
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Surin is an easily likeable player. He competes super hard. My comparable is Ivan Barbashev, an NHL winger, but I could see him stick in the middle because his hockey sense is good and he can be a matchup center for coaches to use.
Catton is one of the best forwards in this draft and has played center at a high level in junior. He’s a dynamic skater with a good compete level, but his 5-10 frame will draw a lot of questions from coaches and quite a few evaluators think he may be a pro wing. He’s often compared by scouts to Clayton Keller who was a junior center and converted to wing.
Hage is very talented but his play style and, at times, perimeter style may make him better suited as a pro wing.
Letourneau is one of the most interesting prospects in the class. He’s 6-6, skates well for his size and has legit offensive skills. In a dream scenario, he’s Tage Thompson and my NHL comp is Michael Rasmussen. So why is he in the maybe category? Because I need to see him do it versus better players instead of prep school opponents all season.
The 2024 NHL Draft is mostly known for its defensive depth and that’s reflected above. There are not a ton of clearcut top talents down the middle, and even among the four top center prospects, only one of them feels like a lock to be a center: the projected No. 1 pick in Celebrini.
(Photo of Macklin Celebrini: Brace Hemmelgarn / USA Today)
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Corey Pronman is the senior NHL prospects writer for The Athletic. Previously, Corey worked in a similar role at ESPN. Follow Corey on Twitter @coreypronman
