Just like a year ago, there is a consensus No. 1 pick who's counting the hours until the start of the 2024 NHL draft Friday at The Sphere in Las Vegas.
That's when Macklin Celebrini is expected to hear his name called by the San Jose Sharks , who'll make the first pick to get things going. After that, this year's class of prospects loses its similarity to last year's crop ― when a handful of elite centers followed Connor Bedard 's selection first overall by the Chicago Blackhawks .
The Blue Jackets snagged one of them with their selection of Adam Fantilli third overall , but holding the fourth pick a year later presents a different scenario. This year's prospect pool is deeper in high-end defensemen while still providing potential game-changers up front at forward. After drafting high in each of the past three drafts, the Blue Jackets already boast an enviable pipeline of talent and shouldn't feel obligated to hunt for specific position groups.
They can select the best player available, regardless of position, which will significantly widen their field of possibilities. Rankings for the top-10 players in this class vary quite a bit among analysts, so predicting who the Jackets will take under new president of hockey operations/general manager Don Waddell is more of a guessing game than last year.
After Celebrini goes first, here are five top prospects the Blue Jackets could select fourth:
Levshunov is similar to David Jiricek, whom the Blue Jackets selected fifth overall in 2022. Both have good size with a right-handed shot, and each has a knack for putting pucks in the net. The biggest differences favoring Levshunov are physical strength and skating ability. Jiricek has the edges in age and professional experience.
Will the Blue Jackets select another Jiricek type of defender should Levshunov unexpectedly fall past the Blackhawks (second overall) and Anaheim Ducks (third)?
They should if he's there.
The Blue Jackets currently have a roster that's contingent on a group of talented Russians who cover every position on the ice. They also have more in the system, so there's probably less hesitancy to draft Russian prospects who could require more than a year to complete their KHL contract obligations.
Demidov, who stands about 6-foot tall, is widely considered the most talented overall forward prospect in the draft outside of Celebrini. He's a skilled winger with elite vision, playmaking and shooting acumen who's expected to rack up points in the NHL, but the biggest question mark is timing. How long will the team that drafts him be forced to wait for his NHL career to begin?
Matvei Michkov dropped to the Philadelphia Flyers a year ago for the same reasons, but his decision to terminate his KHL contract with SKA St. Petersburg and begin his NHL journey next season could prevent a similar plunge for Demidov.
The Blue Jackets will have to give serious consideration to selecting Demidov if he's available when they pick.
Most rankings services have Iginla slotted somewhere in the back half of the top-10, but he's making a late push up those lists in some final rankings. Iginla is the son of former Calgary Flames star Jarome Iginla , who played 1,554 games over 21 seasons for five teams and finished his career with 625 goals, 675 assists and 1,300 points. The elder Iginla finished his career listed at 6-1, 210 as a power forward and it's easy to project his son, who's already 6-0, 191, growing into a similar mold of forward.
Tij Iginla is also a power forward, capable of scoring goals and creating offense with high-end speed, strength and brute force. After an underwhelming rookie campaign in the WHL with the Seattle Thunderbirds last season, he broke out in a huge way for the Kelowna Rockets this year – finishing the regular season with 47-37-84 in 64 games with a +17 plus/minus rating.
Iginla also had 6-6-12 in seven games for Canada at the Under-18 world junior championship. He doesn't play center, but Iginla's power and grit up front would be a great addition to the Jackets' talent pool.
Much like Iginla, Lindstrom's biggest assets are size, speed, strength and grit up front in a forward who's versatile enough to play center or a wing position. He's got similarities in that regard to Los Angeles Kings forward Quinton Byfield , a 6-5, 220-pound forward selected second overall in 2020.
Lindstrom isn't quite as tall as Byfield, listed at 6-3 and 214 pounds, but adding an athletic forward with the ability to stay in the middle of the ice at that size might be too tantalizing to pass up.
The drawback with Lindstrom is that he missed much of the season with a back injury, which drew significant concern from scouts and draft analysts at such a young age. Lindstrom said the injury has fully healed and isn't concerned about it becoming a chronic issue. Despite missing about half of Medicine Hat's season, Lindstrom topped his scoring output from last year in roughly half the games.
He finished with 27-19-46 in 32 games after posting 19-23-42 in 61 games as a WHL rookie in 2022-23. Health is the only thing that could prompt Lindstrom to drop, but the payoff could be huge for whatever team selects him.
Buium is a highly skilled, swift skating defender with a left-handed shot and elite ability to break the puck out of his own zone via crisp passes or carrying it himself.
He helped Denver win the NCAA national championship during his freshman season, finishing with 11-39-50 in just 42 games. Prior to college, Buium starred for the U.S. National Team Development Program for two years.
He's from California, has an older brother, Shai, who's a defenseman in the Detroit Red Wings ' system, and is rated among the top five talents in this draft by almost every analyst. Buium became the first-ever draft eligible defenseman in NCAA history to reach the 50-point plateau in a single season and has drawn comparisons to Colorado Avalanche star Cale Makar .
The most comparable defender in the Blue Jackets' system is Denton Mateychuk , who was selected 12thoverall in 2022 and is set to begin his professional career next season.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: 5 prospects for Columbus Blue Jackets to weigh picking fourth overall
