2024 NHL Draft Notebook: Celebrini, Buium and Levshunov Stand Out at the NCAA Tournament

NHL draft expert Tony Ferrari shares his in-depth notes on Macklin Celebrini, Zeev Buium and Artyom Levshunov as they helped battle for a spot in the NCAA Frozen Four.

With the NCAA playoffs in full swing, teams and prospects across college hockey fought for a spot in the Frozen Four. 

Three of the top 2024 NHL draft prospects looked to help their team get there, and two of those three advanced to the Frozen Four and will compete for a berth in the national championship game. 

As I've been doing throughout the season, I evaluate what I see on the ice from NHL draft-eligible prospects through numerous views, tracking the big plays to the minor details. And this week, I'm opening up my notebook for those three players.

Macklin Celebrini continues to prove exactly why he has established himself as the unanimous No. 1 player in the draft class. Artyom Levshunov has rounded into form, removing some of the wild cowboy-hockey tendencies and playing a much more controlled brand of hockey. Zeev Buium has long been one of the most underrated players in the draft class, playing arguably the most well-rounded game of any eligible blueliner.

Let’s look at how each of these college kids fared in their most recent game, with a trip to the Frozen Four on the line.

Ranked first by Tony Ferrari, first by Ryan Kennedy

March 30, 2024, vs. University of Minnesota - As the competition has increased, it has been wonderful to see Celebrini continue to elevate his game. 

Celebrini has such a well-rounded game and consistently finds a way to impact the game in various ways.

With a trip to the Frozen Four on the table, Celebrini was very clearly a focus of the University of Minnesota defensively, and he managed to rack up three assists. 

In the defensive zone, Celebrini did an excellent job of breaking up cycles down low and assisting his defenders in boxing out in the slot.

His understanding of what the opposing team wanted to do offensively was evident, as he was generally pretty quick to cut it off. He consistently came low in the zone to provide a quick outlet for his defenders below the goal line and then showed his excellent route identification on the exit.

Celebrini consistently skated with the puck into the neutral zone and either found a lane to get into the offensive zone or hit a teammate with a pass to move the puck up the ice positively. He did an excellent job of passing off his opponents' heels and staying patient with the puck to draw them in and make it easier for him to find a teammate in space.

Celebrini’s puckhandling and ability to pass while fully extended were major assets for him in this game. As opponents closed in on him, he pulled the puck out wide and fired off a pass. Celebrini showed excellent puck control and did a good job throughout the game of finding bouncing pucks through traffic. There were several occasions in transition and in the offensive zone when Celebrini and a defender were in a race for the puck, and he would come out with it, spinning off of his opponent to open himself up to the ice.

Celebrini notched his first assist on an excellent neutral zone play, batting down a clearing attempt and attacking up ice immediately. He put the defender on their heels, went wide and then spun and hit the trailing attacker, who was coming in with no one in sight, scoring from the backside slot. His blend of work ethic and skill were on full display on the play.

Celebrini worked the cycle at a high level in this one as well, showing good strength along the boards and an understanding of how to establish body position. He rotated his hips into his opponents to cut them off from the puck and give himself a sightline to the middle of the ice.

His second assist came off an excellent cycle chance. He rotated along the boards and passed down to his teammate before coming back into the fray and curling up the wall. Celebrini then fired a pass to the faceoff dot. His teammate made no mistake, and Celebrini’s work paid off. 

Celebrini’s foot speed was solid throughout the game, but his ability to cut back and change direction allowed him to create space for himself.

He also showed a high motor throughout the game. His effort on the empty-net goal was notable because of how hard he worked to get the puck to safety and then to chip it up to a teammate. He cleared the slot against heavy pressure by chipping it to the weakside boards, won the race to the puck and chipped it up to a teammate breaking up ice in the neutral zone.

This game was a fantastic example of Celebrini being an incredibly well-rounded, complete player who can adjust to his opponents and create opportunities for himself and his teammates. He's the clear best player in the 2024 NHL draft class.

Ranked 20th by Tony Ferrari, fourth by Ryan Kennedy

March 31, 2024, vs. University of Michigan - Levshunov continues to make the improvements I’ve wanted to see as the season wears on. 

This may not have been his best game, but he was solid in the game overall with just one really impactful mistake, a late second-period penalty that was just a result of trying to defend teammates in an after-the-whistle scrum. Levshunov was physical throughout the game, throwing a few solid hits along the boards and imposing his will physically in front of the net.

He was on the ice for one goal that came in transition. Levshunov was defending the puck-side attack when the play went wide. Levshunov did a good job of leading with his stick, but his lateral movement wasn’t quite quick enough to get to the winger wide on the boards. They feathered a beautiful saucer pass across the seam that was buried. Levshunov was not the reason for the goal, but a bit more agility would have made the pass much more difficult.

Aside from that, Levshunov was regularly shutting down cycles along the wall, closing quickly in transition and forcing dumps down the walls. There were a couple of instances where he could kill play and quickly turn it up ice with smart, short passes. 

When Levshunov plays a bit more reserved, he becomes much more effective as he was in this game when it came to the transition and breakout game. In the offensive zone, Levshunov moved to the middle of the ice when the puck was on the far side of the ice to support the play. He also did a good job of pinching down the boards to keep pucks in, slamming into wingers trying to break the puck out.

Levshunov did a good job of pulsating from the point and retreating when the pass didn’t come, creating movement and confusion in the offensive zone, which forced opposing players to cover him and open other lanes. He didn’t have many prime offensive chances in this game, but he was quite effective when he had the puck in the offensive zone rather than just bombing pucks from the point the way he did early in the year.

This certainly wasn’t Levshunov’s best game, but it was a much better game from the standpoint of analyzing how translatable he is to the NHL. I remain of the opinion that he should go back to MSU for at least one more season because he needs to continue rounding his game out and learning how to balance his wild cowboy offensive game with a more reserved and controlled defensive game.

Ranked fourth by Tony Ferrari, 10th by Ryan Kennedy

March 30, 2024, vs. Cornell University - Playing for a chance to help Denver to the Frozen Four, Buium looked like a steady two-way presence on the blueline. 

Through the first 20 minutes, Buium looked confident with the puck on his stick, making some breakout passes with precision. His panic threshold is as high as anyone in the draft, allowing pressure to congregate on him before finding the perfect moment and lane to thread a pass in.

In the defensive zone, for the most part, Buium was his typical composed self. There was one play where he was dangled a bit, getting the puck put through his legs en route to a subpar chance in tight. 

But Buium did an excellent job of getting his stick on the puck in transition, using his skating to close quickly. His ability to read the play, using shoulder checks and pre-scans of the attack, was integral to his ability to defend using his feet. Buium consistently directed teammates, pointing out weak-side attackers.

As the game wore on, Buium did a very good job of pushing play to the outside with his decisions to quickly gap up in transition. Whenever a puck came a bit loose or possession was a a question, Buium jumped on it and wheeled out of pressure with a quick spin or a few strong strides to get himself into open ice.

Buium quarterbacked the power play, doing an excellent job of moving laterally along the blueline and rotating onto the half wall and even into the bumper position a few times. The constant movement on the power play made for a difficult time for the opposing penalty kill. 

Buium wound up collecting the primary assist on what would be the game-winning goal, making a simple pass to the half wall from the point that resulted in a shot that squeaked through the netminder.

Buium was effective as a puck-mover in the offensive zone throughout the game while playing a major role on the breakout with his passing. As the game got tighter in the later stages, Buium did a fantastic job of getting his stick onto the puck aggressively, lifting sticks of off-puck attackers and squeezing players to the outside.

He rarely had a misread in this game and used his high-end intelligence to diagnose and disrupt play. 

There wasn’t much more that you could have hoped for from Buium, as he was a steadying presence on the back end, as always, while providing some excellent transition ability throughout the contest.