St. Andrew's College has been producing NHL draft picks for a few years now but could have a first-rounder in 2024, which would put it ahead of the QMJHL, says Ken Campbell. Matvei Gridin [https://thehockeynews.com/.image/c_fit,h_600,w_600/MjA3NTA0MjQxODM1NjQ4NDU1/usatsi_23645894_168393426_lowres.jpg] Matvei Gridin LAS VEGAS - The 2024 NHL draft is now officially in the books, and the first sporting event ever held at the Sphere surpassed expectations. Simply put, the presentation was incredible and the weekend had enough drama to keep everyone on their toes (and glued to their screens). And while we won't actually know for years which picks were savvy and which were duds, there must be takes, so takes I shall bring. While Utah clearly had an amazing weekend with its introduction to the league and the trades for Mikhail Sergachev and John Marino, I'm just going to concentrate on draft picks in this round-up. Here's a look at my winners and losers after seven rounds. WINNERS Calgary Flames - I really liked Calgary's overall class. From grabbing a ton of skill in Zayne Parekh and Matvei Gridin in the first round to getting Andrew Basha in the second and one of my favorite goalie prospects, Kirill Zarubin, in the third, the Flames looked solid to me. And in nabbing high-scoring Trevor Hoskin in the fourth, Calgary may have also gotten a massive late-bloomer as well. San Jose Sharks - When you get Macklin Celebrini and Sam Dickinson on the first night, you could have just gone home and said 'job well done.' But of course, the Sharks also got to make selections on Day 2 and filled out their card. Igor Chernyshov has lots of skill and hockey sense, Carson Wetsch brings some physicality, while Leo Sahlin Wallenius is an excellent skating defenseman. St. Louis Blues - The first three selections by the Blues were all defensemen who come in at 6-foot-3 or taller. And they all have different skill sets: Adam Jiricek has offensive upside and compete, Colin Ralph is a physical stopper and Lukas Fischer is very similar to his dad, ex-NHLer Jiri Fischer. Later in the draft, they got another big blueliner in defensive D-man Will McIsaac. "Bigger players are always at a premium," said GM Doug Armstrong. "Obviously they need to grow into their bodies, but we're excited to balance out our development list; we had taken a lot of forwards recently, so this was a good draft to equal out the cupboard." Keep in mind, the Blues were already one of our top teams in Future Watch [https://archive.thehockeynews.com/issue/633825] thanks to a number of those forwards. Seattle Kraken - I was prepared for Berkly Catton to slip out of the top 10 because of his size, so shout-out to the Kraken for recognizing one of the best offensive talents in the class and nabbing the Spokane Chiefs star eighth overall. Seattle also got one of the best goalie prospects in Kim Saarinen and a shutdown center in Ollie Josephson. Getting two-way defenseman Jakub Fibigr in the seventh round was a coup, as well. LOSERS The QMJHL - We knew it wasn't a strong year for the 'Q,' but for the first player to go 59th overall, when Philadelphia took Rimouski's Spencer Gill, is pretty rough. Heck, Gill was the only second-rounder from the league, with no one else getting taken until Maxim Masse of Chicoutimi went to Anaheim with the first selection of the third round. Vegas Golden Knights - Sorry, the Golden Knights were great hosts - but they didn't give themselves a lot of leeway in their actual picks. Because Vegas is in win-now mode (understandable), they only had four selections overall. Their first-rounder was Trevor Connelly, the biggest wild card in the class. Their second was third-rounder Russian goalie Pavel Moysevich, who certainly has potential thanks to his size but needs to work on his mechanics. None of this matters if the Golden Knights make another championship run, but if we're going through the prism of the draft itself, this was a sketchy one. Toronto Maple Leafs - Maybe this is a self-own, but in the past couple of years, my list has not matched up at all with the Maple Leafs' picks. With the exception of Ben Danford (a solid defender I had ranked 53rd overall), I wasn't familiar with anyone Toronto took in 2024 - and that's weird. I can't say that for any other NHL franchise. So, from my perspective, the Leafs' best move of the day was GM Brad Treliving acquiring the rights to Chris Tanev. I could very well be wrong about their recent picks - only time will tell. My Body - After covering the entire Stanley Cup final, I came to Vegas at less than full power. This town is sneaky for walking distance because everything is bridges and long hallways and casinos that span multiple city blocks. Then you get to the draft, where you bounce from the media seats to the interview podiums and back - many, many times. I am tired, people. I'm just glad there's no other massive hockey event coming up in the next 36 hours...
