F or D? Ducks have plenty of options at No. 3

When general manager Pat Verbeek steps up to the podium inside Sphere in Las Vegas to announce the Ducks’ selection with the third overall pick, they’ll know who their guy is. But who is their guy?

Macklin Celebrini is the consensus first overall pick this year, much like Connor Bedard was last year. The similarities between this year’s draft and last year’s don’t stop there either. There are a handful of players who could be considered to go second to fifth overall in the draft.

The gap this year is perhaps a bit bigger than last year’s where Leo Carlsson, Adam Fantilli and Will Smith were all considered top-5 picks. Carlsson and Fantilli were both projected to go second and third, it was just a matter of which one was selected by the Ducks and which one was selected by the Columbus Blue Jackets.

This year, there appears to be at least three forward options and three blue line options for the Ducks with the third overall selection. Of course, that could also depend on whom the Blackhawks select with the second overall pick.

Many media outlets have projected one of Ivan Demidov, Artyom Levshunov or Anton Silayev to be selected by Anaheim. Demidov is a winger while both Levshunov and Silayev are defensemen.

There are a couple of outside options as well, like forward Cayden Lindstrom and defensemen Sam Dickinson and Zeev Buium, all three of whom our own Patrick Present has profiled in his Ducks draft targets pieces.

Anaheim Ducks 2024 Draft Target: Cayden Lindstrom

Anaheim Ducks 2024 Draft Target: Sam Dickinson

Dark Horse Anaheim Ducks Draft Target: Southern California Native, Zeev Buium

Demidov possesses one of the highest hockey IQs in this draft class and quite possibly has the most creativity and best puck handling in this class as well.

He has one year remaining on his contract with SKA St. Petersburg, which means he wouldn’t be playing in North America in 2024-25. He does need to make the transition to playing against men in the KHL after spending a majority of this past in the MHL, the major junior league in Eurasia.

Adding him to Anaheim’s crop of young forwards—which already includes Leo Carlsson, Trevor Zegras, Mason McTavish and Cutter Gauthier—creates almost an entire top-6 of the future.

Levshunov was an offensive force in his freshman season at Michigan State. The right-handed blueliner stands at 6-foot-2 and skates well for his size. He has good awareness in the offensive zone and knows where to be on the ice.

The Ducks have several right-handed defensemen in the system, but none of them possess the ceiling that Levshunov does.

Silayev towers over everyone projected to go top-5 at 6-foot-7. He projects as a terrific shutdown defenseman, capable of killing plays they begin. The left-handed blueliner spent the majority of the season playing on his off-side, a tactic the Ducks employed with Cam Fowler, Jackson LaCombe and Olen Zellweger at points this past season. Silayev’s skating is also extremely impressive for someone his size, but his offensive game leaves more to be desired.

After being able to take their “guy” in last year’s draft by holding the second overall pick, the Ducks may be at the mercy of the Blackhawks this time around and find themselves playing the role of last year’s Blue Jackets.