The 2024 NHL draft is taking place on Friday (7 p.m. ET, ESPN and ESPN+) and Saturday (11:30 a.m. ET, ESPN+) at Sphere in Las Vegas.
From the first round all the way to pick No. 225 in Round 7, this page is your home for every selection, including scouting notes from Rachel Doerrie, and team fit analysis for the 32 players taken in the first round from Ryan S. Clark and Greg Wyshynski.
More: Final mock
Prospect rankings
Profiles: Celebrini
Tij Iginla
Team: Boston University (H-EAST) | Rank: 1
DOB: 06/13/06 | Ht: 6-0 | Wt: 190 | Shot: L
2023-24 stats: GP: 38 | G: 32 | A: 32 | P: 64
Scouting notes: There is no area of the game where legitimate concerns exist. Simply put, he does not have a weak point. He excels as a 200-foot player, making significant contributions on both ends of the ice.
Offensively, he navigates the middle of the ice, disrupts defensive schemes and finds passing lanes that others cannot. His puck protection skills, willingness to play through contact, spin off defenders and maintain play are qualities that will translate well to the NHL. Even without the puck, he remains a scoring threat due to his ability to find open spaces, keep his stick away from defenders and release the puck quickly. — Doerrie
Team fit: Rebuilds require cornerstone players. Celebrini appears to be just that, considering this year’s draft was commonly referred to as “The Celebrini Draft.” Finishing with the NHL’s worst record meant the Sharks had a number of areas that needed to be addressed. Among them: top-six forward help. Enter Celebrini.
While the possibility exists that Celebrini could return to BU for his sophomore year, he could be step right in to the Sharks’ lineup. Since 2005, the forwards that were selected with the No. 1 pick played the next season. It’s a list that includes Sidney Crosby, Nathan MacKinnon, Auston Matthews, Connor McDavid, and last year’s No. 1 pick, Connor Bedard. Furthermore, Celebrini now officially becomes the face of a promising rebuild that already had Thomas Bordeleau, William Eklund, Mario Ferraro, Quinten Musty and the team’s 2023 first-round pick in Will Smith, who is leaving Boston College after one season having signed his entry-level contract with the Sharks. — Clark
Team: Michigan State (BIG10) | Rank: 3
DOB: 10/28/05 | Ht: 6-2 | Wt: 208 | Shot: R
2023-24 stats: GP: 38 | G: 9 | A: 26 | P: 35
Scouting notes: The Belarusian is widely regarded as the best defender in the draft class, impressing scouts in many areas. A right-shot defenseman, he imposes himself physically and dictates offensive play. His rapid development has led scouts to believe he could quickly become an impactful two-way defenseman in the NHL. He excels at making good first passes, finding shooting lanes and taking control of the game from the blue line.
Though still raw defensively, he has tremendous upside due to his physical attributes, excellent skating ability and high puck battle success rate. Consistently engaged and a play driver at both ends of the ice, he has the potential to shift momentum. Levshunov could become a top-pairing defenseman who dictates play in transition and tilts the ice in his team’s favor. — Doerrie
Team fit: The Blackhawks found their next foundational player atop last year’s draft in forward Connor Bedard, who won the Calder Trophy as the NHL’s rookie of the year on Thursday. But they also had to strip down their team to the foundations to get him. The duration of the rebuild around Bedard is entirely contingent on the players with whom they surround him. To the end, Levshunov is a huge addition, literally and figuratively.
The Blackhawks have some intriguing young defenseman in their system, but not enough of them. Kevin Korchinski played 76 games as a rookie last season and has some upside. Wyatt Kaiser split time between the Blackhawks and AHL Rockford. Sam Rinzel, selected 25th overall in 2022, had an outstanding first season with the University of Minnesota. But what they have in Levshunov is, for lack of a better label, “The Guy.” The giant blueliner that could be their Victor Hedman. Those dynastic Lightning teams were build on offensive stars like Steven Stamkos and Nikita Kucherov, but they won Cups thanks to the efforts of Hedman on the back end. This draft could be looked back on as an essential moment of the Bedard Era in Chicago. — Wyshynski
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Artyom Levshunov’s NHL draft profile
Check out the plays that helped make Michigan State’s Artyom Levshunov one of the top prospects in the NHL draft.
Team: Oshawa (OHL) | Rank: 13
DOB: 01/28/06 | Ht: 6-2.25 | Wt: 177 | Shot: R
2023-24 stats: GP: 63 | G: 27 | A: 41 | P: 68
Scouting notes: Offensively, it is difficult to find a weakness. He is a dual-threat menace in the offensive zone and dropped more jaws in one-on-one play than any other draft-eligible player in the OHL this season. His ability to force defenders into bad spots and manipulate his way around them is terrifying. Not only is he a threat in tight situations, but he’s also a threat in transition. The puck follows him around the ice, and he slices defensive coverage with ease through excellent reads, decisive passing and a quality shot.
Off the puck, he uses his awareness to win pucks back. As the season progressed, he became a nightmare on the forecheck, routinely hemming players in and winning pucks back. For lack of a better word, he’s a gamer. If he wants the puck, he’s more than likely going to end up with it on his stick. He’s not an elite skater, but he gets to where he needs to go, plays two steps ahead of his peers and makes his teammates better. There are teams that have him in their top five, and while that is a little high for me, it is easy to understand why scouts believe Sennecke could be a top-line player. — Doerrie
Team fit: Once again, Ducks general manager Pat Verbeek went in a bit of an unexpected direction by taking Beckett Sennecke. The Ducks were in a bit of a tricky situation when it came to adding to their rebuild. Not that they couldn’t have used more forwards, but they already have quite a bit of youth with Leo Carlsson, Cutter Gauthier, Mason McTavish, Troy Terry and Trevor Zegras. The same holds true with defensemen of course, with Jackson LaCombe and Pavel Mintyukov playing as rookies last season and another defenseman, Olen Zellweger, getting nine points in 26 games with the Ducks after spending the majority of the year in the AHL with the San Diego Gulls.
Now that they’ve added Sennecke, the Ducks have another top-six forward with size as the 6-foot-2 Sennecke would be someone who gives the Ducks another option in their attack. — Clark
Team: Medicine Hat (WHL) | Rank: 4
DOB: 02/03/06 | Ht: 6-3.25 | Wt: 210 | Shot: L
2023-24 stats: GP: 32 | G: 27 | A: 19 | P: 46
Scouting notes: Lindstrom combines speed, size and skill, making him a dominant force at the junior level. He effectively uses his frame to protect the puck, win battles and play through contact in challenging areas of the ice. His physical package and skating ability make him a formidable opponent on the rush and in puck battles. If he continues to develop his ability to play through contact, he has the tools to be an excellent power forward at the NHL level. His speed in transition keeps defensemen on their heels and he changes gears to create space.
Without the puck, he reads off his linemates well and finds open pockets of space. As a versatile offensive player, he knows when to use his physicality to create scoring chances or hold the puck to set up plays in the offensive zone. Although his injury history is a concern, projections indicate that Lindstrom could become a second-line center with the potential to score 70 points over a long period. He may take longer to develop, but a player with his toolbox is intriguing to many teams. — Doerrie
Team fit: This is the first Blue Jackets draft since 2012 that didn’t have Jarmo Kekalainen running the table. He was dismissed as general manager earlier this season, creating an opening for one of the NHL’s most interesting jobs. Columbus is a place where the bar for success is low and the talent in the prospect pool is high.
It just got higher. New GM Don Waddell, who took over the Blue Jackets after leaving the Carolina Hurricanes, had a number of options after the Ducks shocked the draft by taking Beckett Sennecke third overall. They fought some temptation and added Lindstrom. The Medicine Hat center joins center Adam Fantilli, the third overall pick in 2023 who had 27 points in 49 games this season; Kent Johnson, another Michigan alum, who is entering his fourth NHL season; and the big body and booming shot of defenseman David Jiricek as the next generation of the Blue Jackets. With Cole Sillinger also up the middle, the days of the Blue Jackets being the NHL’s donut — nothing in the middle — appear over. — Wyshynski
Team: SKA St. Petersburg Jr. (RUSSIA-JR.) | Rank: 2
DOB: 12/10/05 | Ht: 5-11 | Wt: 181 | Shot: L
2023-24 stats: GP: 30 | G: 23 | A: 37 | P: 60
Scouting notes: Offensively, he’s the complete package and is projected to be a top-six difference-maker in the NHL. His dynamic ability to create offense combines an outstanding release, elite vision and elite puckhandling skills, perhaps the best in this draft class. He’s bigger and more physically mature than originally thought, which drew attention at the Florida showcase. Capable of driving play offensively, Demidov consistently took over games in the playoffs, earning the MVP award.
He ranks in the top 5% for shooting and passing metrics and is a transition threat. He drives the middle from the outside and consistently gets himself to the dangerous scoring areas. As a versatile offensive player, Demidov has the potential to be a 40-goal, 40-assist producer and is the only player with a ceiling close to Celebrini’s. — Doerrie
Team fit: Prior to the draft, it appeared that getting a forward was going to be the move for the Canadiens. And they fulfilled that in taking Demidov. They were in a position to take a forward last year but passed on Matvei Michkov before taking defenseman David Reinbacher. With Reinbacher being the pick last season, he added to a defensive setup that already included Kaiden Guhle, Logan Mailloux and Jayden Struble.
Concentrating on defensemen the last few years created that opening to take a forward for the second time in three years, having selected Juraj Slafkovsky with the No. 1 pick in 2022. Now the Canadiens have another top-six forward in Demidov who at some point will make the trek to North America. And when he does, he’ll join Slafkovsky and Cole Caufield as another homegrown player that’s looking to take the Habs back to prominence in the Eastern Conference. — Clark
Upcoming picks
6. Utah Hockey Club
7. Ottawa Senators
8. Seattle Kraken
9. Calgary Flames
10. New Jersey Devils
11. San Jose Sharks*
12. Philadelphia Flyers
13. Minnesota Wild
14. Buffalo Sabres*
15. Detroit Red Wings
16. St. Louis Blues
17. Washington Capitals
18. Chicago Blackhawks*
19. Vegas Golden Knights
20. New York Islanders*
21. Los Angeles Kings
22. Nashville Predators
23. Toronto Maple Leafs
24. Colorado Avalanche
25. Boston Bruins
26. Montreal Canadiens*
27. Carolina Hurricanes
28. Calgary Flames*
29. Dallas Stars
30. New York Rangers
31. Anaheim Ducks*
32. Philadelphia Flyers*
* Traded picks:
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The Sharks’ selection at No. 11 is the result of the June 27, 2024 trade that sent this pick to San Jose in exchange for picks No. 14 and 42 in the 2024 draft.
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The Sabres’ selection at No. 14 is the result of the June 27, 2024 trade noted above; the pick was previously acquired by San Jose via the Aug. 6, 2023 trade that sent Erik Karlsson to the Pittsburgh Penguins.
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The Blackhawks’ selection at No. 18 is the result of a trade involving this pick, the No. 20 pick and other picks with the Islanders.
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The Islanders’ selection at No. 20 is the result of the above trade; the Blackhawks originally acquired the pick via a March 18, 2022 trade that sent Brandon Hagel to the Tampa Bay Lightning.
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The Canadiens’ pick at No. 21 is the result of the June 28, 2024 trade that sent this trade to Montreal in exchange for picks No. 26, 57 and 198.
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The Kings’ pick at No. 26 is the result of the June 28, 2024 trade above. The Canadiens originally secured it via the Feb. 2, 2024 trade that sent Sean Monahan to the Winnipeg Jets.
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The Flames’ selection at No. 28 is the result of the Jan. 31, 2024 trade that sent Elias Lindholm to the Vancouver Canucks.
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The Ducks’ selection at No. 31 is the result of the trade on March 6, 2024 that sent Sam Carrick, Ty Taylor and a 2024 seventh-round pick to the Oilers.
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The Flyers’ selection at No. 32 is a result of the trade on March 19, 2022 that sent Claude Giroux, German Rubtsov, Connor Bunnaman to the Panthers, and Owen Tippett to the Flyers.
Pedestrians pass the Nasdaq MarketSite in New York, US, on Tuesday, Jan. 2, 2024.
Michael Nagle | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Silicon Valley is known for producing tech businesses that start in garages and turn into massive publicly traded companies ubiquitously known across the globe. From Oracle and Microsoft to Google and Facebook, the public markets are responsible for turning ambitious tech founders into billionaires.
But the appeal of the IPO is waning, according to a survey published this week from startup accelerator Techstars. Of the 1,550 entrepreneurs surveyed by Techstars, only 15% said their long-term goal is an IPO. That’s down from 16% a year earlier.
Following an extended bull market in high-growth software and internet stocks, the tech IPO market collapsed in 2022 due to soaring inflation and rising interest rates, which pushed investors out of risk, slashed valuations and led many later-stage companies to delay their plans to go public.
The prior year was a record period for new offerings, with companies including Roblox, Robinhood, Rivian and UiPath hitting the market. There have been scant few notable tech IPOs in the past two and a half years.
“In combination with the lack of confidence that IPOs will bounce back in short order, this year’s data further underlines the trend that startups are staying private for longer, and IPOs are out of favor with the vast majority of early-stage entrepreneurs,” Techstars said in its report.
For 34% of entrepreneurs surveyed, the preference is to get acquired by a publicly traded company, down from 36% last year, while 30% indicated their goal is to remain private or independent, up from 28% in the prior report.
The trading floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) prepares for the social media platform Reddit’s initial public offering (IPO) on March 21, 2024 in New York City.
Spencer Platt | Getty Images
Investment banks have been gearing up for a rebound.
Colin Stewart, the Global Head of Technology Equity Capital Markets at Morgan Stanley, told CNBC in April that “the IPO market’s back,” predicting that 10 to 15 tech companies might go public by the end of the year. Stewart cited high priced and well traded IPOs as “bod[ing] well for the future.”
Stewart’s comments came after Reddit went public in March, becoming the first major social media company to hold an IPO since Pinterest in 2019. Astera Labs, which sells data center connectivity chips to cloud and artificial intelligence infrastructure companies, went public the same week, followed by data-management company Rubrik in April.
Prior to that, there was a brief jump in activity in September, when chip designer Arm, grocery delivery company Instacart and cloud software vendor Klaviyo debuted.
However, in comparison to the pre-2022 stretch, it’s been mostly quiet for new tech companies on Wall Street. Uncertainty surrounding the presidential election in November is pointing to a dearth of deals for the remainder of the year.
“We have the upcoming election, which is not helping the market in H2,” Athena Theodorou, head of software banking in the Europe region at UBS, told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” on Wednesday. “We do expect the market to remain muted in H2,” Theodorou said, though she said that in Europe the IPO market has started to show signs of life.
Technology
Amazon beefs up AI development, hiring execs from startup Adept and licensing its technology
The front desk of the Amazon office is pictured in New York, May 1, 2019.
Carlo Allegri | Reuters
Amazon is ramping up its development of artificial intelligence technology, hiring top talent from AI agent startup Adept and licensing the company’s technology.
Rohit Prasad, a senior vice president and head scientist who oversees Amazon’s artificial general intelligence unit, wrote in a memo to employees on Friday that the company hired Adept co-founder and CEO David Luan and “a few other deeply talented team members to our AGI team.”
Luan will oversee Amazon’s “AGI Autonomy” division, and report to Prasad, he wrote in the memo, which CNBC obtained. Amazon confirmed the contents of the memo. Geekwire was first to report on it.
Amazon faces fierce competition in AI, as rivals Microsoft and Google rapidly add new features into their core products while also giving businesses more ways to access large language models in their public cloud offerings. Amazon’s cloud unit has launched a range of AI services, including its own models, which are generally viewed as lagging behind the top competitors.
Amazon has also pumped billions of dollars into OpenAI competitor Anthropic, and it’s planning to overhaul its Alexa voice assistant with a new paid version that has generative AI capabilities. Prasad, who previously served as a head scientist for Alexa, was tapped in August to steer Amazon’s development of AGI, or software that’s significantly more advanced than current AI and starts to approach human-level capabilities.
Last month, Amazon announced Adam Selipsky, the head of Amazon Web Services, would be stepping down and succeeded by Matt Garman, the head of sales at marketing at AWS.
Talent wars are heating up across the industry.
Microsoft in March hired Mustafa Suleyman, a cofounder of Google’s DeepMind who went on to lead startup Inflection AI. Microsoft also brought on several of Inflection’s top executives and is licensing some of its technology. The arrangement caught the attention of the Federal Trade Commission, which is probing whether Microsoft structured the deal to avoid antitrust review, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Adept was founded in 2022 by a group of former OpenAI and Google engineers. The company quickly attracted the backing of Microsoft and Nvidia and was valued at more than $1 billion in early 2023.
Adept is a player in the burgeoning space of AI agents, which refers to AI tools that are equipped to complete complex tasks without human assistance. The startup was reportedly developing an agent that can perform actions on a computer on the user’s behalf, like navigating webpages and logging data.
As part of Friday’s agreement, Amazon will license Adept’s technology, multimodal models and some datasets, which “will accelerate our roadmap for building digital agents that can automate software workflows,” Prasad wrote. Amazon is using the technology under a non-exclusive license, the company said.
“David and his team’s expertise in training state-of-the-art multimodal foundational models and building real-world digital agents aligns with our vision to delight consumer and enterprise customers with practical AI solutions,” Prasad said.
Adept confirmed the move in a blog post. The company noted that developing its own AI models would’ve required more capital, and said the Amazon deal will allow it to focus on building agents. Adept will continue to operate as a standalone company after Luan and other execs join Amazon.
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