Here are my scouting reports on my top 10 re-entry players for the 2024 NHL Draft. These are players who were passed over once or twice but warrant continued consideration from NHL clubs. Three of them made my final top-100 ranking for the draft and the other seven (plus an honorable mention) were each strongly considered. I believe each of these players now has a case to be picked.
1. Anthony Romani, RW, 6-foot (North Bay Battalion)
Romani was a summer birthday who passed through the draft last year after playing a third-line role for a deep North Bay team. He then led the OHL in goals (58, six more than Carson Rehkopf) and finished second in scoring with 111 points in 2023-24. He’s a good player who nearly cracked my last top 64 list. He’s got an NHL shot. He plays offense with good timing and sense for spacing off coverage. He goes to the home plate area but also showed a midrange game this year. He played with an excellent 20-year-old in Dalyn Wakely this past season (though his five-on-five production across the last two seasons does deserve a lot of respect) and he’s a winger with average size, skating and competitiveness. I and others have wondered if he’ll be more of an AHL scorer than an NHL player because that’s so often what players with his makeup become. There are some recent success stories, though, too (Tye Kartye obviously had a nice season in Seattle). That’s what Romani has to build toward (a secondary bottom-six scorer who can build out his game to fill a role) and I think he’s got a chance to do that.
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2. Jesse Pulkkinen, LHD, 6-foot-6 (JYP)
One of the top overagers in the draft, Pulkkinen really impressed scouts with the huge step forward he took this season. He went from four points at Finland’s junior level a year ago and a non-consideration for the draft to an absolute force against his peers who quickly progressed through the second-tier Mestis and into Liiga this season (he also made the national team for the first time at the world juniors). He’s a towering defenseman who handles the puck uniquely well, often taking and beating opposing players one-on-one. He moves well and plays in an active posture. He played the game with an undeniable confidence all year, looking to make things happen on both sides of the puck with his length and surprising skill. His game could use a little more control at times but he’s physical in man-to-man coverage, looking to take a piece of opposing players and snuff out plays early. There’s a lot to work with and I thought about slotting him in the second round, even though he landed in the third on my list.
3. Ilya Nabokov, G, 6-foot (Metallurg Magnitogorsk)
The oldest player on my top 100 and the last of three overagers on the list, Nabokov turned 21 in March, doesn’t have ideal size and is still my top-ranked goalie. He was an MHL All-Star a year ago and one of the best goalies in the KHL this season, winning its rookie of the year award and then KHL playoffs MVP after he backstopped Magnitogorsk to a Gagarin Cup title. He’s a mobile and extremely technically and positionally sound goalie who gets to pucks, recovers quickly, sticks with scrambles and tracks well through traffic but also stays controlled.
4. Ondrej Becher, C, 6-foot-1 (Prince George Cougars)
Becher is a play-driving forward who really impressed at this year’s world juniors and was a big part of one of the best lines in junior hockey this season with Zac Funk and Terik Parascak. He’s a well-rounded, consistently impactful forward who can go get pucks and make his linemates better. He can play off his linemates and get free for them. He has above-average skill as a handler, shooter, passer and skater. He can play center or the wing, can be trusted in all situations, and averaged 21 minutes a night as a forward in the WHL this year, creating looks for himself and his teammates consistently with his smarts, know-how, skill and timing. He always seems to find a way to do something positive and while I’m not sold on an NHL projection, he’s going to have a good pro career.
5. Joona Väisänen, RHD, 6-foot (Dubuque Fighting Saints)
Väisänen made the jump from Finland’s U20 level to the USHL this year and was one of the best defensemen in the league in his first year in North America, earning a job on the Finnish blue line at the world juniors and a nod on the USHL’s First All-Star Team. His game is driven by his on-ice intellect. He reads it at a high level (one which was at times even too advanced for his teammates this year) and makes the smart plays all over the ice, steering his ice time with his efficiency. Dubuque won his minutes handily and he’s the type of player who will be better with better players as he progresses. He moves pucks with good timing and anticipation. He defends well and breaks up a lot of plays. His tools aren’t dynamic and he’s average-sized, but I think there’s a path for him to become organizational depth for a team because of the way he understands the game.
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6. Pavel Moysevich, G, 6-foot-4 (SKA St. Petersburg)
After playing just 18 games to mixed results across four teams a year ago, Moysevich, a Belarusian netminder who will turn 20 in September, really took off with SKA at both the VHL and KHL levels this year. He’s got ideal size, he’s decently mobile, he reads and tracks pucks quite well, and his technique and habits are good. There are times when I’ve seen him frozen or a little slow into his butterfly/recoveries, but if this season was real — and it looked it — then he’s a solid prospect who should get picked.
7. Veit Oswald, RW, 6-foot-1 (EHC Munchen)
I wrote this about Oswald following the 2022 U18 worlds in Germany:
“Oswald was a nice story for the Germans. He’s EV Landshut’s top prospect, so getting to play at his home rink, with an “A” on his sweater, was a big deal for him. He led Germany’s top U20 junior level in scoring this season with 51 points in 31 games and while his odds at getting drafted remain long (it’s hard for Germans who don’t play pro and he’s not ranked by NHL Central Scouting), his puck skill and finesse caught my attention. He played playmaker off the flank really well, led the team in shots (13 in four games), had the puck on his stick a lot, and didn’t look out of place once he was moved onto Lutz’s line. He’s also a skinny kid and a late-August birthday, so there’s clearly a lot of runway for him to improve. At the very least, he’s on my radar now as someone I’ll pay attention to.”
At the time, I also had a staff member with EV Landshut message me to say that I was onto something and that he’s going to surprise some people. A little more than two years later, he has just wrapped up a season in which he registered 10 goals and 17 points in 38 DEL games (which led the league among U20 skaters) for Munich and was also impressive for the Germans at the world juniors, leading them in scoring with five points in four games and making a ton of plays in motion. And while he’s still a bit skinny, he has slowly added some muscle mass and it has allowed his game of touch and flow to really work against men. If he doesn’t get picked, I’d be trying to get him to a rookie tournament on an invite.
8. Owen Allard, C, 6-foot-2 (Soo Greyhounds)
Allard was the story of this year’s Team Canada at the world juniors, emerging from relative anonymity with a strong start in the Soo to win a job up front and then becoming a strong part of its fourth line (more so in the front half of the tournament than the back half, but an impressive accomplishment nonetheless). One of the better skaters in the class, Allard’s game is about the way he gets his physically mature frame around the ice. He works, has great speed and excels on the forecheck and the penalty kill. He cooled off in the second half to finish with 44 points in 55 games at 19 and 20 in the OHL, which doesn’t scream NHL prospect from a statistical standpoint, but he looks a lot like what teams want their fourth-liners to look because of his size, athleticism and skating. He knows his strengths and uses them to play a role. He consistently gets open to receive the first pass and carries a lot of pucks through neutral ice to build speed into a chip-and-chase game across the offensive zone blue line. He lacks skill and sense at the point of execution inside the offensive zone at times but there’s a pro mould and a projectable potential job for him. He makes sense as a late-round pick as a result.
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9. Dalyn Wakely, C, 6-foot (North Bay Battalion)
The OHL’s third-leading scorer this season (behind his linemate and fellow overager Romani, who finished second), Wakely now has a 100-point season, three 20-goal seasons and two 30-goal seasons despite losing his 16-year-old campaign to COVID-19 cancellations. When I watched North Bay the last two years, I often wondered if he was less a late bloomer and actually just a decent prospect who was among the many in Ontario impacted by the pandemic. He’s a good athlete and a strong kid. He’s got good skill. He’s got a motor. He can shoot it. He’s got great instincts and anticipation on and off the puck, which has made him a top penalty killer. He was a go-to guy in the faceoff circle and he was utterly dominant at even strength this year (among the league’s leading scorers, he did the largest percentage of his damage at five-on-five with 81 of his 104 points). He might end up as an AHL middle-sixer but I’d consider him in the draft’s later rounds/as a camp invite.
10. Samuel St. Hilaire, G, 6-foot-2 (Sherbrooke Phoenix)
One of the top goalies in the QMJHL this year and one of the more consistent goalies in the league dating back two seasons now, St. Hilaire didn’t make it in the Q until he was 18, made Canada’s world junior team at 19, and now looks like a fine-to-decent prospect at 20. He tracks the puck really well and demonstrates legitimate athleticism, making difficult stretch saves fairly consistently. Despite having clear quick-twitch/lateral agility and power, he’s also technically sound, stays compact in his movements and seems to have the composure you look for in a goalie.
HM: Tanner Adams, RW, 5-foot-11 (Providence College)
One of the youngest players in last year’s draft, Adams only turned 18 in September and had a strong freshman season for the Friars in that context, finishing second on the team in scoring with 21 points in 35 games. He’s an average-sized winger without a dynamic trait, which makes it tough, but he’s a smart, athletic kid who works hard, plays with good pace, wins pucks and makes his fair share of plays with his timing and good overall skill level.
(Top photo of Owen Allard at the world juniors: BJORN LARSSON ROSVALL / TT News Agency / AFP via Getty Images)
