The Anaheim Ducks retained the third overall selection for the 2024 NHL Draft as part of tonight’s 2024 NHL Draft Lottery held in Secaucus, N.J. This will mark the fifth time in franchise history Anaheim has owned a top-three pick in the NHL Draft. Anaheim’s all-time top-three picks include three No. 2 selections, including 2023 (Leo Carlsson), 2005 (Bobby Ryan) and 1994 (Oleg Tverdovsky) in addition to one No. 3 in 2021 (Mason McTavish).
The results of the NHL Draft Lottery were revealed live by ESPN this evening. The Ducks came out of a field of 16 clubs vying to win two lotteries. Anaheim currently owns nine picks in the 2024 NHL Draft, including two first-round selections (Anaheim acquired Edmonton’s 2024 first-round selection March 8) and seven picks in the first three rounds. The 2024 NHL Draft will be held in Las Vegas over two days. Round 1 will take place on Friday, June 28, followed by Rounds 2-7 on Saturday, June 29.
“While its disappointing to not win a lottery, we remain in a position to draft one of the best players available and add to our young, strong core of top young players already in the NHL,” said Ducks General Manager Pat Verbeek.
The top ranked prospects by NHL Central Scouting include center Macklin Celebrini (Boston College, NCAA), defenseman Artyom Levshunov (Michigan State, NCAA), center Cayden Lindstrom (Medicine Hat, WHL), defenseman Zeev Buium (Denver, NCAA), Zayne Parekh (Saginaw, OHL), defenseman Anton Silayev (Nizhny Novgorod, KHL), right wing Ivan Demidov (SKA St. Petersburgh, Russia), center Konsta Helenius (Jukurit, Finland), defenseman Adam Jiricek (Plzen, Czechia) and right wing Michael Brandsegg-Nygard (Mora, Sweden-2).
With the third overall selection and Edmonton’s first-round selection in 2024, Anaheim owns two picks in the first round for the fourth time the last six NHL Drafts, including 2022, 2020 and 2019. With their two selections in 2024, Anaheim owns 10 selections over the last six drafts since 2019, the most in the NHL. Anaheim has made 36 prior selections in the first round in franchise history, with 19 or 20 first-round choices from 2009 to 2023 making their NHL debut with the Ducks.
