2024 NHL Draft Blog: Surprises, steals and best available in Round 2

Macklin Celebrini joins Jeff Marek to share his thoughts on Joe Thornton making the first overall selection, reminiscing about playing with the Junior Sharks, who helped him most through youth hockey development, and where he will play next year.

The first round of the 2024 NHL Draft is complete and while there was no surprise at the very top of the order, there were plenty of twists and turns after Macklin Celebrini’s name was called by the San Jose Sharks.

Alas, we didn’t get the kind of trade flurry we were expecting — but hope remains that those fireworks could kick off on Day 2, where blockbusters have happened before.

As we close off the blog for another year, we finished by looking at some of the biggest surprises from the first-round picks, the possible steals who fell further than expected, and who are the first-round calibre prospects not selected that will be there for the taking in Round 2.

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