Welcome to the 2024 Sound Of Hockey Big Board (mid-season edition). Later in this post, we’ll also get into a mid-season update on the 2024 NHL Draft “data-only” top prospects ranking, which we published initially in the preseason.

What is the Big Board? It’s a composite ranking of 2024 NHL Draft-eligible prospects based on reputable draft analyst and public scouting service lists. Put differently, it’s a list designed to provide the current, mid-season “public consensus” on the top players in the draft.

To build the Big Board we used mid-season ranking lists from Central Scouting, Bob McKenzie (TSN), Corey Pronman (The Athletic), Scott Wheeler (The Athletic), Steven Ellis (Daily Faceoff), Elite Prospects, and Scouching.  Good-Friend-of-the-Pod Chris Peters’ mid-season list came out after I compiled the rankings. This version of the Big Board is skaters only. If you’re interested in how we do this, we explained it all here.

We published the Sound Of Hockey Big Board in advance of the 2022 Draft and the 2023 Draft. This is the first time we’re also doing an earlier mid-season check-in. To be clear, though, the intention is to return before the draft with the full, final version based on final draft lists, just as we have done in the past.

In the interim, we wanted to use this mid-season list to kick off expanded draft coverage here at Sound Of Hockey. In some form or another, we expect to be able to deliver data and scouting videos on the vast majority of the top prospects in the 2024 NHL Draft. Keep tabs with Sound Of Hockey for further updates on that. 

The 2024 Sound Of Hockey Big Board (mid-season edition)

You can find the 2024 Sound Of Hockey Big Board (mid-season version) in Google Sheets HERE. 

Important note on using the Sound Of Hockey Big Board: If you want to filter the data by various categories, highlight row 2, then select “Data,” “Filter Views,” and “Create New Temporary Filter View.” This will allow you to manipulate the data in a way visible only to you.

Here is a snapshot of top-64 prospects in the 2023 NHL Entry Draft, sorted by the overall composite rank:

Rank	Name	Team	League	Birthdate	Height	Weight	Pos	Shot	Re-Draft?
1	Macklin Celebrini	Boston Univ.	NCAA	6/13/2006	72	190	C	L
2	Artyom Levshunov	Michigan State Univ.	NCAA	10/28/2005	74	208	D	R
3	Ivan Demidov	SKA-1946 St. Petersburg	MHL	12/10/2005	71	181	RW	L
4	Anton Silayev	Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod	KHL	4/11/2006	79	211	D	L
5	Cayden Lindstrom	Medicine Hat Tigers	WHL	2/3/2006	75.25	210	C	L
6	Cole Eiserman	U.S. National U18 Team	NTDP	8/29/2006	71.75	197	LW	L
7	Sam Dickinson	London Knights	OHL	6/7/2006	74.75	204	D	L
8	Berkly Catton	Spokane Chiefs	WHL	1/14/2006	70.75	170	C	L
9	Konsta Helenius	Jukurit	Liiga	5/11/2006	70.75	180	C	R
10	Zayne Parekh	Saginaw Spirit	OHL	2/15/2006	72	178	D	R
11	Zeev Buium	Univ. of Denver	NCAA	12/7/2005	72	183	D	L
12	Trevor Connelly	Tri-City Storm	USHL	2/28/2006	72.75	156	LW	L
13	Carter Yakemchuk	Calgary Hitmen	WHL	9/29/2005	74.75	190	D	R
14	Michael Brandsegg-Nygard	Mora IK	Hockey Allsvenskan	10/5/2005	73	198	RW	R
15	Adam Jiricek	HC Plzeň	Czechia	6/28/2006	74.5	178	D	R
16	Tij Iginla	Kelowna Rockets	WHL	8/4/2006	71.75	186	C	L
17	Liam Greentree	Windsor Spitfires	OHL	1/1/2006	74.5	211	RW	L
18	Igor Chernyshov	Dynamo Moskva	KHL	11/30/2005	74	192	LW	R
19	Beckett Sennecke	Oshawa Generals	OHL	1/28/2006	74.25	175	RW	R
20	Nikita Artamonov	Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod	KHL	11/17/2005	71	187	LW	L
21	Ryder Ritchie	Prince Albert Raiders	WHL	8/3/2006	71.75	175	RW	R
22	Sacha Boisvert	Muskegon Lumberjacks	USHL	3/17/2006	74	178	C	L
23	Emil Hemming	TPS	Liiga	6/27/2006	72.75	201	RW	R
24	Aron Kiviharju	HIFK	Liiga	1/25/2006	69.25	170	D	L
25	Andrew Basha	Medicine Hat Tigers	WHL	11/8/2005	71.25	184	LW	L
26	Michael Hage	Chicago Steel	USHL	4/14/2006	72.5	190	C	R
27	Charlie Elick	Brandon Wheat Kings	WHL	1/17/2006	75.25	200	D	R
28	Tanner Howe	Regina Pats	WHL	11/28/2005	69.75	182	LW	L
29	Cole Beaudoin	Barrie Colts	OHL	4/24/2006	73.75	209	C	L
30	Cole Hutson	U.S. National U18 Team	NTDP	6/28/2006	70.25	165	D	L
31	Dean Letourneau			2/21/2006	78	210	C	R
32	Alfons Freij	Växjö Lakers HC J20	J-20 Nationell	2/12/2006	72.5	187	D	L
33	Matvei Shuravin	Krasnaya Armiya Moskva	MHL	3/22/2006	75	195	D	L
34	EJ Emery	U.S. National U18 Team	NTDP	3/30/2006	75	185	D	R
35	Adam Jecho	Edmonton Oil Kings	WHL	3/24/2006	76.75	201	C	R
36	Leo Sahlin Wallenius	Växjö Lakers HC J20	J-20 Nationell	4/10/2006	71.5	176	D	L
37	Terik Parascak	Prince George Cougars	WHL	5/28/2006	71.5	176	RW	R
38	Dominik Badinka	Malmö Redhawks	SHL	11/27/2005	75	183	D	R
39	Luke Misa	Mississauga Steelheads	OHL	11/25/2005	70	175	C	L
40	Miguel Marques	Lethbridge Hurricanes	WHL	3/8/2006	70.5	173	RW	R
41	Henry Mews	Ottawa 67’s	OHL	3/9/2006	72	183	D	R
42	Maxim Masse	Chicoutimi Saguenéens	QMJHL	4/7/2006	73.75	192	RW	R
43	Matvei Gridin	Muskegon Lumberjacks	USHL	3/1/2006	73	185	RW	L
44	Jett Luchanko	Guelph Storm	OHL	8/21/2006	70.75	185	C	R
45	Leon Muggli	EV Zug	NL	7/9/2006	71.75	165	D	L
46	Tomas Galvas	Bílí Tygři Liberec	Czechia	2/11/2006	70.5	148	D	L
47	Jesse Pulkkinen	JYP U20	U20 SM-sarja	12/27/2004	78	203	D	L	Y
48	Veeti Vaisanen	KooKoo	Liiga	2/15/2006	72	177	D	L
49	Yegor Surin	Loko Yaroslavl	MHL	8/1/2006	73	191	C	L
50	Ben Danford	Oshawa Generals	OHL	2/6/2006	73	194	D	R
51	Stian Solberg	Vålerenga	Norway	12/29/2005	74	196	D	L
52	Will Skahan	U.S. National U18 Team	NTDP	5/14/2006	76	211	D	L
53	John Mustard	Waterloo Black Hawks	USHL	8/16/2006	72.5	184	C	L
54	Lucas Pettersson	MoDo Hockey J20	J-20 Nationell	4/17/2006	71	168	C	L
55	Simon Zether	Rögle BK	SHL	10/18/2005	75	186	C	R
56	Marek Vanacker	Brantford Bulldogs	OHL	4/12/2006	72.5	175	LW	L
57	Kamil Bednarik	U.S. National U18 Team	NTDP	5/26/2006	72	186	C	L
58	Raoul Boilard	Baie-Comeau Drakkar	QMJHL	1/7/2006	73.25	184	C	L
59	Teddy Stiga	U.S. National U18 Team	NTDP	4/5/2006	69.5	177	C	L
60	Sam O’Reilly	London Knights	OHL	3/30/2006	73	186	RW	R
61	Ondrej Kos	KOOVEE	Mestis	3/7/2006	74	167	LW	L
62	Julius Miettinen	Everett Silvertips	WHL	1/20/2006	74.75	205	C	L
63	Spencer Gill	Rimouski Océanic	QMJHL	8/17/2006	75.75	185	D	R
64	Christian Humphreys	U.S. National U18 Team	NTDP	2/4/2006	70.75	170	C	R

Mid-season 2024 NHL Draft “data-only” top prospects ranking

As mentioned at the top of this article, we also updated our preseason “data-only” ranking of top NHL prospects. This is a fundamentally different project than the Big Board. It is not built on the scouting lists of others. Instead it is a list compiled solely from player data (specifically, scoring production, league, age, size, and position). 

As we have explained in earlier posts, we have built this ranking using an NHL equivalency (or “NHLe”) calculation applied to the player’s 2023-24 season scoring points. We then make modest adjustments based on factors known to be linked to prospect success rates, including (1) re-draft status, (2) age, and (3) height. On average, a six-foot-two winger who scores at the same rate as a five-foot-seven winger in junior hockey is more likely to contribute at the NHL level. Likewise, a player who scores a point per game as an 18-year-old in his league is more likely to become an NHL regular than a player who reaches that threshold for the first time as a 21-year-old. Finally, we then made a modest adjustment to bump up the ranking of (1) defensemen relative to forwards and (2) a small handful of low-producing players playing in top professional leagues.

So, without further ado, you can find the mid-season 2024 NHL Draft “data-only” top prospects ranking in Google Sheets HERE.

Important note on using the data-only ranking: If you want to filter the data by various categories, highlight row 2, then select “Data,” “Filter Views,” and “Create New Temporary Filter View.” This will allow you to manipulate the data in a way visible only to you.

Curious how the 2024 Sound Of Hockey Big Board (mid-season edition) compares with a data-only list? We were too. Here are the top 40 first-time draft eligible players on the Big Board, listed in rank order with a comparison to their data-only rank order. 

For example, while Macklin Celebrini is No. 1 on both lists, Artyom Levshunov is No. 2 on the Big Board but No. 6 in the data-only ranking. Konsta Helenius, by contrast, is No. 9 on the Big Board but No. 4 in the data-only ranking. 

This is a way to see graphically which players are relatively higher ranked by scouts and which players are relatively favored by a data-only look. Whichever approach you prefer, it stands out that there is a good deal of consensus between the scouts and the data at the top.

We were also curious to look at which players have risen in the data-only rankings since the preseason rankings (which were based on 2022-23 season data). Here is a chart of the top 35 players in the mid-season data-only ranking, listed in rank order, with comparison to their preseason ranking.

Macklin Celebrini has been a steady No. 1 prospect based on the data alone. And none of the top 10 in the mid-season data ranking “came out of nowhere” from the preseason version. After that, though, you see a number of new players jumping into the mix with breakout 2023-24 seasons. It underscores what we said in the preseason post: The 18-year-old draft year tends to be a huge development year and reveals a lot about the pro potential of a prospect.

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As we said, keep it here for more draft coverage this spring. What would you like to see us cover? What questions do you have? Feel free to contact us in the comments here or on X (formerly known as Twitter).

Header photo of Berkly Catton by Larry Brunt, courtesy of the Spokane Chiefs.