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2024 NHL Draft Reaction - Winners: Calgary Flames & Minnesota Wild - Losers: Toronto Maple Leafs
Jul 4, 2024
In this episode of The Hockey Writers Roundtable, Matthew Zator, Jacob Billington and Dayton Reimer get together to give out their winners and losers of the 2024 NHL Draft.
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0:00
All right, winner, I'm going to go with the Calgary flames. They took several of the guys
0:04
I was watching. Luke Mesa somehow fell to 150th that the flame scooped him up. Henry
0:11
Muse they picked up at 74th and Andrew basher at 41st. I think those are all really, really
0:16
good players. I think they all could have been first round picks at one point. They
0:20
weren't and the flames took them. I think that was fantastic on their part. They also
0:25
got a lot of really good guys in like, but Taglia, Jacob Taglia, I think, Hunter Lang
0:31
Eric Jameson, and Matt, they agreed and you know, could be a hit or a miss. But Zane Perek
0:39
with their first pick. Yeah, really, really solid. I'm really, really impressed with what
0:43
the flames did. Loser, I'm gonna go with the Toronto Maple Leafs because they didn't pick
0:47
anybody. Maybe that's a little harsh on Ben Danford, who is easily the best guy that they
0:54
tip. But he's a defensive defenseman. He had half a point a game. He is what he is
1:01
I think everyone else they selected is a shot in the dark. And I wouldn't be surprised if
1:05
none of them panned out. Yeah, it's, I think just kind of a waste of a draft for the Leafs
1:10
this year. Jacob, what about you a winner and a loser? I do just want to go back to
1:16
the Zetterberg comments that you said you're surprised nobody took him in the seventh round
1:20
Remember the last Zetterberg that got taken in the seventh round? Yeah. But my winner
1:28
is easily without question the Minnesota Wild. They got probably the best value per pick
1:36
with Zee William, Ryder Ritchie, and Aaron Kivihiryu. Those three picks alone, like if
1:42
they didn't make any other picks in this draft, I still think that they're the winners. That's
1:47
adds so much depth to their already strong depth charts. And especially on defense, you're
1:52
gonna have Brock Faber, Zee William, and Aaron Kivihiryu in a couple years. I don't think
1:58
that that's very fair for the rest of the league, if I'm gonna be honest. Ryder ended
2:03
up going to Minnesota. What'd you say? Ryder Ritchie, he also went to Minnesota. Did I
2:08
not say him? Yeah, he said Ryder Ritchie. Yeah. Okay. Oh my goodness. Yeah. You had
2:14
me questioning myself. Loser of the draft for me was also Toronto just because they
2:22
did not do much. And it's as simple as that. If I had to pick another, off the top of my
2:30
head, I might say Ottawa. And not just because Gabriel Eliasson was a interesting pick. I'm
2:38
not gonna hate on it yet. I'm gonna do some more digging into him personally. They just
2:43
went with big and a lot of risky picks. But their smallest player is 6'2", and their lightest
2:52
player was 181 pounds. You can't teach size. And not a lot of big skill guys, just a lot
3:00
of really risky picks. I don't hate their draft, but I just think that they didn't go
3:04
with very many safe picks in a time that they needed to go with a lot of safe picks
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