Cayden Lindstrom: Corey Pronman’s fifth-best forward of the draft

The Canadiens want a forward with their first pick. And if all goes well, it will.

In an ideal world, Ivan Demidov and/or Cayden Lindstrom would slide into the Habs’ lineup. Kent Hughes could end up with one of the top three forwards in the draft.

That’s the plan many fans want, anyway.

But in reality, as Mathias Brunet points out in today’s column, the 2024 draft is particularly difficult to predict right now.

Craig Button recently unveiled a list that got people talking, but he’s not the only one.

The 2024 NHL Draft is loaded with a number of quality defensemen, but TSN Director of Scouting Craig Button sees forwards making a late push toward the top.

Craig’s full list can be found on https://t.co/XalW2j5jjs pic.twitter.com/MMg4vyPmWi

– TSN (@TSN_Sports) May 22, 2024

Another book that will undoubtedly attract attention? The Athletic’s prospect expert Corey Pronman has put together a list (not a mock draft) of the top 129 prospects.

And what’s interesting is that not only are the guys ranked from best to 129th, but there are categories too.

New post @TheAthleticNHL: Ranking my top 129 prospects for the 2024 NHL Draft with writeups https://t.co/Lq3OAmHipp

– Corey Pronman (@coreypronman) May 28, 2024

Macklin Celebrini, for example, is at number one (to no one’s surprise), but he’s mostly alone in his category, which is called NHL Elite Player. It’s all to do with his potential.

Here are the other categories:

Close to an elite player, but an all-star : Artyom Levshunov (2)
All-star: Carter Yakemchuk (3), Anton Silayev (4) and Zeev Buium (5) #DefendersDraft
Close to being an all-star, but a top-line player: Berkly Catton (6), Beckett Sennecke (7) and Ivan Demidov (8)
Top player: Zayne Parekh (9), Cayden Lindstrom (10) and Sam Dickinson (11)

Behind Celebrini, there are two forwards before falling to Ivan Demidov and Cayden Lindstrom: Berkly Catton and Beckett Sennecke. Lindstrom is even lower down the pecking order.

Still, I’m surprised to see Catton and Sennecke in the top-7… and Demidov behind them.

Does this mean that Lindstrom will finish 10th? Not necessarily, no. After all, the lists are so different from one analyst to another that we know it’ll be the same for the teams. All it takes is one club that likes Lindstrom (like the Habs) to change the order of the list.

Finally, this ranking makes me say even more that if Levshunov were to become available… it would be hard for the Habs to pass him up. I know the club wants a striker, but…

In gossip

– Hello, Alex.

Habs legend Alex Kovalev was in Montreal this past weekend for an autograph signing. pic.twitter.com/YW47qXZsMu

– /r/Habs (@HabsOnReddit) May 28, 2024

– The club needs reinforcements.

And that’s despite spending $1.4 billion this winter. https://t.co/JXwEWc5lmR

– Passion MLB (@passion_mlb) May 28, 2024

– It’s done.

Embarking on a new journey.

The #SeaKraken have named Dan Bylsma as the second Head Coach in franchise history → https://t.co/UYnakJYi7c pic.twitter.com/Q5EguPPreg

– Seattle Kraken (@SeattleKraken) May 28, 2024

– One to watch.

Panthers lineup this morning. Nick Cousins and Ryan Lomberg are not expected to play.

Verhaeghe-Barkov-Reinhart
Tkachuk-Bennett-Rogrigues
Lustarinen-Lundell-Tarasenko
Lorentz-Stenlund-Okposo

Forsling-Ekblad
Mikkola-Montour
Ekman-Larsson-Kulikov

Bobrosvky

– J-F Chaumont (@JFChaumontLNH) May 28, 2024

– Will Smith officially under contract.

Hearing the #SJSharks & 2023 4th-overall pick Will Smith are finalizing his three-year, entry-level contract and an announcement could come today.

– David Pagnotta (@TheFourthPeriod) May 28, 2024

– Who will be the coach in San Jose?

Sounds like Sturm and current #SJSharks Asst Coach Ryan Warsofsky are among the finalists for the gig.

Also heard Sharks asst coach Brian Wiseman has been on the radars of several teams looking to beef up their staff. https://t.co/r2zhdlgXi5

– David Pagnotta (@TheFourthPeriod) May 28, 2024

– He was Darnell Nurse’s agent when he signed his big contract.