Michigan State Hockey: Artyom Levshunov No. 2 in NHL Central Scouting’s final rankings

Michigan State hockey star Artyom Levshunov has been ranked No. 2 in NHL Central Scouting’s final rankings.

With the Michigan State hockey season coming to a close and the NHL regular season ending soon, fans shift their attention to the offseason. The NHL draft prep has begun.

After Tuesday, the draft lottery teams will be finalized and teams can really start eyeing draft strategy. The media has also started their draft prep with several major outlets releasing mock drafts this week. Along with the mocks, the NHL also released its list of top draft eligible prospect as well.

That list came out on Monday and, as reported by the Athletic’s Corey Pronman, a familiar name was included at the top of those rankings.

NHL Central Scouting Final Rankings for the 2024 NHL Draft

NA
1. Celebrini
2. Levshunov
3. Lindstrom
4. Buium
5. Parekh
6. Connelly
7. Dickinson
8. Catton

INT
1. Silayev
2. Demidov
3. Helenius
4. Jiricek

— Corey Pronman (@coreypronman) April 16, 2024

Leading the list of North American skaters is no surprise. Boston University’s Macklin Celebrini has been the top prospect listed in this class for years. He will most likely be the No. 1 overall pick in the draft this summer.

Who is the No. 2 draft prospect, you ask? Well, look no further than Munn Ice Arena for Artyom Levshunov. That’s right, Arty’s spectacular season in the green and white has solidified him as one of the best players coming out of all of North America. Central Scouting lists him as the highest ranked defenseman.

What does this mean for Arty?

Well, he most likely still remains a top-10 lock. The issue with being a defensive prospect is team fit is going to play into where he will be drafted. Depending on how the lottery shakes out on May 8, we will have a better idea. The top four teams with the highest odds to get the No. 1 pick are San Jose, Chicago, Anaheim, and Columbus. All four of these teams have multiple needs and a young defenseman could fit well at any of those spots, in my opinion.

Other teams potentially eyeing a defenseman this year could be the soon to be the Utah Coyotes, Montreal, and Calgary.

The top pick would still take Celebrini so that would leave Levshunov with a good chance at being a top 4-5 pick. The case against him being in that range would be that he’s a right-handed shot. Teams may prefer a left-handed shooting defenseman based on needs. Regardless, it’s tough to really speculate without knowing the exact order.

Bleacher Report released its updated NHL mock draft on Tuesday as well. They have Arty being taken No. 3 by the Anaheim Ducks.

This makes a lot of sense to me, it just depends on where the Ducks’ pick falls. They traded away their prized defensive prospect in Jamie Drysdale this year in a deal that landed them Cutter Gauthier from Philadelphia. This leaves a bit of a hole on the defensive side of their rebuild. Arty would fit that nicely.

More will unfold in the coming weeks as the NHL season’s end nears.

As previously stated, the draft order will become partly finalized at the lottery drawing May 8. The NHL draft takes place on June 28-29 this year at The Sphere in Las Vegas. It will be great to see what this summer has in store for the Michigan State hockey star. Whatever it is, it’s shaping up to be a big deal.