Young NCAA standouts could make history at 2024 NHL Draft | NHL.com

The 2024 NHL Scouting Combine is taking place this week at KeyBank Center and LECOM HarborCenter in Buffalo. The combine will allow NHL teams an opportunity to conduct interviews and provide physical and medical assessments of the top prospects eligible for the 2024 Upper Deck NHL Draft. NHL.com will bring you all the sights and sounds.

BUFFALO — There’s an outside chance the three youngest players in NCAA Division I men’s hockey this season will become the first collegiate trio to be chosen among the top four picks in an NHL Draft.

Eyes will be on Sphere in Las Vegas, site of the 2024 Upper Deck NHL Draft on June 28-29. The first round is on June 28 (7 p.m. ET; ESPN, ESPN+, SN, TVAS), and Rounds 2-7 are on June 29 (11:30 ET; ESPN+, NHLN, SN, SN1).

Macklin Celebrini of Boston University in Hockey East, Arytom Levshunov of Michigan State University in the Big Ten and Zeev Buium of the University of Denver in the National Collegiate Hockey Conference are attending the NHL Scouting Combine this week and were on full display during media availability here Friday.

“I loved my year in college,” Celebrini said. “It was amazing and I had a lot of fun. [Levshunov and Buium] are pretty special players as well, so it was fun to watch them all year and watch them have the success that they’ve had.”

The three collegians were joined by forward Cayden Lindstrom of Medicine Hat in the Western Hockey League and defenseman Zayne Parekh with Memorial Cup champion Saginaw of the Ontario Hockey League.

Celebrini (6-foot, 190 pounds), No. 1 in NHL Central Scouting’s final ranking of North American skaters, was the youngest player in NCAA Division I men’s hockey this season at 17 years old and the youngest ever to win the Hobey Baker Award, presented annually to the top NCAA men’s hockey player. He was second among NCAA players with 32 goals and third with 64 points in 38 games for the Terriers.

“Levshunov’s a pretty special player, smooth skater and a wizard with the puck,” Celebrini said. “It was a lot of fun to play against him and see the things he’s done at the college level. I saw Zeev at the end of the year and saw him at the 2024 World Junior Championship. I was blown away when I saw him at the Frozen Four (NCAA semifinal round). I felt like he was the best player on the ice, so it’s been really cool to see that … but don’t let him know I said that.”