It's been a rollercoaster of a year for all the players chosen in the first round in Nashville. With that in mind, we're not re-grading this draft just yet. We are, however, taking a look in on where they're at after the 23-24 season, and how we feel about where they're headed during the 24-25 season.
Here's a look at those 32 players per their order in that round. Feel free to let us know your thoughts on the year they've all had. Except Connor Bedard—we all know how good that kid is.
First overall pick. Calder Trophy winner. Obviously Connor Bedard is doing pretty great.
Can we skip to the next guy? On a more serious note: Bedard's rookie season obviously wasn't ideal. He missed fourteen games with a broken jaw—though he was back skating alone a week after his surgery—but despite the challenges of injury and being on an admittedly horrible team, he still went out every night and made it clear why he was picked first overall. He finished the season with 61 points (22G/39A) in 68 games, and when the regular season ended he represented Canada at the World Championships in Czechia.
Next up on his to-do list: play a full 82-game season and maybe have a better team around him? (The former seems more likely than the latter.) Much like the guy selected before him, Leo Carlsson spent the season on a rough team, but didn't play the full 82 games. Unlike Bedard, for Carlsson it was on purpose.
Ducks general manager Pat Verbeek noted from the start that the team was going to mana.
