2024 NHL Draft Prospect Deep Dive: Artyom Levshunov

As the 2024 Draft gets closer, the debate as to who the best defenseman is getting heated. Is it still Artyom Levshunov?

The 2024 NHL Draft is a bit of an anomaly among recent drafts in that the interesting part will happen after first overall. We all know Macklin Celebrini will be selected by the lottery winner. That’s a given. But as for who goes second, that debate is wide open, and there's a very good chance it might be a defenceman.

However, which defenceman opens a whole other can of worms. The 2024 Draft class is filled with high-end right-shot defencemen, which have become one of the most sought-after positions in the modern NHL.

Recent history says you can’t win without a top pairing featuring both a right and a left-handed defender, and preferably, they should be quick and can play effectively at both ends of the ice. That puts the spotlight directly on Artyom Levshunov, a freshman at the Michigan State

The 6-foot-2 Belorussian kicked off his college career with 35 points in 38 games, the eighth-highest point total among defencemen in the NCAA, and was one of just three 2024-draft-eligible players to earn a Hobey Baker nomination at the end of the season.

Most draft rankings place Levshunov within the top five picks, and in my recent rankings, I had him third behind Celebrini and Ivan Demidov, but he’s far from a unanimous choice for the top defender.