NHL teams: Let Cole Eiserman fall in the 2024 Draft at your own risk

Credit: Cole Eiserman (Steven Ellis/Daily Faceoff)

LAS VEGAS – It’s typically pretty easy to picture a young hockey player’s bedroom, adorned with swag and memorabilia. That might include jerseys. Trophies. Framed photos. Posters. Pucks.

But how about, uh, the broken stick of your rival?

It may sound like supervillain origin behavior, but in Cole Eiserman’s case, that’s not quite the case.

The snapped twig does signify his fiery competitiveness. But it also belongs to his great friend, a former Shattuck St. Mary’s teammate and fellow 2024 first-round pick to be. Yup, the stick is Macklin Celebrini’s. As Eiserman recalled Wednesday at 2024 NHL Draft Media Day, he and Celebrini, who have been friends since they were 13, loved to battle each other. One day in practice at Shattuck’s, they broke each other’s sticks, and Eiserman kept Celebrini’s as a trophy.

Even when they were teammates, they couldn’t help but compete. In the years since, they’ve gotten used to battling each other on opposing sides – including in the USHL last year, where they each had 14 points head to head, or in international under-17 or under-18 competition, with Eiserman representing the U.S. and Celebrini competing for Canada.

Friday at Sphere in Las Vegas, Celebrini will get a leg up in draft status as the shoo-in No. 1 pick, going to the San Jose Sharks.

“He’s gonna be a guy who impacts the NHL team he’s gonna be on for however many years it is,” Eiserman said. “If he’s healthy he’ll have a really long career and do a lot for the team.”

But Eiserman will undoubtedly go in the first round as well. His offensive upside is just too great for him not to. He isn’t the most complete forward in the Draft class, but his pure goal-scoring talent is unmatched in it. He’s the all-time leading goal scorer for USA Hockey’s National Team Development program, eclipsing Cole Caufield by one. Eiserman has a pro-ready release that is equally powerful and deceptive, calling to mind the likes of Auston Matthews. The old cliché of denting a dryer or garage door, firing the biscuit for hours, no longer sufficiently explains kids being able shoot like this. How does Eiserman get so much out of his shot already at just 17 years old?

For one, the equipment has to be right. Eiserman says he uses a 77 flex with an extender to make it closer to 72. His idol, Matthews, uses 85, according to Pro Stock Hockey Sticks.

“I feel like the whippier it is, the more power you can really put into it,” Eiserman told my colleague Steven Ellis last year at the Under-18 Worlds.

Secondly, it isn’t all about what happens with a hockey stick in his hands. His eyes absorb a lot of what he needs to learn, too.

“Just watch hockey,” he said. “Watch the guys you enjoy. Watch the guys you think you kind of shoot like. See what they do well. Try and do it the next time in practice and the next time in games. As that repetition goes on, you see more guys and learn more stuff, it becomes a habit. Watching it will trick your mind that you can do most of the mechanics.”

He’s a thinking man’s shooter, which arguably spikes his goal-scoring ceiling even higher. Not only does he have the tools, but he knows how and when to use his shot and how to get into prime scoring positions. The biggest question is whether Eiserman can use that brain of his to address the notable knock against him: 200-foot play. While he’s a physical player, he does not profile as good defensive forward and can be known to drift or disappear rather than attack his defensive assignments conscientiously. The good news: as a Boston University commit, he has one of the best coaches possible to learn the two-way game from in Jay Pandolfo, one of the classic New Jersey Devil neutral zone trappers. And Eiserman has confidence that he’ll elevate his defense to an NHL standard.

“It’s just maturing and knowing where to be in the defensive zone and what to do, and thinking more defensively instead of offensively sometimes,” he said. “It’s just kind of switching your mind. I think I’m a pretty smart hockey player and I watch the game and know what to do.”

Whether he figures out that part of his game or not, his scoring potential will be too tempting to pass up in Round 1. So will he someday end up filling the net for a team that will compete frequently against his old pal Celebrini? In Daily Faceoff’s final 2024 Draft Rankings, Ellis places Eiserman 10^th. The Seattle Kraken and Calgary Flames pick No. 8 and No. 9, so it’s not inconceivable that Eiserman winds up in the Pacific Division if a team decides to reach on his sniping upside. But the more intriguing possibility lies in pick No. 14, which just so happens to belong to the Sharks. There’s a non-zero chance that the defensive concerns cause Eiserman to fall a bit and he ends up landing in San Jose’s lap. That would unite the great friends for years to come as centerman and triggerman, with Celebrini likely going pro for 2024-25 while Eiserman replaces him at Boston U before perhaps going pro for 2025-26 (or for a cup of coffee next season after the NCAA year ends).

It would be a dream come true for Eiserman – but so is playing college hockey for the Terriers in his home state. That can work to the advantage of whichever team takes him. He won’t be impatiently awaiting his NHL shot; he’ll be soaking in the experience at BU and ironing out the flaws in his game.

“I’m super excited to be back and home and play a year there and see what happens,” he said, “and try and get better as a hockey player and as a person and enjoy the college experience too, and hopefully raise some banners.”

It might not stop at BU. If Eiserman reaches his potential, he could help an NHL team raise the most important banner of all someday.

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POST SPONSORED BY bet365

NHL teams: Let Cole Eiserman fall in the 2024 Draft at your own risk

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