Three ice hockey recruits from Michigan selected in 2024 NHL Draft

Michigan’s hockey program continues to attract and develop young talent.

Three Wolverines players were selected at the 2024 NHL Draft on Friday and Saturday in Las Vegas, two of them in the first two rounds.

Center Michael Hage, who finished fourth in the United States Hockey League with 75 points last season, was the 13th Michigan player or recruit selected in the first round in the last eight years, going No. 21 overall to the Montreal Canadiens. The Wolverines have had at least one first-round pick in eight consecutive drafts.

Gabriel Eliasson, a 6’6″ defenseman from Sweden, was drafted in the second round with the No. 39 pick by the Ottawa Senators. The tall, powerful defenseman played juniors in Sweden last year and is expected to play one season in the USHL before joining the Wolverines for the 2025-26 season.

Like Hage, forward Christian Humphreys is a rookie prospect from Michigan. The Colorado Avalanche picked up the 6-foot-1 Pennsylvania native in the seventh round, a late bargain according to the NHL Network draft panel. Humphreys played for the U.S. National Team Development Program the past two seasons, scoring a total of 82 points.

Hage, an Ontario native, and Humphreys will be part of a freshman class that must fill several gaps on last year’s team, which reached the Frozen Four for the third consecutive year. Michigan has signed three top-six forwards to professional contracts: Gavin Brindley, Frank Nazar and Dylan Duke. All three average at least one point per game in 2023-24.

The Wolverines had already selected one player in the first round, forward Matvei Gridin of the Muskegon Lumberjacks, but a source told MLive he was instead selected to play in the Canadian Hockey League, which would forfeit his NCAA eligibility. The Calgary Flames selected Gridin with the No. 28 pick.