Miguel Marques could be found money in the second round of the 2024 NHL Draft
By Ryan Pike
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A lot of attention is paid to the first round of every year’s NHL Draft – and with good reason, a lot of good players go in the top 32. But good players go on the second day of the draft, too.
When it comes to the second round of the 2024 NHL Draft, one player to keep an eye out for is Lethbridge Hurricanes winger Miguel Marques.
Scouting report
From Prince George, British Columbia, Marques is a March 2026 birthday – which puts him on the younger side of the 2024 draft class. He’s a right shot forward, primarily a winger, listed at 5’11” and 172 pounds.
Marques worked his way up through various levels of hockey in B.C., eventually becoming a first round selection in the 2021 WHL Prospects Draft. He suited up for 10 WHL games in 2021-22, then became a full-time WHLer in 2022-23. His draft year, 2023-24, was his second full season in the Dub… and he tripled his prior season’s production and led the Hurricanes in points.
When Medicine Hat’s Cayden Lindstrom was injured, The Hockey News’ Adam Kierszenblat mentioned Marques as a possibility to replace him at the CHL Top Prospects Game:
One of the biggest risers ahead of this year’s draft has been Miguel Marques. After receiving a “C” grade at the beginning of the year, the Lethbridge Hurricanes forward ranked 33rd among North American Skaters on Central Scouting’s midterm list and is the highest-ranked WHLer currently not on the top prospects roster. A prospect who has taken his game to the next level with 48 points in 40 games this season, he has become one of the most intriguing prospects heading into the 2024 Draft.
Over at Dobber Prospects, Hadi Kalakeche provided this scouting report in February:
Marques took some time to come out of his shell on a struggling team in Lethbridge, but has hit his stride and is up to 57 points in 47 WHL games as of writing this. Extremely middle-driven and engaged off the puck, Marques looks to accelerate the pace of play with every touch. His trifecta of handling, playmaking and shooting is refined, and his constant middle drives allow those tools to be put to great use. Beyond the high work rate, Marques is also comfortable slowing the play down and drawing players into him to free up passing lanes when the circumstances demand it. With a wide arsenal of passes, Marques consistently creates advantages for his teammates, his handling skill allows him to go from retrieval to deke to pass in an instant, and his curl-and-drag wrister can punish opponents if they give him too much space. His physical disposition limits the use of his motor, and he often over-commits in his own zone or on the back check, but the offensive ceiling makes Marques more than worth the 28th spot on our board.
The Hurricanes weren’t great this season – they finished seventh in the WHL’s Eastern Conference and had a plus-4 goal differential – but Marques took big strides and was a big reason to pay attention to Lethbridge this season.
The numbers
Marques had 28 goals and 46 assists for 74 points in 67 games for the Hurricanes. He led his team in assists and points, and he scored more goals this season (28) than he had points (20) in all of the previous season. League-wide, he was tied for 33rd in assists and points.
Among first-time draft eligible WHLers, Marques was sixth in points.
Availability and fit
The Flames don’t have a ton of right shot wingers in their system. Heck, outside of the NHL level, the list is basically just Adam Klapka. So they could use more, especially when it comes to a toolsy young player like Marques who arguably is just scratching the surface of what he could be at the WHL level.
In terms of availability, Dobber Prospects is a bit of an outlier, ranking him at 28th – they really like the player. Most of the other public rankings have Marques throughout the 30s, 40s and 50ths, essentially scattering him in different spots in the second round. He’s sort of on that second round shelf, and could go basically anywhere in that mix. The Flames have two selections in the second round: 41st overall and 62nd overall. Marques might not last until their second selection in the second round.
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