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Draft Selection Happening Tonight! Will The Habs Rise Or Fall? |
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With the NHL Draft Selection taking place tonight, the Montreal Canadiens will soon learn their drafting fate and begin to focus on narrowing their list. After having reviewed the past season of Canadiens prospects, it is clear that there is a real need to bolster their depth at this year’s NHL draft. Trevor Timmins, the Canadiens VP of Player Personnel and Director of Amateur Scouting, certainly has his work cut out for him this year as he and his team of scouts are under pressure to make the most of their picks come June.
There should be no need for the Canadiens to spend a draft pick on a goalie. The Canadiens depth is now strong, making the most of young free agent signings. Behind Carey Price and Mike Condon, the Canadiens have the newly signed and highly touted Charlie Lindgren, Zach Fucale, Michael McNiven and Hayden Hawkey. Expect Lindgren and Fucale to share the load in St. John’s while McNiven finishes his last year of junior hockey and Hawkey enters his sophomore year at Providence College.
The Canadiens do need to focus on shoring up their defence and forwards and which they pick in the first round is likely dependent on where they end up drafting. If they somehow manage to jump up to a top 5 pick, the Canadiens should select a forward as there are several high impact forwards that will be available after Auston Matthews and Patrik Laine. However if they pick at 9 or lower, a potential top 2 defenceman could be available depending how the dominoes fall.
When healthy and playing to their potential, the Canadiens have a group of 6 defencemen that are very good to excellent. However, outside of Nathan Beaulieu who is already in that top 6, there is no one in the AHL who has top 4 nevermind top 2 potential. Morgan Ellis, Joel Hanley, Darren Dietz, Brett Lernout, Victor Bartley, Ryan Johnston were all able to pitch in with various degrees of success when the injuries accumulated this Spring. However, none of them appear to have the extra gear to become a top 4 defenceman in the NHL.
The Canadiens 2015 1st round draft pick Noah Juulsen has top 4 potential and his play has been likened to Kevin Bieksa. I like what we have seen so far from Simon Bourque and while he could have the potential to one day play in the top 4, that is likely a good 4-5 years away. The Canadiens will need replacements for Andrei Markov and with Alexei Emelin’s no movement clause getting lifted July 1st, the Canadiens will have an opportunity over the next while to shed his contract. Potential top ten defencemen at the draft include Olli Juolevi who impressed at the world juniors, Jakob Chychrun and Mikhail Sergachev.
However, the Canadiens desperately need a top six forward to help the team immediately. If a true top six forward is available that can help the team in the next year or two, the Canadiens have to seriously consider choosing a forward over a defenceman. The Canadiens have some nice depth with forwards like Sven Andrighetto, Daniel Carr, Charles Hudon, Michael McCarron and Nikita Scherbak. However, Scherbak is the only player with true top six talent and he is likely another year or two away from being ready. The remaining players can fill in on the second line but are likely 3rd line players.
Outside of Matthews and Laine, the group of top forwards probably need at least an extra year of play to further develop and get NHL ready. Jesse Puljujarvi, Matthew Tkachuk, Pierre-Luc Dubois and Alex Nylander are likely the next group of forwards to be NHL ready while others like Tyson Jost, Mike McLeod and Clayton Keller will take longer to get to the big show.
As we get closer to the actual draft I will take a closer look at the upcoming draft class.
For now, the top ten this year is deep in talent and the Canadiens should be able to snag a future NHLer with high potential. Stay tuned to Sportsnet at 7pm tonight to see how the draft shakes out. Will the Canadiens be able to move up? Will Edmonton steal the #1 pick again? Can the Maple Leafs hold on to the #1 pick? With the new format starting this year, it should be interesting to watch…
Cheers & follow along!
Montreal Canadiens Blogger • 
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