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Quick Hits...

June 26, 2020, 7:39 PM ET [83 Comments]
Karine Hains
Montreal Canadiens Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
This is it. We are minutes away from the NHL draft lottery, ok, maybe an hour, we know how they like to milk it but regardless, we'll know tonight who gets first pick (maybe). If one of the 7 teams out of the play-in wins the lottery, we'll know. However, if it's one of the 8 placeholders we'll have to wait until after the play-in round (whenever that is) to find out. Odds are one of the 7 teams, most likely Detroit or Ottawa will win but this is 2020 people, if this year has showed us anything it's that odds means nothing and anything can happen.

Yesterday, Carey Price fielded question from the Montreal media for half an hour and shortly after, it was everywhere on Twitter: Carey Price may not play in the play-in round! That is not quite what Price said according to some reports. What he did say is that right now, he wouldn't be comfortable voting on a possible return to play because to many questions still remain and to be fair, he's right. There is an ongoing global pandemic right now and Price is currently in the USA, a country that is far from having it all under control. The goaltender is also a dad now and of course he's going to worry about the health of his family and the fact that he may not see them for weeks or months in a hub city scenario depending on how things go for Montreal. In the words he once used himself: Chill out! He didn't say anything unreasonable in the current situation and to be fair, I'm still not convinced that this thing will actually happen.

Today, Arpon Basy published an interesting article on The Athletic. According to a team source, Jesperi Kotkaniemi will be available to play in the play-in round. While the initial prognostic on his ruptured spleen was quite bleak, it looks like the youngster has healed quite nicely and will be coming to North America to play in the coming weeks. With the Habs being allowed to bring 28 skaters and an unlimited number of goalies, looks like KK could punch his ticket to erm...well... let's say Toronto for now since the hub cities are not confirmed. Whether or not Claude Julien will decide to use him and in which capacity is a whole other question though...



Basu also mentions that he believes the eligibility for the play-in of players who have just been signed like the Habs' Alexander Romanov is something that is still being negotiated between the NHL and the NHLPA and while the league would rather they didn't play, it wouldn't be entirely surprising to see it give in on that point. If this tournament does happen, it would sure raise my interest level to know that I'll be able to see Romanov's first few Habs matches. The clock is ticking though and with only 2 weeks to go until the July 10th start date for phase 3, we should be getting some more information sooner rather than later.

Tune in to Sportsnet at 8:00 PM for the draft lottery if you're eager to see where Lafreniere will finally land... one day.
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