2023-09-07 15:45:08
We analyzed the Canadiens’ drafts from 2014 to 2018 on Wednesday. There are only two fourth-line players left, Michael Pezzetta and Jake Evans, from the 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017 vintages, and Jordan Harris, Jesse Ylönen and Kirby Dach, obtained for Alexander Romanov, from that of 2018.
Posted at 11:45 a.m.
These five years will therefore be very inconclusive in the reconstruction of the Canadiens. However, we observe a significant change in the team’s philosophy from 2018, under Marc Bergevin: an abundance of choices accumulated in what the GM called in his own language a reset on the fly.
Thus, between 2014 and 2017, the CH will draft only once before the 25th rank, in 2016, with defender Mikhail Sergachev, 9th choice overall, inadvertently traded to the Tampa Bay Lightning.
The Montreal organization will draft only 24 times during these four vintages, including 11 times in the first rounds, for an average of six players per year, and 2.75 players in the first three rounds, including five in 2017.
2018 marks a turning point with eleven picks including the third overall (Kotkaniemi), four in the first two rounds and six in the first six rounds.
This cuvée will set the tone for the following ones. Between 2019 and 2023, the CH obtained 47 choices, for an average of 9.4 players per year, including 19 in the first three rounds, for an average of 3.8 players. Montreal has drawn four times in the top 16, including twice in the top five. First- and second-round picks in 2023 were also used to acquire Alex Newhook.
* In bold: in the NHL.
* In italics: no longer belongs to the organization.
2019
15 Cole Caufield 46 Jayden Struble 64 Mattias Norlinder
77 Gianni Fairbrother
126 Jacob LeGuerrier
131 Rhett Pitlick
138 Frederik Dichow
170 Arsen Khisamutdinov
201 Rafaël Harvey-Pinard
206 Kieran Ruscheinski
If this draft were to be done again today, Caufield would probably be chosen in the top five. Unearthing a potential counter of 40 goals and more in fifteenth place remains a smoking gun, probably the best of Trevor Timmins and his gang, with Sergachev in 2016, since the vintage 2007. The CH dared to draft a 20-year-old player in seventh place , Harvey-Pinard, and the bet paid off. The young man, against all odds, amassed 20 points, including 14 goals, in 34 games last year, 33 goals and almost 50 points prorated to a full season. It will be necessary to avoid sticking the label of fourth line player on him. We shouldn’t expect much from the others, but getting two NHL players from a vintage, including a possible star, remains a very satisfying harvest.
2020
16 Kaiden Guhle
47 Luke Tuch
48 Jan Mysak
102 Jack Smith
109 Blake Biondi
124 Sean Farrell
136 Jakub Dobes
171 Alexander Gordin
Another home run, this time in 16th place, with Guhle, one of the Canadiens’ most promising young defensemen, who already clocked more than 20 minutes per game in his first NHL season last year, at just 20 years old. (21 years old as of January 2023). Guhle also amassed 18 points in 44 games without being used on the power play, at least rarely. We can already see him in the medium and long term as a first pair defender, capable of neutralizing the best opposing attackers and amassing around forty points per season.
For the others, Tuch, a power winger, will continue his career at Boston University, and he still seems in the Canadiens’ plans despite lackluster production, Mysak does not inspire much hope, Sean Farrell will have to prove that he can make an impact in the NHL, after a modest start in Montreal, and NCAA-smoldering goaltender Dobes is entering a non-pro season in Laval this year.
2021
31 Logan Mailloux 63 Riley Kidney 64 Oliver Kapanen 87 Dmitri Kostenko 113 William Trudeau 142 Daniil Sobolev 150 Joshua Roy 191 Xavier Simoneau 214 Joe Vrbetic
Last draft of Trevor Timmins before his dismissal. The choice of right-handed defender Logan Mailloux was highly controversial after he asked teams not to choose him because of his mischief against a young woman in Sweden. Mailloux remains a promising defender who nevertheless needs to improve several facets of his game. He will have the opportunity to do so with the Laval Rocket. He has an excellent size at 6-foot-3 and 210 pounds, a powerful shot, good straight-line mobility, but he can be vulnerable defensively and doesn’t always make the right decisions with and without the puck.
Riley Kidney, Joshua Roy and William Trudeau had great careers in the QMJHL. Roy, the hero of the most recent World Junior Championship, arguably has more tools in his chest than Kidney, even though Kidney produced more last year in the junior ranks. Trudeau might surprise. We hesitated to give him a position in the American League at 20 years old last year, he became one of the best defensemen of the Rocket. Kapanen, a center, is having some success in Finland, but we won’t see him at the Canadiens’ camp this year.
2022
1 Juraj Slafkovsky
26 Filip Mesar 33 Owen Beck 62 Lane Hutson 75 Vinzenz Rohrer 92 Adam Engstrom 127 Cédrick Guindon 130 Jared Davidson 162 Emmett Croteau 194 Petteri Nurmi 216 Miguel Tourigny
Some are already daring to call Slafkovsky a flop because of his 10 points in 39 games last year. He nevertheless remains the only player of his vintage to have clung to the NHL. He has a dream size at 6 feet 3 inches and 238 pounds, such mobility and dexterity. He may not become the big star he hoped for, but he will be worth his weight in gold, especially in the playoffs when reaction time is shrinking, if he develops properly in the next few years.
Owen Beck and Filip Mesar had very good training camps, especially Beck. We can see in this one a possible center of third line, maybe even second. Mesar hasn’t been bad in the junior ranks, but not transcendent either, where first-round picks usually are. He could continue his apprenticeship at Laval.
Defender Lane Hutson was still available late in the second round due to his short stature. He could become the best player of this vintage among the choices of the Canadian, even if Slafkovsky constituted a first choice in total. Hutson broke NCAA freshman season records with 48 points in 39 games at Boston University. He even participated in the World Championship with the American national team, and players of the NHL, and obtained six points in nine games. He’s now 5-foot-10 and weighs 161 pounds and has the smarts not to get caught out in the defensive zone. He will play at least a second season at Boston University before joining the Canadian.
Another left-handed defender, Adam Engström, surprised by playing a leading role in Rögle, in the Swedish first division (SHL). Engström, just 19, had 16 points in 43 games and appeared in the World Championship where he played as part of the first pair.
This cuvée, the first of the new administration led by Jeff Gorton, Kent Hughes, Nick Bobrov and Martin Lapointe, could be the most important of the last ten years.
2023
5 David Reinbacher 69 Jacob Fowler 101 Florian Xhekaj 110 Bogdan Konyushkov 128 Quentin Miller 133 Sam Harris 144 Yevgeni Volokhin 165 Filip Eriksson 197 Luke Mittelstadt
Two elements to remember from this vintage: the Canadian preferred a less flamboyant right-handed defender, Reinbacher, to the popular but risky choice, Matvei Michkov, and Montreal turned to three goalkeepers, Jacob Fowler, from the USHL, Quentin Miller , of the Quebec Remparts, and Yevgeni Volokhin, of the KHL.
Note also that the Canadian gave up his first-round picks, 31st overall, and second-round picks, 37th overall, to get Alex Newhook.
Reinbacher, Xhekaj and Miller are scheduled to take part in the rookie tournament next week, with the others going to their respective leagues.
Big contract in Ottawa
PHOTO MARTIN CHAMBERLAND, ARCHIVES LA PRESSE
Jake Sanderson
GM Pierre Dorion and the Senators managed to retain another of their gems, young defenseman Jake Sanderson. He has just signed an eight-year contract for 64 million, or 8 million on average per season. Fifth overall pick in 2020, Sanderson impressed in his first season in the NHL, at age 20, with 32 points in 77 games but also, above all, remarkable confidence and intelligence for a young person his age. At the end of the season, he was already playing between 25 and 30 minutes. Sanderson, Tim Stützle, Brady Tkachuk, Josh Norris and Thomas Chabot, all aged 26 or under, are under contract until 2028, minimum 2030 in the case of Sanderson, Norris and Stützle.
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