If nothing changes, the Canadiens will be drafting(among others) 16th and 17th at the next auction.
But hey. You know as well as I do that, between now and then, Kent Hughes could trade one or more of these picks to move up in the draft, or even to get immediate help.
We’ll see what the club does in due course.
At the start of the season, the Canadiens were tipped to draft about where Caleb Desnoyers was expected to go. The Québécois, who is in the QMJHL finals and will play in the Memorial Cup, is a 6’2 left-handed center.
But the Habs finally made the playoffs and Caleb Desnoyers continued to climb the lists. Many now see him coming out at #4, when the Utah Mammoth takes the stage.
In fact, when the Mammoth SHOULD take the stage.
Because team management hasn’t yet decided 100% whether the pick will be used to draft. As all good teams do, the door is open for a trade – publicly, at least.
So if the Habs ever want to draft Desnoyers (a player who has been spied on by the Habs this season, it should be remembered), they have a potential pathway to do so: acquire the fourth pick.
But with Salt Lake City looking to move up to the next level, I don’t see a world in which the Habs keep Cole Caufield and Juraj Slafkovsky while going for such a high pick.
To me, that wouldn’t be moving the organization forward… either in the short or long term. And I’d be really, really surprised to see the Canadiens go after such a high pick. I don’t want to use the word impossible, but…
The second center the Canadiens will go after shouldn’t cost a current member of the first line and doesn’t have to be a project: it has to be an established player, ready to make a difference.
overtime
– Bill Belichick’s blonde can no longer be in the environment of her boyfriend’s team . Ouch.
– With good reason.
– Rocket: playoff success helps a lot. [TVAS]
– The Ducks and Joel Quenneville have done their homework.
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