'Michael Hage would be very close to the top-10 in the next draft'

D’Amico praises the Habs for getting hold of a guy whose value has risen so quickly. It doesn’t always happen, after all (Filip Mesar is a good example of the opposite), but it worked with Hage.

That said, this sentence also illustrates another phenomenon: it will be very difficult for the Habs to advance in the draft. In many people’s eyes, the next crop isn’t exceptional… and on top of that, there’s a big difference between the top few prospects and the rest.

So, teams with a high pick won’t be particularly interested in backing down, as they’d miss their chance to select one of these quality prospects.

Last year, for example, guys like Zeev Buium and Cole Eiserman fell to the middle of the first round in what was a fairly deep draft. So it was more enticing for a team to drop back last year, given that quality prospects were still available in the middle of the first round.

But this year, that’s not the case… because if Hage, who was seen as a mid-first-round prospect last year, were to approach the top-10 this year, it shows that the draft is weaker.

Let’s see how it all pans out now… but while the Habs might have a hard time getting ahead, they can take solace in the fact that they hit the nail on the head with Hage last year.

Maybe the top-10 pick they won’t get this year, they already got last year.

Overtime

– Nicklas Backström wants to start playing again. He’ll do it in his native Sweden.

– Things are going well for Brett Kulak.

– Indeed.

– Things got hot in the Bronx yesterday.

– Too bad.