The Yearly Behind The Scenes Draft Video Is Out

The best clip throughout the entire video was easily when GM Kent Hughes called rookie Ivan Demidov to ask him his thoughts on Alexander Zharovsky before drafting him with the 34th overall pick. The fact that Hughes does this shows how much he truly values the opinions of his players, no matter how much experience they have. Honestly, this is very similar to when he was seen speaking to Kaiden Guhle to get more insight about a player he was potentially interested in acquiring at the Trade Deadline during last week’s Episode of The Rebuild: Inside the Montreal Canadiens. The only difference was that the Habs ended up getting Zharovsky.

Speaking of Zharovsky, multiple scouts were sold on him as the top choice for not only a 2nd round pick, but even at the 16th overall pick. Even though the Canadiens traded their 16th and 17th pick for immediate help on defense in Noah Dobson, they managed to get one of their top guys from their list.

Every year, we get to see Dr. Scott challenge prospects in their draft interviews. This year, the Habs draft pick that we got to see behind the scenes was 3rd Round pick Hayden Paupanakis. During the interview, Paupanakis was challenged by Dr. Scott, who pointed out that he said he was a mean, nasty player, but his penalty minutes say otherwise. Paupanakis countered Dr Scott, saying he can play a mean game while staying a disciplined player.

As for the part of his game that Paupanakis feels he excels in, he claims to be an elite board battler who could win 10 out of 10 times against most players. It was nice to see how confident he was in his abilities. He also praised his skating abilities for being a big 6’4 power forward to the Habs brass. When asked to rate his skating on a scale of 1 to 5, he gave himself a score of 3.9. Based on his play during the Habs Development Camp in early July, that is a very accurate assessment, as he clearly has good acceleration and stride for a big forward.

On top of seeing behind the scenes of the draft, we got to see inside the Habs Development Camp, where Martin St. Louis gives an incredible speech about working ethic and how you must work as hard when you are alone training as you do when you are with your competition, as you need to stay disciplined and not let up. His speech sounds so inspirational; it’s no wonder players love playing for him. He really knows how to flip a switch when he gives a speech.

This scene just shows us that the Habs have good staff to get the best out of their prospects. Showing the Development Camp in the video gives us a better understanding of what happens to the players once they are drafted. Hearing guys like St. Louis or Brendan Gallagher in a previous year give a speech is something that could get any player in that room fired up.

My only criticism of this year’s video is that, without footage of a centralized draft like in the past, it feels like the hype of drafting the players is missing. Unfortunately, that’s something that the Habs couldn’t control and they really did the best that they could.

At least we got to see Hughes talk to his current players about potential draft picks, which was one of the best scenes from all the draft videos in recent memory.

Click here to watch the draft video in full.