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With the signing of Veleno, the Habs now have 15 (!) 1st round picks in the organization

Originally posted on Dose.ca | Last updated Jul 16, 2025 5:04 PM ET

The Canadiens are building something special.

Kent Hughes has transformed the club through transactions and signings, and it shows when you look at the depth within the organization.

Because right now…

Right now, with the signing of Joe Veleno, the Habs now have 15 first-round picks in the organization.

15! That’s… a lot:

Patrik Laine (2nd)
Cole Caufield (15th)
Nick Suzuki (13th)
Juraj Slafkovsky (1st)
Kirby Dach (3rd)
Alex Newhook (16th)
Ivan Demidov (5th)
Zachary Bolduc (17th)
Joe Veleno (30th)
Kaiden Guhle (16th)
Mike Matheson (23rd)
Noah Dobson (12th)
Filip Mesar (26th)
David Reinbacher (5th)
Michael Hage (21st)

You’ll understand that I’ve decided not to include Carey Price’s name for obvious reasons.

That said, that’s without mentioning Lane Hutson, Jacob Fowler and Alexander Zharovsky, who are also first-round talents…

It’s crazy, too.

And Kent Hughes must be proud of his work right now… because he’s the one who picked up most of the players pictured above.

(Credit: Screenshot)

Kent Hughes had a plan in mind when he took over.

He wanted to rejuvenate the team, he wanted to add talented players to his club… and that’s exactly what we’ve seen from him for a little over three years now.

It remains to be seen whether this plan will work.

Because in reality, the Canadiens have the assets, the weapons and the talent to excel before too long. The team has a superb forward core, the defense is really starting to take shape, Jacob Fowler is seen as Montreal’s #1 goaltender of the future…

If all the pieces fall into place, the Habs should be in a position to enjoy success for many years to come.

And the interesting thing about all this is that the team and the club’s best players are still so young.

And that’s exciting for Canadiens fans, too.

Overtime

– Well done.

The Flames really released their schedule with a Rambo style video featuring Ryan Lomberg: LOMBO!!! pic.twitter.com/HEAmkV85c6

– BarDown (@BarDown) July 16, 2025

– It goes without saying.

Coming from one of the best players of his generation, it’s frankly no small thing. https://t.co/EZhjeXg652

– Passion MLB (@passion_mlb) July 16, 2025