Habs Daily: Montreal Canadiens Draft Targets, World Championship

Here are the Montreal Canadiens news, highlights, and stories you may have missed on Wednesday.

Montreal Canadiens News

• Now that the Montreal Canadiens know exactly when they’re drafting with their first pick in 2024 we can start to narrow down the options. The Habs are likely to puck a forward, but depending on how the first round unfolds the best player available may very well be a defenceman.  [Montreal Canadiens Top 2024 NHL Draft Targets Already Unveiled]

• Speaking of the upcoming draft, the NHL ran their early mock drafts. The Habs ended up with Ivan Demidov in the first and Cayden Lindstrom in the second. A lot can change between now and the draft, but Habs fans would surely be satisfied with either result. [NHL.com]

• Juraj Slafkovsky and Team Slovakia are on their way to take part in the games that matter at the 2024 World Championship.

Zopár záberov z odchodu hokejistov na majstrovstvá sveta v Ostrave. 📸: @DennikSport/ Jano Koller pic.twitter.com/Gu30TkufUj

— Tomáš Prokop (@Lewysko) May 8, 2024

• Cole Caufield and his American friends are also in full tournament mode.

Cole Caufield with Team USA 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/Rp1jt9KenA

— /r/Habs (@HabsOnReddit) May 8, 2024

• Kaiden Guhle and Team Canada took a relaxing train ride to make their way to the tournament.

𝙳𝙴𝚂𝚃𝙸𝙽𝙰𝚃𝙸𝙾𝙽: 𝙱𝚞𝚍𝚊𝚙𝚎𝚜𝚝 🚅

Ride the rails with 🇨🇦's National Men's Team as it embarked on the next leg of its #MensWorlds journey to the Hungarian capital. pic.twitter.com/SYxHNbX1pu

— Hockey Canada (@HockeyCanada) May 8, 2024

National Hockey Now Network

• The physical series we all thought would transpire came to be Wednesday night after the Florida Panthers took complete control of the Boston Bruins in Game 2. The Panthers trailed in the first period, but scored six unanswered goals and rolled to a 6-1 win over the Bruins to tie the best-of-7 series. [Florida Panthers]
• Jonathan Drouin is nearing a return to action. The 29-year-old winger has been around the team since an injury in the last game of the season and has travelled on all road trips since it occurred on April 18. He initially had a pretty nasty limp, but that limp has slowly disappeared as time has gone on, and he’s been seen working out off the ice of late. [Colorado Avalanche]
• The biggest moment in San Jose Sharks history might not have happened on the ice but instead in a small, nondescript NHL Network conference room. The NHL held the actual draft lottery draw about 60 minutes before the made-for-TV reveal, which happened close to 7 p.m. ET, in a two-story building the league shares with MLB Network. [San Jose Sharks]