Canadiens Fans Need Not Worry About The Upcoming Draft

Much has been made about the Montreal Canadiens and their intentions regarding the 2023 NHL Draft Lottery.

We’ve heard rumours the team would not draft a player of Matvei Michkov’s ilk, to rumours insisting the Canadiens are preparing to draft a player of Michkov’s ilk, and everything in between.

Of course, memories of Alex Galchenyuk and Jesperi Kotkaniemi loom over the franchise like a frustrated cloud, reminding the team and the fans about the pitfalls involved in selecting the wrong player.

And while it’s perfectly normal for fans of a team that has a history of making questionable choices when they’re given a top 5 Draft pick, it’s also worth evaluating the latest crop of prospects to get a better idea of the modus operandi of the organization when it comes time to restock the prospect cupboard.

Yes, Juraj Slafkovsky’s rookie season was incredibly tumultuous, and you could even go as far as saying it was a failure in terms of development, but you’d be hard-pressed to blame Slafkovsky for the inconsistent usage and lack of foresight in his usage.

In retrospect, sending him to the World Junior Championships would have been the right call, given the team immediately dropped him from the top six once they announced he was going to remain in the NHL.

The same can be said about the decision not to send him to Laval. In retrospect, it was probably the wrong decision, especially when you consider he finished the season without a single point in his last 15 games.

But those were deployment issues, not Draft issues.

When drafting Slafkovsky, the team put a focus on the rare combination of skill and size, projecting him as a player that would benefit from working with Adam Douglas’ team.

In otherwords, he was the classic Draft unicorn, but not just due to his size. Without the talent to go with the frame, it’s doubtful the Canadiens would have simply fallen in love with a player that would have essentially been a Slovakian version of Michael McCarron.

And when we go down the list of 2022 drafted players, it becomes clear the team put an onus on talent.

Players like Filiup Mesar, Owen Beck, and Lane Hutson were bursting at the seams with talent, but their raw skillsets need help developing into a full-stocked arsenal that would eventually allow them to make an impact in the NHL.

The same can be said about later picks.

Players like Vinzenz Roher, Adam Engstrom, Cedrick Guindon, Petteri Nurmi and Miguel Tourigny were chosen based on their talent, not their NHL readiness.

And that should be a comforting notion for Canadiens fans, who are rightfully nervous about the upcoming Draft, because despite any concerns about the Slafkovsky pick, given the rest of the players the team chose, it’s clear there’s a team of scouts that are focusing on the organization’s various needs as well as high-end potential.