Montreal Canadiens
Canadiens Draft Hopes Now Lie In Toronto’s Hands
The Montreal Canadiens are gearing up for the 2023 NHL Draft, and they’ll need a bit of help from an old rival to stay in good position.
The Canadiens impatiently await the results of the 2023 NHL Draft Lottery, where the rank of their own first-round pick will be determined.
By May 8, the Habs’ own rank will be set in stone, but they’ll likely still be waiting on the official rank of their second first-round pick, acquired last spring from the Florida Panthers.
After the Panthers upset the Boston Bruins in the first round of the NHL Playoffs, they’re now moving on to the second round; where they’ll do battle with the Toronto Maple Leafs for the Atlantic Division crown.
Although the Panthers defeated the Bruins in dramatic fashion on Sunday night, their draft pick’s final rank could still remain at 17th overall with a little help from Toronto.
Due to Florida having the worst regular season record of all playoff teams, their pick could remain at 17th overall should the Maple Leafs come out on top and punch their ticket to the Eastern Conference Finals.
That’s because playoff outcomes don’t impact draft pick rankings until you get to the final four teams, who are awarded the 29th, 30th, 31st and 32nd overall picks according to how the final two rounds play out.
Should the Panthers defeat the Maple Leafs, the Montreal Canadiens would see Florida’s pick slide from 17th to 29th or higher; a massive drop in quality for them as they prepare for a stacked draft class.
As of now, NHL betting odds currently have the Maple Leafs as a slight -160 favourites in their upcoming series against the Panthers, but, as we saw in their series against Boston, Florida is perfectly comfortable playing the underdog.
With the Montreal Canadiens’ management teams getting an extended look at the impressive 2023 draft class during the IIHF U-18 Championships this past week, you know they’ll be paying close attention to the outcome of this series.
*For more NHL betting lines and futures, head over to FanDuel
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Oof. Tough call for me. My hatred for all things TML, have me extremely conflicted on this one.
F the pick. The fact that Florida didn’t didn’t finish bottom 10 has already ruined it for me. As long as ny/NJ comes out of the east or a west team wins the cup. Go Oilers!
Oh, and that’s a stupid rule or should not be applied to traded picks. Go panthers(for this round)!
They should use this pick in a trade. Maybe for Dubois when it’s the 29th pick.
Great top group of prospects this year and whether HuGo trades or keeps Florida’s pick it means a lot for the Habs to have it at # 17 . As good as a top 10 pick most years . Go Leafs .
That’s bs. The top 5 or top 10 are all good players, then it’s a drop off. The quicker Leafs are out, the better. I’m rooting for ny/nj to come out of the East. And preferably oilers win the West. Any west team prefered over Toronto, Florida, Carolina. 🤮🤮🤮
Last year Hughes flipped the 13th pick (along with #66) to acquire Dach . That should tell you the value of a mid first rounder on a better draft year like the experts are saying this one is .
I’d argue that this draft is very similar between 8 and 15, a group of players that would have challenged for top-5 last year.
No BS here, this is a loaded draft class.
That pretty much lines up with the draft analysis lists I’ve read . Maybe Dave is working off a classified (BS) list that’s not yet been released. It’s a Big Secret , not to Be Seen or Be Shared .
Anybody that calls himself a fan should know enough to want a mid first round pick in this year’s draft . Or he doesn’t know his head from his a-se .
Boy the Bruins suck. 135 pts, most ever in one season – all meaningless now. Habs 1976-77 team still the best single season team ever.
Leafs need to win this series, or the Habs get a “crappy” pick, relatively speaking. Otherwise, would make it much harder to move up in draft. I want the higher pick.
Living in S. FLA, I don’t have any issues with the Leafs – never did. This 1st rd pick is more important.
It was a bonus pick the way Florida was going looked like a lottery pick. 17th overall isn’t going to be no superstar. Would I have liked Florida to lose Boston. Yes! But because of the stupid rule that a confrence finalist loses their original spot in the draft and the leafs being the opponent, I’ll take the leafs out. What if those bums won the cup? Disgusting. Use the Florida pick at 29th ish to help land dubois.
We can thank Mitch Marner for the reduced value of the Florida pick,on April 10th Toronto led Florida with less than a minute to go and he coughed up the puck on an pathetic clearing attempt and it led a few second later to their tying goal and then Florida won in overtime. If that had not happened they would not have made the playoffs. so again thanks Mitch.
Which led to Them beating Boston And now Florida will hopefully beat Toronto(because them wining would be unbearable). Unfortunately the pick drops like a falling meteorite.
OMG, yes, I was watching that game. If the Leafs just somehow were able to hold on for that final minute, then the Panthers never would have gotten two pts and would have finished 13th in the final standings! Just one freaking goal…one freakin’ minute – and now look at this…
When we got the pick from Florida they were the.league’s top team . Had they missed the playoffs it would have been a disaster for them . The Habs pick would then be #16 . I think most Habs fans would be happy with the prospect of drafting at 17 when the trade was made for Chiarot.
Except for how promising the pick looked at the halfway point. Florida May have sold at the deadline or earliet if they had their first round pick.