Canadiens Could Solve Organizational Weakness By Drafting Michkov

The Montreal Canadiens are blessed with a very deep prospect pool.

It’s a significant development for a team that struggled to produce legitimate NHLers for the better part of two decades.

However, if there’s one legitimate concern regarding the future generation of Canadiens players it’s that very few of the prospects project to be star players.

The theory was confirmed by draft expert Byron Bader, who ranked all 32 NHL teams’ prospect pool strength.

(You can click here to find out more information about Bader’s rankings.)

NHL TEAM PROSPECT POOL STRENGTH RANKINGS (MAY 2023)https://t.co/3dTWjbctmd pic.twitter.com/zrXxRhBWw8

— Byron Bader (@ByronMBader) May 1, 2023

Simply put, despite ranking third according to the rankings, the Canadiens; prospect pool is populated by potential depth players rather than prospects that have star potential.

Another way of looking at it is for every Lane Hutson in the system, there are a handful of players that are unlikely to play a significant role in the NHL.

It’s an issue that is also present in the current Canadiens lineup, as evidenced by the team’s inability to generate scoring chances whenever Cole Caufield or Kirby Dach were nursing injuries.

Nick Suzuki can only do so much.

But thankfully for the Canadiens, the upcoming NHL Draft has the potential to solve one of the biggest issues in the organization.

Brass Tacks

Everyone knows about Connor Bedard, however, beyond Bedard, teams will find players that could have gone first overall in another Draft year.

Players like Adam Fantilli, Leo Carlsson, Will Smith, and Zach Benson will serve as great consolation prizes for the teams that miss out on Bedard.

The same can be said about Matvei Michkov.

While the majority of the focus has been centred on external factors, including his KHL contract and the invasion of Ukraine, however, when it comes to pure talent, few have Michkov beat.

Michkov is overflowing with elite skill, precisely what the Canadiens need most to push their prospect pool from good to great.