Habs Daily: Canadiens Own Top Prospect Pool, Draft Lottery

Here are the Montreal Canadiens news, highlights, and stories you may have missed during the weekend.

Montreal Canadiens News

• According to a recent analysis, the Montreal Canadiens own one of the top prospect groups in the NHL, headlined by phenom Lane Hutson and fifth-overall pick David Reinbacher. There’s still room for improvement when it comes to the overall quality of the prospects, but their depth should provide them with many options moving forward.  [Montreal Canadiens Prospect Pool Among Best Ranked In NHL]

• While the NHL does reward failure with high draft picks, it has put a rule in place to avoid giving the first overall pick to the same club within a specific time frame. Fortunately, the rule was put into place after the Habs drafted Juraj Slafkovsky first overall in 2022.  [NHL Draft Lottery Rule Works To Montreal Canadiens Advantage]

• Nick Suzuki’s decision to take a break after yet another very busy season continues to garner criticism on social media from old men on social media who are being pissy. As a reminder, even though his decision was completely justified, it’s not up to the general public to dictate how a player uses his free time. [Suzuki’s Decision Not To Play At Worlds Is Justified]

• Prospect Oliver Kapanen will represent Finland at the 2024 World Championship.

Habs prospect Oliver Kapanen has officially been named to Team Finland 🇫🇮 for the upcoming World Championships 😎 pic.twitter.com/QSewjZmh6i

— /r/Habs (@HabsOnReddit) May 5, 2024

• Top 2024 NHL Draft Target Tij Iginla enjoyed a rather fantastic U-18 tournament, scoring the golden goal to clinch victory for Canada in the process.

Want to feel old? Here's Tij Iginla posing with his dad after winning gold at the #U18MensWorlds tournament today…🤯🇨🇦 pic.twitter.com/HmQ9Ma4gqg

— Gino Hard (@GinoHard_) May 5, 2024

• This isn’t Montreal Canadiens news per se, but Saturday was one of the most reliable and entertaining holidays in Canada; Toronto Maple Leafs elimination day. Once again, the team from the Big Smoke failed to rise to the moment when their season was on the line. Florida Panthers forward Matthew Tkachuk knew it was coming.

“Without this coming out too badly, I think we all knew it was probably going to be Boston the way that series was going.”

If Matthew Tkachuk was a betting man … he would have bet on the Bruins 😅 pic.twitter.com/5LX09BRuIE

— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) May 5, 2024

National Hockey Now Network

• The Florida Panthers have not beaten the Boston Bruins since knocking them out of the first round in Game 7 last year. Boston went unbeaten in four games against the Panthers this season, with two of those games coming in overtime including a month ago at the Garden. [Florida Panthers]
• The Dallas Stars outlasted the Vegas Golden Knights in Game Seven on Sunday evening, scoring an early goal in the third period to break the deadlock and win 2-1, meaning they will be the opponent for the Colorado Avalanche when round two starts. [Colorado Avalanche]
• The less-is-more Boston Bruins have something to say, and coach Jim Montgomery said it late last night after his team had vanquished the Toronto Maple Leafs. “Number one: Block out the noise.” The noise said the Bruins are chokers. The noise said the Bruins were about to become the only major professional sports franchise ever to blow a 3-1 series lead in consecutive years. [Boston Bruins]