Habs Fans Vote – Most Wanted Canadiens 2024 Draft Targets

It’s time to reveal the results of the latest ‘Habs Fans Vote’ poll, which asked Montreal Canadiens faithful which prospect they would like the team to select fifth overall in the upcoming 2024 NHL Entry Draft.

Before we get into the numbers, we’d like to remind everyone of the caveat added to the poll, which specified that top prospect Macklin Celebrini would not be included due to the likelihood that he will not be available once the Canadiens take to the podium.

While the results of the first Habs fan poll were varied, with several players earning a fair share of the votes to determine the most underrated player in the lineup, the draft poll yielded much less variance in the top answers.

We should also note the latest poll garnered almost 1,800 responses.

Past Poll Results: Montreal Canadiens – Most Underrated Players – Evans Takes Top Spot

Top Montreal Canadiens Draft Targets

1 – Ivan Demidov (Forward – SKA St. Petersburg) – 39.2 percent (682 votes)

Almost forty percent of the fans who submitted a response voted for Ivan Demidov, the highly-skilled forward who scored 23 goals and 37 assists in 30 games for SKA-1946 St. Petersburg (MHL).

Demidov projects as a game-changing presence, an ideal addition to a lineup that lacks offensive punch. Seeing as the Habs opted to draft a defenceman last season at fifth overall, it’s quite clear there’s an appetite for adding a talented forward this offseason.

Ivan Demidov and Connor Bedard together would be something. Chicago drafting these guys in back-to-back drafts is akin to the Penguins getting Malkin and Crosby back-to-back in ’04 and ’05. Would really jumpstart the rebuild. https://t.co/A1zU9XQ2Rj pic.twitter.com/1WjxlYjpSU

— Byron Bader (@ByronMBader) April 2, 2024

2 – Cayden Lindstrom (Forward – Medicine Hat) – 29.9 percent (520 votes)

There are decent odds that Demidov will not be available at fifth overall, as the vast majority of outlets suggest he’s the second or third-best player available.

If that’s the case, Habs fans are fairly united in the next best option.

They want Kent Hughes and Co. to draft forward Cayden Lindstrom from the WHL. Lindstrom projects as a power forward with an excellent nose for the net. His physical prowess is sure to entice a team like the Habs, which is looking to add size to their lineup, but not at the expense of talent. Lindstrom scored 27 goals and 16 assists in 32 games for the Tigers this season. He did suffer a nasty upper-body injury in December which kept him out of the lineup for an extended period, but did not miss a step upon his return to action.

MUST READ: Interview With Cayden Lindstrom – A Prime Draft Target For The Montreal Canadiens

3 – Tij Iginla (Forward – Kelowna) – 17.2 percent (300 votes)

The next preferred draft target is somewhat surprising if you keep a close eye on the pre-draft rankings. It’s not that Tij Iginla is unskilled, but there’s a much greater variance in his rankings than the two aforementioned prospects.

It does, however, follow a common theme. Fans want a player who knows how to use physical battles to drive the play, and that’s exactly what Iginla does best. At 6’0, he’s not a massive player, but you’d be hard-pressed to say he shies away from physical contact.

His style of play is aggressive and up-tempo, which fits well with what head coach Martin St-Louis preaches to the current NHL lineup.

The Best Of The Rest

We were expecting to do a breakdown of the top five players, but there was such a discrepancy in the desired players that it would be an injustice toward the top three players to mention anyone else in depth.

Here is the complete list of desired draft targets as voted upon by Canadiens fans on Montreal Hockey Now.

1st – Ivan Demidov 39.2 percent (682 votes)

2nd – Cayden Lindstrom – 29.9 percent (520 votes) Montreal Hockey Now – Interview With Lindstrom

3rd – Tij Iginla – 17.2 percent (300 votes)

4th – Berkly Catton – 4.9 percent (85 votes) – Montreal Hockey Now – Interview With Catton

5th – Cole Eiserman – 2.4 percent (41 votes) Montreal Hockey Now – Interview With Eiserman

6th – Beckett Sennecke – 2.2 percent (38 votes)

7th – Artyom Levshunov – 0.9 percent (16 votes)

8th – Zayne Parekh – 0.7 percent (13 votes)

9th – Konsta Helenius – 0.6 percent (10 votes)

10th – Sam Dickinson – 0.4 percent (7 votes)

Tied 10th – Michael Brandsegg-Nygard – 0.4 percent (7 votes)

12th – Anton Silayev – 0.3 percent (6 votes)

13th – Zeev Buium – 0.3 percent (5 votes)

14th – Carter Yakemchuk – 0.2 percent (4 votes)

Tied 14th – Trevor Connolly – 0.2 percent (4 votes)

16th – Other – 0.1 percent (2 votes)

More ‘Habs Fans Vote’ Statistics

–86.3 percent of the votes were cast for Demidov, Lindstrom, and Iginla.

-Iginla received more votes than the players ranked fourth to 16th (combined). (17.2 percent vs. 13.7 percent).

– Montreal Canadiens fans could not be more clear, they want the team to draft a forward. An astounding 97.1 percent of the votes were cast for a forward.

– Artyom Levshunov received the most attention among all available defencemen, with a mere 16 votes.

To give you an idea of just how much of the focus was given to the top three players, take a look at the pie chart, which has been blown up so that you can actually see evidence of the votes for players not named Iginla, Lindstrom, and Demidov.

Stay tuned for the next poll, but in the meantime, you can suggest ‘Habs Fans Vote’ topics in the comments below, as we’re aiming to improve the overall input Canadiens fans have on our website.

If you would like a breakdown of every individual vote, you can click here