Canadiens Analysis
Canadiens Draft Pick Via Calgary Almost Set For 2025 NHL Draft
The NHL has announced the Draft Lottery will take place on May 5, and though the Canadiens are currently enjoying playoff hockey, they still have a part to play in the upcoming lottery.
Montreal Canadiens 2025 Draft Discussion
The reason Montreal is still involved is due to the trade that saw Sean Monahan join the Canadiens via the Calgary Flames. There are a lot of moving parts in the trade details, but we can now simplify the situation to a certain extent.
The Canadiens will probably own the Flames’ first-round pick in 2025, which is currently set for 16th overall. However, the pick is top-10 protected, which means the Canadiens will have to return it to Calgary should they win the lottery. In that case, the Canadiens would then receive the Florida Panthers’ first-round pick, which is yet to be set.
The odds they’d drop from 16 to the 30 range are rather low, just 0.5 percent, but stranger things have happened.
Projecting The Picks
If we assume the Canadiens will draft 16th overall, we can get a better idea of the quality of picks Kent Hughes and his scouting staff will have to work with come May 5.
In addition to picking 16th overall, the Canadiens still own their original first-round pick, which will be somewhere between 17th and 32nd. Realistically, it will be much closer to 17th than 32nd.
They also own two second-round picks, as well as two third-round picks, which means they will have an opportunity to find some talent in the upcoming draft, an important factor when we consider they aren’t quite done rebuilding.
It won’t be as easy as previous years due to their draft positions, but good teams find talent regardless of the situation.
For example, every team that had a pick in the first two rounds of the 2024 NHL Entry Draft passed on phenom Lane Hutson, including the Canadiens, before he was finally picked late in the second round. Those opportunities are rare, but they still exist.
ON TOPIC: Calder Trophy Talk – The Strong Case For Lane Hutson
We’ll discuss the prospects who will potentially be available in Montreal’s ranger once the playoffs are over, but all things considered, having a healthy stock of upcoming picks while also enjoying playoff hockey is a very encouraging situation for an organization that’s clearly on the rise.
If they’re serious about getting a 2nd line center they’ll most likely be parting with multiple of those picks
#gohabsgo. there was ups ,and downs , retooling..and rebuilds.. focused center pieces .. and alot of reshaping the system the canadiens have always played. the on going topic of ” you need a French head-coach” or a ” French captain” … to be the focal point for the team. Suzuki may not be French but I’ll be damned if someone says he’s not a good captain for this team atm. Gallagher.. wow.. hands down great season this year.. the veteran leadership he displayed aswell at the same time, the same type of hard nosed hockey we all know and loved from him. Heinimen did well aswell as some other prospects who were called up. the surprise and the great push they made for the last and final wild card spot.. to a playoff win, with in mind.. alot of players who were never in the playoffs. to finally getting a Russian forward that actually will play well here to a coach who was said to be only good enough to coach a little league game but actually made this team play better and better to caufield putting up 37 goals ( which i remember,i had a debate with someone, and this random dude said he wont be getting even 20 g’s this year) to a gm that ppl said “they never should have hired him” ( btw hats off to him and jeff gorton for pushing molson in what needed to be done to build a championship team again)to the modifications of the facilities and the facilitation of a new and modern hockey development system..to great pick ups I thw draft in the last 2 years.. to the countless hours of prepping this young guys to have a great training camp… I don’t care what anyone says .. yeah I’m a proud habs fan.. but man o man I haven’t been hyped like this in a long time .. Mark my words next 5 years. We get a cup! guranteed!
Not only do we have “a healthy stock of upcoming picks”, we also have an abundance of excellent prospects coming already too. That improves “a very encouraging situation” to practically giddy. The future is bright.
On a side note, I know most of the talk this summer will likely be about finding a 2C, but it’s not an urgent as some will make it. We still have Dach. He’s expected to be ready for the start of next season, I believe. People seem to forget that we were pretty high on him and what he was going to do heading into this season. After his first season with us, other than poor face-off stats, the story about him is he makes anyone he plays on a line with better. Of course, that was all forgotten after he struggled so much this year. But weren’t his struggles because his knee still wasn’t right from the season ending injury the previous year? I know we can’t completely throw out this season as a “one off”, but we won’t know whether it was or not until he actually plays fully healed again. Yes, he’s been injury prone, I’m not going to ignore that. It’s an issue for me too. But I still would like to see what he can do fully healthy again, especially before we go trading away potentially key future pieces trying to acquire another 2C by trade. I’m not totally against exploring the possibility, but I still want to see what Dach can do when not playing injured. A healthy Dach between Laine and Demidov still sounds like a heck of a 2nd line to me.