Canadiens Top 15 Worst 1st Round Picks: 15th-11th

With the Canadiens drafting 9th overall in June’s NHL Entry Draft, we have to be reminded that the draft is far from a sure thing.

The Montreal Canadiens track record in the 1st round of the NHL draft has been spotty at best. The team has been more well known for it’s misses than it’s hits and have shown far more success in finding hidden gems in the later rounds.

With the 2015-16 NHL draft 7 weeks away, we are going to take a look at the worst 1st round blunders in Montreal Canadiens history. The draft period we are using is from 1970-2010 and although hindsight is always 20/20, rankings will be affected by the players the Canadiens passed on.

15. C Louis Leblanc – 18th Overall in 2009

In some ways I feel bad for Leblanc. The moment he was drafted and the Belle Centre erupted in a standing ovation and the media swarmed him, he was almost doomed to fail.

Leblanc wasn’t a real reach as he was ranked anywhere from 17th-25th but by selecting him in front of the hometown fans and media, the expectations catapulted to superstar or bust. Unfortunately, Leblanc has busted. What makes things worse, had the Canadiens taken Chris Krider, who went 19th, he would not have injured Price in Game 1 of the 2014 Eastern Conference Finals.

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Leblanc eventually left Harvard after 1 season and spent 1 season in the QMJHL before turning pro. Leblanc seemingly felt the pressure and tried to force his own development by jumping from league to league. This led to him not having a consistent learning environment to learn from. In hindsight, he likely should have stayed at Harvard for at least another season or two before turning pro. However, that didn’t happen and he ended up making the Habs in 2011-12 but his development stagnated and he has never been able to find his footing.

14. D Jarred Tinordi – 22nd Overall in 2010

Admittedly, it’s still fairly early in Tinordi’s career to call him a bust. However, things are not looking up for him as not only did the Canadiens cut bait with him, he was also slapped with a 20 game suspension for a positive PED test.

What makes this one of the worst picks in Canadiens history has more to do with the fact the Canadiens traded their original 27th pick plus their 2nd round pick to get the 22nd pick. That’s a hefty price to pay to move up 5 spots and not get any real return on the player they picked. Especially since they could have taken center Evgeny Kuznetsov, who eventually went 26th to the Capitals.

13th – RW Danny Geoffrion – 8th Overall in 1978

Geoffrion had the pedigree, the skill and the tenacity to be a star in the NHL. He is the son of Canadiens legend Bernie Geoffrion, better known as “Boom, Boom”.

After a stellar junior career and being drafted 8th overall, the younger Geoffrion spurned the Canadiens and joined the WHA’s Quebec Nordiques. After recording just 26 points in the WHA, Geoffrion joined the Canadiens in 1979 and was coached by his father. Neither one found much success and both were soon out of Montreal.

The Canadiens didn’t really miss out on much with Geoffrion’s selection but could have taken Brad Marsh, who went 11th or future 50 goal scorer Al Secord, who went 16th.

12. RW Mark Hunter – 7th Overall in 1981

Hunter’s ranking has literally nothing to do with his career or his lack of production in Montreal. He actually had some really nice seasons in St. Louis and his Canadiens career was marred by injuries. Was he worth a 7th overall selection? Not likely but you can do much worse as you’ll see later in this series.

What makes Hunter’s selection the 13th worst 1st round pick in Canadiens history is the fact the team ignored it’s needs. The team was absolutely flush with offensive talent up front and their overall forward depth was very impressive. Not only that, their two oldest forwards were Rejean Houle and Yvon Lambert, who were both just 30 years of age.

What the Canadiens really needed was stability in net or a young defenceman. The team had lost Hall of Fame netminder Ken Dryden to early retirement a year prior and were utilizing a three-headed goaltending monster of career backups. As well, two of their core defencemen were entering the twilight of their careers.

The team could have really used a Grant Fuhr(drafted 8th), a James Patrick(9th) or an Al MacInnis(15th), three players who went on to have 20 year NHL careers and two of which are Hall of Fame players.

11. G Ray Martyniuk – 5th Overall in 1970

The tale of Ray Martyniuk is one of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. The NHL draft was still in it’s infancy at the time but Martyniuk was nicknamed the “Can’t Miss Kid” for his play for the Flin Flon Bombers of the old Western Canada Hockey League. He was the 2nd highest drafted goalie in the small draft history and came into camp with the Canadiens looking at a long, illustrious NHL career with a team known for it’s goalie development.

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Unfortunately, history pulled a Dikembe Mutombo and swatted that notion deep into the ground. Martyniuk’s competition in Montreal at that time was incumbent starter Rogie Vachon, a two-time Stanley Cup winner at that time, rookie and future Hall of Fame goalie Ken Dryden, 1966 5th overall pick Phil Myre, who was a solid backup goalie for over 10 years. Not only that, he had to also compete against future NHL starter Wayne Thomas in the AHL.

A year later, Ken Dryden officially became the Canadiens future after leading them to the 1971 Stanley Cup title and Martyniuk became an after thought. He would spend one more year with the Canadiens organization before he was traded to the California Golden Seals. He never seen a minute of NHL action and spent the majority of his career in the IHL.

To make matters worse, the rival Toronto Maple Leafs drafted future Hall of Fame center Darryl Sittler with the 8th pick. Could you imagine the 1970’s Montreal Canadiens having Sittler centering Guy Lafleur and Steve Shutt? They likely would have won more Cups in the decade.

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