A Winning Habit
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Canadiens: Redrafting Last 10 1st Round Picks

By William Mccomb

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Apr 24, 2016; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Philadelphia Flyers center Claude Giroux (28) takes a shot during the second period against the Washington Capitals in game six of the first round of the 2016 Stanley Cup Playoffs at Wells Fargo Center. Mandatory Credit: Derik Hamilton-USA TODAY Sports
Apr 24, 2016; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Philadelphia Flyers center Claude Giroux (28) takes a shot during the second period against the Washington Capitals in game six of the first round of the 2016 Stanley Cup Playoffs at Wells Fargo Center. Mandatory Credit: Derik Hamilton-USA TODAY Sports /

2006 Draft

Drafted: D David Fischer (1st Round 20th Overall)

Redraft: C Claude Giroux (1st Round 22nd Overall)

This pick hurts to this day. Back in 2006, Bob Gainey was in the middle of his 7 year tenure as Canadiens GM. He was a year removed from selecting franchise netminder Carey Price.

This led to Gainey taking a bit of a reach and selecting defensive prospect David Fischer with the 20th pick. Fischer was coming off a year in which he won the Minnesota Mr. Hockey Award as the best high school senior hockey player. Fischer had been ranked 29th among North American skaters by Central Scouting and was on a career upswing.

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Alas, it was not meant to be. Fischer attended the University of Minnesota for 4 years where he unimpressed and failed to really develop as a prospect. Once Fischer’s university career was over, the Canadiens decided to not even sign him.

Fischer ended up signing on with the Florida Everblades of the ECHL. He had 2 productive seasons in Florida before he decided to play in Germany. He has spent the past 3 seasons playing in Germany where he has turned into a solid defender.

Oh what could have been. With the Canadiens already taking a gamble by reaching for Fischer, they could just have easily taken a risk on a small center from Quebec named Claude Giroux. While Fischer holds the distinction as the worst Canadiens 1st round pick in over 20 years, Giroux has gone on to have a great career in Philadelphia.

Now, it’s not really as cut and dry as it seems. Giroux was ranked as a mid-2nd round pick by many and the Flyers took a rather large gamble on a player who was never drafted at the major junior level. In fact, he was almost 18 before even playing a game at the CHL level.

Since then though, Giroux has done nothing but reward the Flyers for their gamble. He’s a near point per game player for his career and has captained the Flyers for 3 years now. He is also just outside the Flyers top 10 scorers and should pass Simon Gagne this season.

Next: 2007 Draft

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