Montreal Canadiens: Marc Bergevin has options ahead of the draft

The Montreal Canadiens are at the top of the draft in June, and Marc Bergevin has a new set of options he may want to consider.

One of the long-awaited events of the Montreal Canadiens season is over with. All the lottery balls have fallen, and the lucky number for Marc Bergevin and the Habs organization was three. After Bill Daly revealed the white card with the cherished logo on it, multiple branches opened up as far as the future offseason plan.

The easiest path to follow with the third overall pick intact is to use it and welcome Filip Zadina or Brady Tkachuk to the Montreal Canadiens organization. Things could be different, and a team may pull a Jarmo Kekäläinen and go off the board, but the consensus order seems to be Rasmus Dahlin at one followed by Andrei Svechnikov at two. However, said ‘easy path’ leads to a choice between two probable NHL players.

This is where Trevor Timmins and his scouting staff steps in and it also really helps to have Dominuqe Ducharme on deck. Zadina looks to be a player to walk into the NHL right away whereas Tkachuk may go back to Boston College despite having the strength, size, and skill to make the jump. The deciding factor will be how well both perform at their respective training camps, but it’s something to consider.

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The harder path could be a little risky. The Athletic‘s Arpon Basu tweeted some thoughts from Bergevin after the lottery including an openness to trading the third-overall pick. However, he also mentioned that a reward is deserved after the pain of a poor season.

One of the things many have brought up is that there aren’t many centres in the top five. Scouts believe that Tkachuk could play in the middle, but he’s spent most of his time on left-wing. Is there a possibility that the Montreal Canadiens trade down to where some of the centres are projected to slot in. Them being Oliver Wahlstrom, Jesperi Kotkaniemi, or Joe Veleno.

Next: Reactions to the Draft Lottery

These are just a few things to consider. Odds are (haha) the Montreal Canadiens stay where they are draft Zadina or Tkachuk. If a trade is worked out for Max Pacioretty, assuming that is still the way to go, perhaps Bergevin gets his scouting staff another first-round pick to work with opening up new paths to divulge into as far as the rest of the offseason goes.