Montreal Canadiens: Could Peyton Krebs Drop To 15 At NHL Draft?
The Montreal Canadiens have the 15th overall selection at the upcoming NHL Draft. Peyton Krebs was ranked very high but could an injury see him drop to the Habs?
The Montreal Canadiens just barely missed the NHL Playoffs. They were in the dreaded position of being the best team in the league that did not qualify for the postseason. That means they don’t have a chance to win the Stanley Cup, but they still have to wait a while before making a pick at the NHL Draft.
The draft this year is going to offer at least the first 15 teams a chance to grab an excellent prospect. The Canadiens won’t be getting a player who can provide an immediate impact like Jack Hughes or Kaapo Kakko. However, they will add an exceptional prospect even if they stay at 15 and wait their turn.
Not only will Hughes and Kakko be gone, but Alex Turcotte, Bowen Byram, Kirby Dach, Dylan Cozens, Trevor Zegras, Matt Boldy, Cole Caufield, and Vasili Podkolzin are likely to be taken before the Canadiens get to the podium. They are the consensus top ten picks and though anything can happen on draft night, I don’t think the Habs will have a chance to grab any of those players.
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The list of players that I’m certain will be gone before the 15th pick used to also include Peyton Krebs. However, the Calgary, Alberta native injured his achilles while training last week. An injury like this won’t derail his career, but with so many great players available it may give a couple of teams pause to select Krebs.
Instead of going 9th or 10th overall, perhaps he drops to 15th. And if he is still available at 15th, the Canadiens need to select him even if he doesn’t fill an immediate need.
It’s easy to look at this year’s draft class and see a plethora of left shot defenders that fit a huge need for the Canadiens. Cam York, Philip Broberg, Ville Heinola, Victor Soderstrom and Thomas Harley all fit the profile and the Habs would be lucky to get any of them.
But none of the aforementioned defenders have the skills or potential to be game changers like Krebs.
Krebs unfortunately played the past two seasons with the Kootenay Ice of the Western Hockey League. They had a putrid 36 points on the season, but it was not Krebs fault the team struggled. He finished the season with 68 points in 64 games. That point-per-game average is more impressive when you consider the Ice only had three players that scored more than 30 points.
Krebs is an exceptional skater, and an absolutely amazing playmaker. He’s not the biggest prospect, but plays a tough-as-nails style with a dogged determination to win puck battles. Think Max Domi but with even better vision and skills.
When playing with his peers, and not on one of the worst Junior teams in the country, Krebs skills shone the brightest. Just over a year ago he played at the World Under-17s tournament. He scored a goal and added five assists in five games.
This year, at the World Under-18 Championships which is basically the World Juniors but everyone is two years younger, Krebs dominated again. He scored six goals and four assists for ten points in just seven games to lead the team in scoring.
Not only has Krebs become accustomed to being a leader on the ice for his teams, but he is clearly a leader off the ice as well. He was named the captain of his Junior team at the age of 17 and was also the captain of the national teams he played on.
Krebs could be a center or a left winger at the NHL level. His elite hockey sense, unbelievable passing ability and exceptional smarts will make him successful no matter where he plays. He has the talent, character and ability to be a top ten pick in this draft.
The only downfall to taking Krebs is that he recently had surgery to repair his injured achilles. These injuries can have long recovery periods, but you aren’t expecting a player taken 15th overall to have an immediate impact at the NHL level anyway.
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If Krebs injury sees him drop a few spots to 15th overall, Marc Bergevin, Trevor Timmins and the rest of the Montreal Canadiens management team will be running to the podium to make their selection.