Montreal Canadiens Mock Draft: Every Habs Pick

The Montreal Canadiens head into the 2019 NHL Draft with ten draft picks, including a pair of second rounders and the 15th overall selection. Who will they select?

The Montreal Canadiens just missed the postseason, and therefore will have to wait until the 15th pick before they head to the podium. They also have added a second round pick from the Columbus Blue Jackets as part of the Max Pacioretty trade with the Vegas Golden Knights. They could add another impact player with the selection to add to Tomas Tatar and Nick Suzuki.

A couple more trades that brought in depth picks bring the Habs total pick count to ten. One pick in each round except for the fifth round where they will make three selections. Trevor Timmins likes to save his best picks for the fifth round or later, so keep a close eye on day two of the draft as well.

Last year’s draft saw the Canadiens restock the prospect cupboards by taking Jesperi Kotkaniemi, Jesse Ylonen and Alexander Romanov in the first two rounds. Two years ago, Ryan Poehling, Josh Brook and Joni Ikonen were taken in the opening pair of rounds.

Will they Habs be able to make a similar splash at this year’s event? Let’s take a look at who could be available for them at every pick and would be a great fit for the organization.

The Montreal Canadiens have a huge need for left defensemen not only at the NHL level, but throughout their organization. They take a huge step toward filling that need by selecting Thomas Harley of the Mississauga Steelheads with the 15th overall pick.

Not only does Harley fill a huge need, but he will also be the best player available in the middle of the first round. He is an exceptional skater, can move the puck well, has no problem defending opponents and will fill the most glaring need in the organization.

Harley scored 58 points in 68 games for a rebuilding Mississauga team and added four assists in four playoff games. He also suited up for Canada at the World Under-18 tournament and played extremely well against players his own age, earning top four minutes and scored four points in seven contests.

The 6’3″ defender doesn’t play a very heavy game, but he uses his speed and smarts to make plays and move the puck up ice. TSN draft analyst Craig Button has compared him to Thomas Chabot on more than one occasion in the leadup to the draft and if he can be half the player Chabot has turned out to be, this would be a steal.

Harley is also one of the youngest players in the draft. He does not turn 18 until August 19, meaning if he were a month younger he wouldn’t be available until 2020.

The Montreal Canadiens add a versatile forward in the second round. Rees is a player with a desire that doesn’t quit. He works tirelessly every shift and outworks and wears down opponents with his relentlessness.

Not only is Rees a spark plug on the ice, he can also chip in offence as well. He scored 32 points in 37 games for the Sarnia Sting of the Ontario Hockey League. He really showed off his offensive potential when playing for Canada at the World Under-18 tournament. Playing a physical style throughout the event, Rees also chipped in eight points in seven games.

He’s not known as a high impact scorer, but he kept up with Peyton Krebs, Dylan Cozens and Alex Newhook in the short tournament. Those three forwards could all be top ten picks and Rees showed his offensive game isn’t as far away from theirs as we all thought.

The Montreal Canadiens can’t go two rounds of the draft without taking a player from Finland. Joni Ikonen in 2017, Jesse Ylonen and Jesperi Kotkaniemi in 2018 and now Mikko Kokkonen in 2019. Thrown in Artturi Lehkonen, Joel Armia, Otto Leskinen and you’ve got quite the group from Finland.

Kokkonen also fits since he is a left shooting defenseman who has shown he could develop into a point producer at the NHL level. He scored 19 points in 56 games in a league that rarely sees teenagers put up a lot of points. Kotkaniemi had 29 points in 57 games last season, which is just ten more points than Kokkonen who plays defence.

The Canadiens focused almost all of their picks last season on needs, specifically at center. Seeing how well Kotkaniemi played this season, and with Ryan Poehling and Nick Suzuki coming soon, their biggest lack of depth is on defence. They will continue to focus on that need here with a smart, two-way defender who isn’t flashy but can put up points.

What!? A goaltender? But they already have Carey Price! Yeah, and they had a guy who recently won a Hart Trophy when they selected Price, so using a fourth round pick on a goaltender to bolster the depth in the system isn’t a bad idea.

Colten Ellis has been excellent in the QMJHL for the past two seasons for the Rimouski Oceanic. He posted a 2.35 goals against average and a .913 save percentage in his rookie season in 2017-18 and followed that up with a 2.47 GAA and a .910 SV% this season.

Ellis helped carry the low scoring Oceanic to the third round of the QMJHL playoffs, before bowing out to the high scoring Rouyn-Noranda Huskies. In the second round, Ellis allowed just eight goals in five games to carry the Oceanic past his former team, the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles.

Two years ago, Ellis carried a Cape Breton midget team to a national title at the Telus Cup, a feat that was never accomplished by a team from Nova Scotia before. He has a winning, big game pedigree and would be an excellent add to the Canadiens farm system.

With the first of their three picks in the fifth round, the Canadiens go back to last year’s philosophy and grab a highly skilled center with boom/bust potential. Last season, the Canadiens took Allan McShane, Cole Fonstad, Samuel Houde and Brett Stapley late in the process.

Stapley was taken in the seventh round and had a solid freshman campaign with the University of Denver. He played last season in the BCHL, just like Harrison Blaisdell and they had similar numbers in their draft year.

Stapley scored 59 points in 52 games in his draft year with the Vernon Vipers. Blaisdell scored 58 points in 51 games including 33 goals. Stapley has turned into a real prospect, and the hope here is Blaisdell can do the same at North Dakota next season.

The Montreal Canadiens continue to fill the cupboards with defensemen. After selecting Thomas Harley in the first round and Mikko Kokkonen in the second round, they take a third left shooting defender by grabbing Jake Lee in the fifth round.

Lee is a steady, yet not too flashy defenseman who played the past two seasons with the Seattle Thunderbirds of the Western Hockey League. He’s been dealt to the Kelowna Rocket, which is also known as the factory for excellent defensemen.

Lee scored 24 points in 67 games for the Thunderbirds last season and played well enough to be asked to represent Canada at the World Under 17 championships in 2018. He won’t turn 18 until mid-July so he has two more seasons of Junior eligibility to put everything together and became an NHL prospect.

Another center and another late birthday, Blake Murray joins the Habs organization in round five. He’s coming off two solid, yet unspectacular seasons with the Sudbury Wolves of the Ontario Hockey League.

Murray scored 50 points in 66 games this season, but what makes him intriguing are his 30 goals. He scored 21 goals and 44 points in 2017-18 as an OHL rookie in just 57 games. The lack of a jump in production is a bit concerning, but a player who can score 30 goals in the OHL before he turns 18 shows impressive goal scoring ability.

The Canadiens started this trend last season of drafting centers who have proven they can score. Taking Murray in the fifth round is a worthy gamble as not a lot of players can say they are 30 goal scorers at this time in the draft.

The Montreal Canadiens went off the board last season when they took Russian defenseman Alexander Romanov in the second round. A lot of people were scratching their heads wondering what the Habs management team was thinking when they announced that pick.

Fast forward a year later and Romanov has won best defenceman at the World Juniors and looks like a steal. While keeping an eye on their new prized possession in Russia, I’m sure the Habs scouts took a good look at Roman Bychkov as well.

Bychkov is a left shooting defenceman who is a bit undersized. Drafting Russians, even in the top ten can be a bit of a crapshoot. Taking someone from Russia in the sixth round minimizes the risk. Bychkov could prove to be a solid puck moving and skating defender in a couple of years. Just look how good Romanov turned out when the spotlight was on him.

Bychkov played in the MHL which is the Junior league for the KHL. He had 15 points in 40 games and suited up internationally for the Russian Under-18 team. It’s a worth gamble to take a skilled Russian with the 170th pick.

It has been a while since the Canadiens drafted someone from Finland, hasn’t it? And why not focus on taking players from Suomi. They have about one tenth as many people as Canada, yet they have built a powerhouse of a hockey nation that continues to win major tournaments every year.

Not to paint all Finns with the same brush, but they typically play a smart, two-way game that has minimal mistakes and makes the most out of every shift. Just look at Artturi Lehkonen and Joel Armia. You watch them play a handful of games and think they must be top line players, but their point totals are around 30 at the end of the season.

Now, this isn’t a bad thing. It’s just that they almost never make mistakes, play so well positionally and defensively that you trick yourself into thinking they are huge point scorers. Loponen is the opposite of what I just explained at the moment. A skilled, offensive minded defenseman who could work on his defensive game.

So, you draft him in the seventh round and let him stay in Finland and work on his defensive game for a few years. It’s worked for countless players that have come to North America from Finland. If Loponen can build a solid defensive game, you’ve really got something and that is a steal in the last round of the draft.