The Montreal Canadiens had long needed to upgrade their center ice position. They drafted for that need when they took Jesperi Kotkaniemi in the 2018 NHL Draft, but did they fill the wrong need?
The Montreal Canadiens had a dearth at center ice for many years. For several years we were traded to David Desharnais centering the first line, though it was always unlikely he would score more than 55 points in a given season. Still, he was the best option the team had down the middle.
Marc Bergevin finally attempted to rectify this in the past few years, though it came with mixed results. He signed Tomas Plekanec for too much money for a year or two too long and traded for Jonathan Drouin hoping he could somehow just switch from left wing to center at the NHL level without and trouble.
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This didn’t really work out so he turned his eye to the young centers he could acquire. In the 2017 NHL Draft he took Ryan Poehling late in the first round. When he traded Max Pacioretty to the Vegas Golden Knights he targeted young center Nick Suzuki who was a first round pick in 2017 as well.
In June of 2018, Bergevin sent Alex Galchenyuk to the Arizona Coyotes for Max Domi. The Habs moved Domi down the middle of the ice and he excelled, scoring 72 points in his first year as a Hab. With the emergence of Phillip Danault as a great two-way center, the team suddenly had some options at center and depth in the pipeline as well.
Bergevin decided to target this need once again at the 2018 NHL Draft. With the third overall pick, it was expected Filip Zadina would be taken as he appeared to be the best player available. There is always some argument to that sentiment, but the Habs clearly drafted for a need when they decided to select Jesperi Kotkaniemi, a big center from Finland.
This definitely added to their depth down the middle, especially when he played well enough in his first training camp to earn a roster spot. This led to Plekanec’s contract being terminated and him moving back to the Czech Republic as they had too many centers for this first time in decades.
Having too many centers is definitely a good problem to have. However, the Habs have created another problem, which is not having enough left defencemen that can play at a high level on a consistent basis. Did the Canadiens miss their opportunity to fill this void when they drafted Kotkaniemi?
It’s foolish to look back at old drafts and see players that your favourite team could have drafted. However, when it is a top three pick and the team clearly decided to pick by need, you can question their choices. What if the Canadiens decided to target a left defenceman, which was also a need at the time? (Unless 82 games of Karl Alzner wasn’t enough for them to decide he was not good.)
Well, there was a pretty intriguing left defenceman available early in that draft and he just so happens to be excelling already at the NHL level. If Bergevin decided to target the best left defender available, they would have taken Quinn Hughes with the third overall pick instead of Kotkaniemi.
Hughes was an undersized player, but had already played a season of college hockey and proved to be an exceptional offensive defenceman and among the best skaters in the world at a young age. Though he started that season as a 17 year old defender, he scored 29 points in 37 games for Michigan and showed he could take the puck in his own zone and skate it all the way up ice with ease.
Hughes has continued to display those skills at the NHL level. He played five games at the end of last season and scored three points. This year, he has 24 points in 30 games so far for the Canucks. He is making teams look silly for passing up on him and allowing him to drop to seventh overall.
There are always going to be people who question a defenceman who is 5’10” and 170 pounds, but the NHL keeps trending towards more skill and less toughness making players like Quinn Hughes more valuable.
Kotkaniemi is still a young player and has great potential to turn into a franchise center for the Montreal Canadiens. But still, you have to wonder how much better off this team would be if they had Hughes on left defence with Chiarot and Mete and still had Domi, Danault and Suzuki down the middle of the ice.