Montreal Canadiens Don’t Have To “Tank” To Get Another Great Prospect At NHL Draft

The Montreal Canadiens are not going to make the playoffs this season. They also are not going to finish last and draft first overall. They will still draft a terrific prospect this June.

The Montreal Canadiens are supposed to be in the “worst” place in the NHL standings. They are in the dreaded middle ground where they are not good enough to make the playoffs, but they are also not bad enough to fall to the bottom of the NHL standings and get a really high pick at the NHL Draft.

This was the same “problem” the team had last year. They took a run at the postseason, fell just short and ended up being the best team in the league that missed the playoffs. Again, this is supposed to be the worst place to finish in the standings. However, drafting Cole Caufield 15th overall was a pretty good consolation prize for a team that was in such a terrible position in the standings.

This season, it looks like the Habs will miss the playoffs by a wider margin, but will not be finishing in the bottom five of the standings. The Detroit Red Wings are going to finish last by a mile. There is no way the Habs can finish behind the Ottawa Senators or New Jersey Devils in the Eastern Conference. Out west, the three California teams are all terrible and will finish lower than the Habs.

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This means, if the Habs struggle the rest of the way, the best they can hope for is to finish with the seventh worst record in the league. Of course, there is a draft lottery that could improve their draft slot, but if they finish there, it is most likely they will draft 7th or 8th.

Again, for some reason this is supposed to be worse than tanking to finish last overall. Would you really rather the Canadiens have a team so horribly built that they are as bad as the Detroit Red Wings right now? Or would you rather their relatively young team, especially at forward, that already has one of the best groups of prospects in the league, be good enough to stick around the playoff race a little longer than the California teams?

I know that I am okay with the Habs not wallowing through the abyss for another decade like the Red Wings appear destined to do.

Also, much like last year, the Canadiens are going to draft a terrific young player this June. Even if they somehow drop to 9th overall in the draft.

Everyone knows that Alexis Lafreniere is going first overall and if the Habs somehow win the drat lottery and move up to first it would transform the fortunes of the organization in a hurry. He has 101 points in 47 games in the QMJHL this season for the Rimouski Oceanic.

The next two picks are likely going to be Tim Stutzle and Quinton Byfield. Stutlze was terrific for Germany at the World Juniors and is scoring at nearly a point per game pace in the top German league. Byfield is a gigantic center for the Sudbury Wolves of the OHL and has 32 goals and 74 points in 40 contests.

Then there are two terrific forwards from Sweden who could both go in the top five. Lucas Raymond and Alexander Holtz are two offensively gifted players that are playing in the Swedish Hockey League and have looked great when playing against their peers at international events for years.

The top defenseman available is Jamie Drysdale who made Canada’s World Junior team. He is a great offensive defenseman who shoots right and is scoring at a point per game pace for the Erie Otters of the OHL.

There are another pair of Ontario leaguers that already have 100 points this season and are not likely to go in the top five. Cole Perfetti has 102 points in 56 games for the Saginaw Spirit and Marco Rossi is a center for the Ottawa 67’s who has 105 points in 50 games. The fact that a player averaging over two points per game is ranked like 7th or 8th tells you everything you need to know about this draft.

The next best player available is probably Anton Lundell, a big center who has 25 points in 38 Liiga games this season. By comparison, Jesperi Kotkaniemi had 29 points in 57 Liiga games before being drafted.

Chances are, the Canadiens will be adding one of these nine prospects at the coming NHL Draft in Montreal in June. Obviously winning the lottery and getting Lafreniere would be ideal. However, even if the Habs draft ninth overall they will be selecting a terrific prospect. They don’t need to tank. They don’t need to be upset they won’t be getting a higher pick. They will add another tremendous prospect no matter where they end up drafting this year.