The Montreal Canadiens are always under plenty of scrutiny for their draft choices. Let’s take a look back on their performance at the 2016 NHL Draft.
The Montreal Canadiens have quickly built up a great group of prospects. They made 21 selections at the past two drafts and the sheer quantity of picks is sure to produce some NHL talent in the near future. However, it is still a little early to grade all of those picks as we don’t know how they are going to turn out.
Even the 2016 NHL Draft is a little too recent to look back on and come up with definitive grades for every pick. However, with the NHL calendar, as well as literally every other hockey league, on pause right now we thought it was as good a time as any to look back on some old drafts.
The Habs 2015-16 season was no pretty as Carey Price was injured and it resulted in the team plummeting down the standings. They finished in the bottom ten of the league and ended up with the ninth overall pick in the draft.
The Canadiens had flipped around a few of their later picks but ended up at the draft with a pick in every round except the second. They had traded their second rounder in 2016 a year earlier when they acquired Andrew Shaw from the Chicago Blackhawks. This pick would end up being Alex DeBrincat which is still a bit of a sore spot for Habs fans.
However, we are not here to discuss the picks Montreal did not make, we are taking a look at all of the players they did pick. So, let’s get started.