Montreal Canadiens: Grading Every Pick From the 2009 NHL Draft
With the Montreal Canadiens season on hiatus, we have been taking a look back at some of their past drafts. Today, we look back and grade every pick from the 2009 NHL Draft.
The Montreal Canadiens have built up a great group of prospects in the past few years. We haven’t looked back at the most recent draft because it is a little too early to make any grand proclamations about 19 or 20 year old hockey players.
So, we have been looking back at the drafts a little earlier than that. We started with the 2017 NHL Draft and have been working our way backwards. Today, we take a look at the 2009 NHL Draft.
The 2009 draft was held in Montreal at the Bell Centre. There was a terrific buzz in the building in the lead up to the event as Habs fans packed the building. The Habs did not have an early pick, but that didn’t stop fans from filling the arena early and making lots of noise as players came off the board and the Habs pick neared.
The 2008-09 season was the Habs centennial campaign and began with tremendous potential and anticipation. The Habs brought in Robert Lang and Alex Tanguay before the season began to load up their forwards and would trade for Mathieu Schneider to provide a boost to the defence late in the year.
The season started well but ultimately ended in disappointment as the Habs barely made the playoffs and were quickly swept in the first round by the Boston Bruins. This left them with the 18th overall selection in the first round. Their trade for Schneider included a second round pick heading to the Atlanta Thrashers and a third round coming to Montreal.
This left the Habs with no second round pick and an extra third round pick. Let’s take a look at how they did with all of those picks that year:
18th Overall. LOUIS LEBLANC. D. Bell Centre exploded when the Habs selected a Quebec native in the first round. Leblanc played one year of NCAA and one year in the QMJHL before turning pro. He never lived up to the huge hype surrounding him in Montreal. Was dealt to the Anaheim Ducks for future considerations in 2014 after scoring 28 points in 70 AHL games. <strong>Others available: </strong>Chris Kreider, Marcus Johansson. 1st Round
D. Nattinen played 14 games in Liiga before being drafted but didn’t register a point. He was great in Finland’s top Junior league, scoring 38 points in 30 games. After two more years playing in his home country, Nattinen signed his entry-level contract. He played one NHL game and had 45 points in 156 career AHL games. <strong>Others available: </strong>Brayden McNabb, Reilly Smith. 3rd Round. 65th Overall. JOONAS NATTINEN
D. Bennett was a good sized defenceman playing high school hockey in the United States when he was drafted. He had a respectable four year career with Michigan and would sign with the Habs. He played 140 career AHL games but never suited up in the NHL. <strong>Others available: </strong>Kevin Connauton, Nic Deslauriers, Cody Eakin, Casey Cizikas.. 3rd Round. 79th Overall. MAC BENNETT
ALEXANDER AVTSIN. D. Avtsin was lighting up a low level pro league in Russia when the Habs took a chance on him. He had nine points in 30 KHL games the following year, before signing his entry-level contract. He put up 36 points in 139 career AHL games before returning to Russia without making an NHL appearance. He still plays in the KHL but has been bouncing between Russia’s top league and its next best league, the VHL. <strong>Others available: </strong>Byron Froese, Ben Chiarot, Mike Hoffman. 4th Round. 109th Overall
Dumont was a high scoring centre in the QMJHL, averaging about a point per game. He exploded for 93 points the following year and has had a lengthy pro career split between the NHL and AHL. He only played 18 games with the Habs but proved to be a solid two-way presence for their AHL affiliate and provided reliable fourth line minutes when he was called up. He split this past season with the AHL’s Iowa Wild (34 games) and Minnesota Wild (3 games). <strong>Others available: </strong>Marcus Kruger, Nick Jensen. 5th Round. 139th Overall. GABRIEL DUMONT. B
Walsh was a scoring forward in the OJHL, Ontario’s Junior A league when the Habs drafted him in the sixth round. He played the next four years at college for Dartmouth, maxing out at 22 points in 29 games as a senior. He never signed with the Habs and didn’t play a professional game. He currently works as an analyst for the Vegas Golden Knights. <strong>Others available: </strong>Joni Ortio, Brandon Kozun, Erik Haula. 6th Round. 169th Overall. DUSTIN WALSH. D
7th Round. 199th Overall. MIKE CICHY. C. Cichy had a tremendous year in the USHL before the Habs drafted him. His scoring dried up quickly when he arrived at North Dakota. He had 11 points in 48 games over two years before transferring to Western Michigan. After graduating, he moved to Poland where he has played in their top league ever since. He scored 58 points in 46 games this season. <strong>Others available: </strong>No one who made an impact in the NHL.
7th Round. 211th Overall. PETTERI SIMILA. C. Looking to develop their own backup for Carey Price, the Habs traded a 6th round pick in 2010 for an extra pick in 2009. Simila was playing Junior in Finland, but didn’t have great numbers. He is enormous at 6’5″ and they took a shot late hoping they could develop him into a reliable pro. He came over to Ontario to play in the OHL the next year but only lasted 11 games. He never returned to North America to play hockey. <strong>Others available: </strong>Literally no one, it was the last pick of the draft.