Who Will the Montreal Canadiens Select in the First Round?

Since Lafreniere is the only player worth mentioning among the possible Habs selections if they do somehow land the #1 pick, let us proceed by looking at the top talents that may fall to the Montreal Canadiens at 9 if they were to pick there.

Let us begin with the player who is both the least likely to fall to the Habs among those I will list in this tier and the one I most desperately want to become a Hab. However, I wrote a similar article to this one last year and the player I covered who checked these same two boxes was one by the name of Cole Caufield, so who knows, maybe the hockey gods will work their magic yet again with Marco Rossi falling into Marc Bergevin’s lap at ninth overall.

So, why am I so high on Marco Rossi? He is among the oldest first-year draft-eligible players of his class, after all, having been born just eight days after the cutoff for the 2019 NHL draft class. Had he been eligible for last year’s draft he would likely have been among the top 20 picks, as he put up 29 goals and 36 assists for 65 points in 53 games (1.23 PPG), as a 17-year-old in his first season in North America, albeit on an extremely strong Ottawa team.

However, chances are he would not have gone in the top ten, which he is virtually guaranteed to do this year. This is due to the sheer dominance he displayed in his sophomore CHL season. He racked up a CHL-leading 120 points in just 56 games, among which 39 were goals (2.14 PPG). Topping a scoring chart including players such as Alexis Lafreniere, Quinton Byfield, and Cole Perfetti is impressive enough on its own, pair with that a Brendan Gallagher-Esque work ethic and my interest is most certainly piqued.

Rossi does not shy away from the dirty areas and plays a fairly physical game for his 5’9″ frame, he has great offensive awareness, and his passes are crisp and accurate, he has the hands to dangle his way through an opposing defence (but is mature enough not to hold on to the puck too long) and has a really nice shot. So why is he not at the centre of discussions to be selected among the top-3? His smaller frame. Just as Caufield dropped last year due to his size, Rossi may see the same fate this season; and if he does and the Montreal Canadiens are picking ninth, they would have an absolute gem on their hands.