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Canadiens: Veilleux, Wickenheiser, and the Long Wait For No. 1

By Scott Cowan

MONTREAL, QC - FEBRUARY 27: Goaltender Carey Price #31 of the Montreal Canadiens tends goal near Jesper Fast #17 of the New York Rangers during the first period at the Bell Centre on February 27, 2020 in Montreal, Canada. The New York Rangers defeated the Montreal Canadiens 5-2. (Photo by Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images)
MONTREAL, QC - FEBRUARY 27: Goaltender Carey Price #31 of the Montreal Canadiens tends goal near Jesper Fast #17 of the New York Rangers during the first period at the Bell Centre on February 27, 2020 in Montreal, Canada. The New York Rangers defeated the Montreal Canadiens 5-2. (Photo by Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images) /
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Montreal Canadiens, New York Rangers
MONTREAL, QC – FEBRUARY 27: New York Rangers Montreal Canadiens (Photo by Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images) /

As the NHL draft has gained more legitimacy, becoming the main source for teams looking to acquire talent, first overall picks have seen their ups and downs. While theirs been a recent trend of success from the likes of Auston Matthews and Connor McDavid, a weaker draft can always lead to the next Nail Yakupov, Alexandre Daigle, or even Doug Wickenheiser.

Lafreniere looks to be amongst the former, with the QMJHL star being the talk of this year’s World Junior Championships, demonstrating an impressive mix of offense and defense, with soft hands and an accurate release. He should immediately join the Rangers top six and add to the already long list of top prospects New York possesses.

For the Canadiens, the Flyers will certainly bring a challenge, as the team should look to Carey Price once more to be their make or break asset in this series. While they did miss out on a chance at Lafreniere, the experience this will offer to prospects like Nick Suzuki and Jesperi Kotkaniemi should compensate for that. Both played very well against the Penguins and should look to take on bigger roles come next year.

The NHL has been long removed from the days of Andre Veilleux, but always seems to find itself tying back to the golden days of six teams and a Canadiens dynasty. While Lafreniere will add on to what looks like a promising New York team, Montreal can look to this first-round matchup.

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In the end, theirs much more to take from the rest of these NHL playoffs and onwards, and both the Canadiens and Rangers, will be big parts of that.

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