6 Targets For The Montreal Canadiens In The First Round Of The 2020 NHL Draft

Dawson Mercer

Dawson Mercer is touted as a jack-of-all-trades type of player who can do all the little things a coach loves. A right-handed right-winger and sometimes center billed at 6’0’’, 179-pounds, Mercer is a cerebral player with great vision and playmaking ability.

This past season in the QMJHL with both the Drummondville Voltigeurs and the Chicoutimi Saguenéens put up a total of 60 points in 42 games. Mercer excels at setting up plays, with 36 assists. He can shoot the puck rather well with both his wrister and slap shot.

While Mercer has all the tools to be a legitimate-NHL player, his skating and awkward stride might hold him back from reaching the NHL any time soon. Even though he’s quite stable on his skates and plays bigger than his size suggests, Mercer will need to work hard on developing his skating if he wants to make the big leagues.

The Newfoundland native is projected to go 15th or later in the draft but if the Habs are looking for a well-rounded winger with big-time hockey IQ, Mercer would be an excellent pick.

Jacob Perreault

If the Habs are looking to add another goal-scoring winger to their depth chart, they should look no further than Montreal’s own Jacob Perreault. While selecting him 16th overall would be slightly off the board, the Canadiens would be taking a chance on one of the purest goal scorers of this year’s draft.

The 18 year-old-right winger is billed at 5’11’’, 198-pounds and plays for the OHL’s Sarnia Sting and posted 70 points in a shortened 57-game season with an eye-opening 39 goals.

While able to rush up the ice with no real gripes about his skating ability, Perreault has raised some eyebrows about his speed. Where Perreault really falls short in the eyes of the scouts is his defensive abilities, or rather, lack thereof.

In a classic case of a pure offensive player focusing too much on one thing, Perreault was a defensive liability with a plus/minus rating of -34. Even if you might not put much importance on plus/minus, having that large of a negative impact on the defence isn’t a good look. And the scouts have noticed, as he’s projected to go somewhere in the 20s.

There are certainly better overall players available ahead of Perreault, but rare is a pure goal-scoring winger, especially one who has the distinction of being a hometown talent. The Montreal Canadiens can do much worse than having two elite offensive wingers on the depth chart.

And yes, he’s Yanic Perreault’s son.