Montreal Canadiens Should Trade Some Picks Today, to Stockpile Future Picks

The Montreal Canadiens still have nine picks today. They should move a few for future pieces.

The Montreal Canadiens began stockpiling draft picks for the 2020 NHL Draft more than two years ago. At one point, they held as many as 14 selections in this year’s event.

That number has shrunk over the past few weeks. The Habs moved a pick for Joel Edmundson. They traded two more at this year’s draft for Jake Allen and then gave up a third round pick in the Josh Anderson trade.

Still, the Habs have nine picks remaining today. It would be wise to move a few of them for picks in the 2021 NHL Draft.

The reason for that is the uncertainty surrounding the hockey world right now. With the global pandemic not slowing down in some parts of the world, you just don’t know which leagues are going to play a full season in 2020-21 and which one’s will be shut down after a few months or weeks.

The NHL announced at the start of the first round that they are now looking at a January 1st start date for next season. That pushes their initial target back a month from what they were hoping for. The AHL isn’t supposed to play until December at the earliest.

Pro leagues in Europe have begun already, but there is still a lot of uncertainty around the NCAA Hockey season. The Ivy Leagues have been cancelled for the season and other conferences plan on playing but they haven’t announced anything official yet.

The QMJHL opened last week but two teams were shut down already. The OHL and WHL are supposed to start in November, but we will believe that when we see it.

Just imagine the Canadiens take two American kids in the second round today, and then find out in two weeks that their season is cancelled. Imagine they grab a few CHL players and the team’s facility is closed before Christmas.

They would then be left scrambling to find somewhere for these top prospects to play this season. With no AHL option, they would be left trying to find a spot in Europe. Those leagues already started, so it is difficult to bring in imports a few weeks into the season.

It would make a lot of sense for the Canadiens to move a few picks today for 2021 picks in the same round. Taking a number of American players who haven’t played since March and might not have a place to play until next September would be too risky.

Having nine picks today is great. But it isn’t the best year to have a plethora of picks because there is so much uncertainty in the world. Don’t be surprised to see the Habs move a handful of later picks for picks in future drafts. It would avoid an awkward situation in a few weeks where they have nowhere for their prospects to play.