Canadiens: From Cup Finals to Lottery Pick

The Montreal Canadiens have been off to an awful start to the season with not a single real glimmer of hope. What options would the team have with a high 2022 draft pick?

One could not write up a worse start to the season for the 2021-22 Montreal Canadiens. Losing 5-1 and 5-0 to two of the projected worst teams in the league, an 0-4 record and only 3 goals scored is a stark contrast to the glories of June. This team has lost its leader and captain, its franchise goaltender, its Selke-contending top-6 centre, its centre of the future, and as a result, its identity.

While Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield are certain to entertain at some point this year, it’s impossible not to think of the loaded 2022 draft class as a Habs fan. This team is bound to improve, if only by regressing to the mean in shooting percentage, as they currently stand at 2.59% in all situations, by far the worst in the league; last year they were below average but still maintained a 9.05%. Call this piece reactionary and driven by recency bias if you wish, but the team’s defensive structure is chaotic, the coaching has been weak at best, chemistry is nonexistent, and special teams have been disastrous.

With this negativity in mind, let us brighten our moods by taking a little peek at five players that are likely to be selected in the top-10 of the 2022 NHL Entry Draft. While the Habs did trade a first-round pick to Arizona in the Dvorak trade, it will be the worse of the Habs’ and Hurricanes’ picks if one or both of them are in the top 10 (which certainly seems plausible, if not likely, at this point in time).

Shane Wright

Shane Wright has been the consensus best player available in the 2022 NHL Entry Draft for the past two or three years and chances are he keeps that title on draft day. He scored 39 goals and 66 points in 58 games as a 15/16-year-old in 2019-20 with exceptional status in the OHL for the Kingston Frontenacs. The 6’1″, 187 lbs centreman is a sniper with excellent hockey IQ, good skating and electrifying skill.

I had the chance of watching him play in person earlier this month against the Ottawa 67s. While he had an “off” game in a losing effort, as he didn’t dominate play, he still scored a nice gritty goal in the crease while falling down. His intelligence is evident, he has a gravitational quality, getting his opponents to only focus on him, which he exploits, leading to odd-man rushes and scoring opportunities for his teammates. His lack of impact was also magnified by strange coaching decisions like stapling him, a right-shot sniper, to the right circle on the powerplay rather than the left, and not keeping him out for an entire powerplay when trailing with 1:30 remaining in the game.

He may be off to a slow start relative to expectations, with 2 goals and 6 points through 5 games, but Wright is going to be a franchise centreman, just not a generational one, think of the quality of a Barkov or Kopitar rather than a Matthews, not that his style of play matches that of either superstar. If the Habs draft Wright, the centre position would be secure for the next fifteen years.

Joakim Kemell

While Brad Lambert (we’ll get to him next) was getting all the attention as a high-end Finnish prospect eligible for the 2022 draft for the past few years, it is his teammate for JYP that has gotten off to an explosive start in the Finnish Liiga, which just so happens to be one of the five best hockey leagues in the world. Joakim Kemell, a 5’11”, 176 lbs RW, has scored a whopping 10 goals and 15 points in 13 games, which puts him first in the entire league in both categories (tied for 1st in points and with a 3-goal lead on the next best goalscorer).

If he can come anywhere close to keeping up that pace, he will not only shatter innumerable records but also challenge for the first overall spot. Kemell is a versatile offensive player, too; his shot is devastating, but he also bangs in his fair share of greasy goals and drives offence, he certainly doesn’t share Patrik Laine’s passive style of play. Kemell currently sits 1st in points per game amongst U20 players in the Liiga since 2000, just ahead of names such as Anton Lundell and Sebastian Aho, who were 18 and drafted when they put up those totals, Kemell is also currently ahead of a 17-year-old Aleksander Barkov in that stat.

Of course, the small sample size needs to be considered, but Kemell has been the most dominant player in a high-end professional league thus far this season and would make for a great pickup for the Habs if they get a high draft pick. Sure, the right-wing would be cluttered with Caufield, Gallagher, Anderson, Toffoli, Armia and even Ylonen, but you draft the crazy-skilled sniper first and figure out the logjam second.

Brad Lambert

While Kemell has had the breakout season, Brad Lambert has been off to a slow start; but you shouldn’t overlook this player’s pedigree. In 9 games with JYP, Lambert has tallied a solitary assist. However, as a 15-year-old, he put up 38 points in 42 games in Finland’s top U20 league. Every player develops at a different pace, and Lambert has the tools to explode offensively. The 6’0″, 179 lbs centreman has all the skill in the world, exceptional playmaking, and is among the class’ fastest and most explosive players.

While he is a playmaker, he can still score himself, just not nearly as proficiently as Wright or Kemell. The Finnish-Canadian forward has first-line centre potential but is less of a sure-thing than Shane Wright, which could cause him to slip a little bit on draft day. Still, swinging for the fences is not something the Canadiens are afraid of doing, just look at Cole Caufield.

Lambert will likely need three more years to develop in Finland in order to not get rushed to the NHL like another Finnish centreman may have been, but the payoff would be worthwhile, as that pure skill is tantalizing and he drives offence very well, creating most of the scoring chances on his line against very good competition in the Liiga.

Matthew Savoie

The younger brother of Carter Savoie, who is looking like a steal for the Edmonton Oilers, who drafted him 100th overall in 2020, is even more skilled and is far more consistent, which will make him a top-10 if not a top-5 pick in the 2022 NHL Draft. Savoie, a 5’9″, 179 lbs centreman spent last season in the USHL with a relatively weak Dubuque Fighting Saints team and notched 21 goals and 38 points in 34 games, leading all 15 and 16-year-olds in both categories.

This season, he is back with the Winnipeg Ice in the WHL and has gotten off to a paradoxically hot start, with 3 goals and 12 points in 7 games, good for second in the league in points, trailing only Tristen Robins, a very talented player two years his senior. Savoie’s skill is striking and his offensive intelligence is a standout quality; a very important combination for an undersized centreman.

Just like with Wright and Lambert, if the Habs were to add Savoie at the draft, their worries at centre would be resolved for the next 15 years. If you add any of these high-end centremen to Suzuki and Dvorak, you have yourself an exceptional centre-line. Jake Evans also makes for an excellent fourth-line centre, so a current weakness would become a strength in the blink of an eye.

Ivan Miroshnichenko

Miroshnichenko will be a top-5 pick in the draft. The EP Rinkside scouting team states that “his elite skating, shot and size make him tough to manage for opposing players”.  For those who watched this year’s Hlinka Gretzky Cup, that exact combination will have been impossible to miss, as he put up 4 goals and 9 points in 5 games while captaining Team Russia.

He has started this season in the VHL, Russia’s version of the AHL, and has put up 3 goals and 6 points against professional adult competition. While the 6’1″, 185 lbs Miroshnichenko is a right-shot, he plays primarily on the left-wing, which would be good news for the Habs, as the roadblock Kemell would encounter wouldn’t quite be the same for him.

The dynamic offensive player with standout leadership qualities will become a very good NHL player within five years, but he barely made this list.