Canadiens: Louis Leblanc And The Infamous 2009 Draft

The Montreal Canadiens are finally set to host the 2022 NHL draft. Montreal was supposed to host the 2020 draft but of course the pandemic hit and everything went virtual. The last time Montreal hosted a draft? 2009. Some of you might remember this infamous day when Louis Leblanc was drafted 18th overall, and letting Chris Kreider slip to the New York Rangers with the 19th pick. Leblanc wasn’t featured on anyone’s rankings in the first round.

Remember the shock on his face?

The Canadiens were under tons of pressure to draft a homegrown star. There were tons of options in the later rounds for that but no reason to draft Leblanc with the 19th pick. Especially when Chris Kreider, Marcus Johansson and Kyle Palmieri were still available.

After picking Leblanc 18th overall, the Canadiens picked Joonas Nattinen (65th), Mac Bennett (79th), Alexander Avtsin (109th), Gabriel Dumont (139th), Dustin Walsh (169th), Mike Cichy (199th), and Petteri Simila as the 211th and final pick of that year’s draft.

Aside from Leblanc and maybe Dumont, do you recognize any of these names? Me neither. Nattinen had a cup of coffee in the NHL playing one single game in his career for the Montreal Canadiens in 2013. Prior to that he spent three underwhelming seasons with the AHL Hamilton Bulldogs before he packed his bags for Europe. He currently plays for the Cherepovets Severstal of the KHL, his third team in 4 seasons in the Russian league.

Dumont would end up being the one who played the most NHL games with 90. Having bounced around the league between the NHL and AHL having played notable for Montreal, Tampa Bay, Ottawa, Minnesota and now back to Tampa Bay where he is currently playing for the Syracuse Crunch. Dumont’s NHL totals include 4 goals, 5 assists, 9 points and 48 penalty minutes in 90 games.

All of the other players picked in the 2009 draft haven’t played a single NHL game. As a matter of fact, only Mac Bennett and Alexander Avtsin even had the chance to play in the AHL. None of the picks even play hockey anymore.

As for Louis Leblanc? Some of you might recall the absolutely twisted road he had to take to reach the NHL. He was originally drafted while playing for the Omaha Lancers of the USHL, a a league that would turn out to be one of Trevor Timmins’ favorite. That year Leblanc had a scoring line of 28-31-59 in 60 games.

For the 2009-10 season, he played for Harvard University, where in 31 games held a scoring line of 11-12-23.

In 2010-11, he was sent as a 19 year old (turning 20 in January) to play for the Montreal Juniors of the QMJHL. He had moderate success where in 51 games he held a scoring line of 26-32-58. He would represent the QMJHL All-Stars in a game versus the Russia Junior All-Stars. He also represented Canada in the U20 tournament where he would amass 7 points in 7 games. Canada would lose the Gold Medal game to Russia.

Finally in 2011-12, he bounced between Montreal and Hamilton of the AHL. At the NHL level, Leblanc scored 5 goals and 5 assists for 10 points in 42 games. He looked completely lost in head coach Jacques Martin’s ultra defensive system.

After spending the entirety of the 2012-13 season with the Bulldogs, mainly due to the NHL lockout which forced the league to start a shortened season in January, Leblanc was recalled by the Canadiens during the 2013-14 season and lasted all but 8 games under the ire of new coach Michel Therrien. Leblanc was one of the first cuts prior to training camp that year which drew the fury of his then girlfriend, former tennis player Aleksandra Wozniak.

In a Twitter post that was deleted afterwards, probably at the request of the Canadiens, Wozniak claims that “He did everything the CH organization told him to do and what … get cut this early? Oh and the reason … worst excuse ever! This is wrong.” She would later Tweet in French “A real joke with the worst excuse for cutting someone. Truly not a fair shot.”

Rumors were running rampant at the time, since half confirmed by members of the team back then, that Leblanc was at one point caught texting his then girlfriend while Michel Therrien was explaining plays in the locker room. The fiery Therrien of course lost it on the then 23 year old.

Leblanc would eventually be traded to the Anaheim Ducks for a conditional 5th round pick. The condition was that Leblanc would have to play 15 games in 2015, which he did not, therefore Anaheim kept their draft pick.

The Ducks would give him a chance and sign him to a two-way contract resulting in Leblanc spending the entirety of the 2015-16 season with the Norfolk Admirals of the AHL. After being let go as a free agent, Leblanc would sign a tryout with the New York Islanders but would ultimately fail to make the team. He then spend the 2015-16 season bouncing around Europe. Having played 7 games in the KHL for Bratislava Slovan HC, 4 games Zilina HK-SKP of the Slovakian League, and 4 games for Lausanne HC of the Swiss-A league.

He would hang his skates at the end of that year.

Leblanc now lives in Boston and works at CMA Strategy Consulting, a boutique consulting firm focused on the telecommunications, media, and high tech industries.