Canadiens: 2022 Draft Has Chance To Turn Page On History Of Mistakes

In spite of finishing 32nd, the Canadiens now have a chance at Kingston Frontenacs star Shane Wright after winning the first overall pick in the 2022 Draft lottery, bringing back both good, bad, worse, and even worse memories of the team’s previous misfortunes when it comes to player scouting and development. As I said, when looking at the Canadiens dynasties of old one can admittedly be spoiled with what was a largely fruitful, carefree, and unbelievably exciting time for hockey fans in Montreal, yet when comparing it to the current NHL, much of this success stems from well, simply the way the NHL was back then.

In the 70s, the Canadiens benefited from an NHL draft that wasn’t anywhere near as intricate, thought out, or important as it is nowadays, while in the 50s, GM Frank Selke, head coach Toe Blake and crew had a local talent pool that was undoubtedly stacked at their disposal, with the likes of Elmer Lach, Maurice Richard, Jacques Plante, Doug Harvey, Bernie Geoffrion, Butch Bouchard, etc. etc. the list goes on. Selke and GM Sam Pollock were simply masterminds of their time and used this to build dynasties that exploited the flaws that leagues like the NHL experienced in what were, in many ways, still formative years, with expansion teams coming and going often.

At the end of the teams last dynasty following the 1978-79 season, Montreal took a more depth-oriented approach based around a two-goalie system of Denis Herron and Richard Sevigny and drafted top scorers in Mark Napier and Keith Acton to keep the team competitive, just not necessarily in the postseason. Then, things inevitably started turning downhill. While the Habs still managed the occasional solid pick or draft steal here and there (grabbing Acton in the sixth round, enforcer Chris Nilan in the 19th, Mats Naslund in the second, Guy Carbonneau in the fourth, etc.) there were still some signs that things weren’t going to be as simple as they once were.