The Montreal Canadiens have been stockpiling draft picks for the 2022 NHL Draft for years. They could not have predicted they would end up with the first overall selection, but they clearly made a point of having a lot of selections.
Right now, they hold 14 picks in the seven round draft. Two of those are in the first round, two of them are in the second round, three are in the third round and three in the fourth round as well. That gives them ten of the first 128 picks.
They are certainly going to be busy, but I would be surprised if they end up using all 14 of their picks. I can imagine a few scenarios during day two where they trade a pick for a pick in the same round of the 2023 NHL Draft. That would at least spread out the invasion of young talent over a couple of years so they don’t all need to be signed at the same time.
It is quite possible we also see some packaging of picks to move around the draft. With their plethora of selections, the Canadiens could easily put a few of them together to try and make their second pick much earlier than 26th overall tonight.
Moving up isn’t all that easy in the NHL Draft, as previous years will show a late first round pick plus a late second round pick will only interest other teams in moving down a few spots. For example, if the Habs offer the 26th and 62nd picks around, they might be able to get the 21st pick in return.
They do also have the 33rd overall pick which is the first pick in the second round. If they package the 26th and 33rd, we could see them just inside the top 20 for their second pick tonight.
Who should they have their eye on when looking to move up? If any of these three players are available between 15-25, the Canadiens should be on the phone trying to move up and take them.