Montreal Canadiens: Three Players To Watch At Hlinka Gretzky Tournament

The Montreal Canadiens just closed the book on a fairly poor season. They have already begun preparing for next season as the free agent period is underway, but the work begins anew for next season already.

While many coaches, players and general manager may take a bit of time off in late July and into August, NHL scouts have a pretty large event circled on their calendars at this time of the year.

The annual Hlinka Gretzky Cup is a best on best tournament featuring the top draft eligible players for next year. The group of players who will be selected in the 2023 NHL Draft are taking part in an event that is essentially the World Junior Championships, but for 17 year olds.

Unfortunately, the event doesn’t get near the publicity of the actual World Juniors, because these kids don’t have NHL teams attached to them already, and the tournament takes place in the middle of summer instead of the middle of the holidays each year.

However, it is a phenomenal tournament to watch and introduces viewers, and NHL scouts alike, to the best players who are potential draft picks next June. Canada, United States, Sweden, Finland, Czechia, Slovakia, Switzerland and Germany all have teams competing, but some of the top draft eligibles won’t be participating this year.

The reason for that is, the best 2023 draft eligible players, like Connor Bedard, are representing their country in the 2022 World Juniors which will take place from August 9th – 20th in Edmonton.

The Hlinka Gretzky Cup is taking place in Red Deer, and begins with three games today, including Canada taking on Switzerland in the night cap.

Who should you be watching for? Well, we expect the Canadiens to have a really high draft pick again in 2023, so let’s keep and eye on these three potential top 10 picks.