The Montreal Canadiens have been rumoured lately to be looking to trade up at the upcoming 2023 NHL Draft. The Canadiens currently hold the fifth overall pick, but apparently are not content to just sit there and wait for their pick to arrive.
Arpon Basu of The Athletic reported last week that the Canadiens have contacted the San Jose Sharks as an attempt to move up to the fourth overall selection. He also mentions the team even reached out to the Anaheim Ducks who hold the second overall pick.
Moving up from fifth to fourth would cost quite a bit, but jumping up to second overall and earning the right to select Adam Fantilli would be an astronomical price. Still, it appears the team is at least calling around to get an idea of what that cost might actually be.
The reason the Canadiens would want to move up to the top four would be to take one of the best centers available. Connor Bedard, Fantilli, Leo Carlsson and Will Smith are the consensus top four picks and they all play center. The Canadiens could use help just about anywhere, but adding even more depth down the middle would be ideal when selecting this high in the draft.
Sitting at fifth, the Canadiens may have to sit and watch those four centers come off the board and then have to decide whether or not to take superstar talent Matvei Michkov. The Russian winger has the skills to be selected as high as second in this draft, but he is signed for three more years in the KHL and teams appear to be scared off by the Russian factor with his contract status and the fact there is a war going on in that part of the world.
If the Canadiens are interested in Michkov, they should just stay put at five and take whichever of the five aforementioned players is still available. If it is Michkov, that’s great and if it is one of the centers that is just dandy too.
If they are not interested in Michkov, it doesn’t make sense to pay an astronomical price to move up a spot or two to guarantee one of the centers. Last I checked, the Canadiens were still near the bottom of the standings, rebuilding and still in asset-collection mode. Trading the 5th and 31st picks just to move up one spot doesn’t make sense now.
In fact, if they aren’t interested in Michkov, it would make more sense to move down and select later than fifth. If the first four picks are centers, and the Canadiens are not interested in rolling the dice on the Russian winger, they should be taking calls on their pick and looking to move back.
Perhaps the Arizona Coyotes, who have collected a ton of picks in the next three drafts want to ensure they get Michkov and move up from 6th. Or the Washington Capitals, who would surely love to add another highly skilled Russian forward to join Alex Ovechkin, Evegeni Kuznetsov and Ivan Miroshnichenko, are interested in jumping up from 8th to get him.
The Coyotes currently hold four second round picks in the 2024 NHL Draft, including the Canadiens pick as part of the Christian Dvorak trade. If the Coyotes offer the 6th pick and Habs 2024 second rounder, it would be wise of the Canadiens to move back. The Capitals could also offer the 8th pick and the 40th overall pick in this year’s draft to move up to 5th.
Or, perhaps the Capitals really want to get rid of Anthony Mantha’s contract and offer up the 8th pick and their first round pick in 2024 and Mantha to move up to fifth. If any of those kinds of offers come across Hughes desk, he should hang up on the Ducks and Sharks and pull the trigger on a trade that moves the Canadiens down a few spots.
Now, I would also encourage waiting until the last second to pull off a trade. If there is a surprise in the top four and Carlsson or Smith are still available at five, the Canadiens should take the center that is on the board. That shouldn’t be expected to happen though.
Ranking behind the four centers and Michkov and more extremely impressive prospects. Ryan Leonard seems to be a target of the Canadiens and Kent Hughes has compared him to Matthew Tkachuk. Zach Benson looked like the best player on the Winnipeg Ice, a team filled with top NHL prospects and among the very best Junior teams in Canada.
David Reinbacher appears to be a budding two-way stud on right defence and Dalibor Dvorksy may not have the high-end offensive skills of some of the top centers, but projects to be a big, steady two-way center who could slot in with Nick Suzuki and Kirby Dach to give the Canadiens great depth down the middle.
Getting Leonard, Dvorsky or Reinbacher with the 6th or 8th pick and keeping their 31st and 37th overall picks and also adding a second round pick from the Coyotes or Capitals would give the Canadiens an incredible amount of firepower in a very deep draft.
That would be way better than giving up 31 or 37 and the 5th overall pick just to move up a spot or two. No matter what we think heading into an NHL Draft, the whole thing is way more of a crapshoot than anyone believes. Having more picks is always better than less and given where they are in their rebuild, the Canadiens should be looking to move back and stockpile extra picks and not giving up picks to try and move up.
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