Montreal Canadiens Best Ever NHL Draft Classes: #3

The Montreal Canadiens hold some key picks in the upcoming 2023 NHL Draft. They have a top five pick, a late first round pick and an early second rounder as well. They hold a total of 11 selections right now and have the ammunition to load up on future NHL talent.

As we wait for the first round of the draft on Wednesday night, we are counting down their best ever draft classes from past years. Today we look at their third best draft class of all time.

The 1971 NHL Draft came just a few years after the NHL expanded from six to 12 teams in 1967. At the time, the Canadiens general manager was Sam Pollock and he became known for adding draft picks from other teams for veterans who were past their prime. He really cashed in on a few of those picks in 1971.

Guy Lafleur was selected with the first overall pick, a draft choice acquired from the California Golden Seals. Lafleur would of course go on to have a Hall of Fame career, mostly with the Canadiens and be one of the greatest players to play in the 1970’s and one of the greatest players to ever wear the Canadiens sweater. He scored 1353 career points in 1126 games making him well worthy of the first overall selection.

The Canadiens were not done there. They weren’t even done drafting Hall of Famers there. In the second round, with the 20th overall pick they selected Larry Robinson. He would also spend the majority of his career with the Canadiens, winning six Stanley Cups, two Norris Trophy’s and a Conn Smythe. He retired with 958 points in 1384 games. Incredibly, he never missed the playoffs in a career that spanned from 1972 to 1992.

In addition to Lafleur and Robinson, two of the best Canadiens to every play, the Habs also selected Chuck Arnason who scored 199 career points in 401 games, Murray Wilson who had 189 points in 386 career games and Greg Hubick, Mike Busniuk and Peter Sullivan who all had a few cups of coffee in the NHL.

Obviously the headliners of this draft were the two players who have their jersey numbers hanging in the rafters of the Bell Centre and were quickly inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame after retiring.

The Canadiens can only dream of landing two superstar players in Wednesday night’s draft, and they would have to be incredible players to make their 2023 NHL Draft better than they one they had in 1971.

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