Montreal Canadiens Worst NHL Draft Classes: #1

The Montreal Canadiens hold on to the fifth overall pick in the 2023 NHL Draft which will begin tonight. They are looking to hit a few home runs with their selections and are hoping to add some future cornerstone pieces for the franchise.

While we wait to find out who will become the Canadiens 2023 NHL Draft class, we are counting down their hits and misses from previous years. Today, we look at their worst draft class in franchise history.

The 2007 NHL Draft was one of the best all-time in Canadiens history. Ryan McDonagh, Max Pacioretty and P.K. Subban were the first three picks of the draft. That is ridiculous value to get out of one draft class. But it doesn’t always work out that way and the Canadiens were not able to follow up that strong draft with another home run class.

Somehow, those same people followed up that group of prospects with the absolute worst draft class in Montreal Canadiens history. They did trade away their first round pick, so it was more difficult than other years to add an impact player. But they could have gotten something in the later rounds.

The Canadiens centennial season was coming up so they loaded up their roster. They dealt their first round pick at the draft for Alex Tanguay. It made sense, since the team was coming off a first place finish in the Eastern Conference and were heading into their 100th season. But it left them short on draft night.

They did still had other picks. They chose Danny Kristo in the second round, but he never played a game at the NHL level. He had three seasons with 20 goals in the AHL but he did it for two different organizations, and neither of them were the Habs affiliate. He bounced around a lot in the minor leagues throughout his career and played last season in Great Britain.

The rest of the Canadiens 2008 draft class also included Steve Qualier who was taken in the third round. The 6’4″ winger was not a big scorer though he did go on to have a decent NCAA career. He scored 21 points in 95 career AHL games and was never called up to the NHL.

Jason Missiaen was an enormous goaltender taken in the 4th round. The 6’8″ netminder played a total of 44 AHL games with mediocre results but did not play in the NHL in his career.

Maxim Trunev was a low scoring winger in the KHL when the Canadiens drafted him in the 6th round and he never left Russia.

Patrick Johnson was drafted after scoring 21 points in 40 NCAA games at Wisconsin but that would end up being his best college season. He played a total of 24 ECHL games and never made it as far as the AHL.

The entire class combined to play zero NHL games with Kristo being the only one who even made an impact at the AHL level. That is, well, that is about as bad as it can get. That is why the 2008 NHL Draft was the Montreal Canadiens worst ever draft class.

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