The Montreal Canadiens added David Reinbacher with the 5th overall pick in the 2023 NHL Draft on Wednesday night. On Thursday, they selected eight players in a busy day of draft choices.
In round three they selected a promising goaltender in Jacob Fowler and three fourth round picks saw them select Florian Xhekaj, Bogdan Konyushkov and Quentin Miller. They still had four more picks in the final three rounds and just closed out the draft.
In the fifth round, with the 133rd overall pick, the Canadiens selected Sam Harris from the Sioux Falls Stampede. He is 19 years old and was eligible for last year’s draft, but had a breakout season in 2022-23 and the Canadiens have chosen to roll the dice on the late bloomer.
Harris scored 30 goals and 56 points in 56 games in the USHL this past season and will now head to the University of Denver. He plays a grinding style at 5’11” and 185 pounds and will learn to play the game the right way at a top-notch college program like Denver.
Also in the fifth round, the Canadiens went back to Russia to select Yevgeni Volokhin. He is a 6’3″ and 168 pound goaltender who put up strong numbers in Russia’s Junior league. In 31 games with Mamonty Yugry, Volokhin put up a 2.12 GAA and a .927 SV%.
In the sixth round, Montreal added Filip Eriksson. The Swedish center played with the Vaxjo Lakers program in Sweden, suiting up for 11 Junior league games and scoring ten points in that time. He also was called up to the SHL for two games, which is a rare feat for a player his age. He didn’t put up any points in those two games, but an 18 year old often doesn’t play at all in the SHL.
Eriksson also was in the lineup for six of Vaxjo’s playoff games in SHL and will likely continue his development in Sweden’s best league next season.
With their final pick of the 2023 NHL Draft, the Canadiens selected Luke Mittelstadt. The defenseman is an offensive-minded player who scored five goals and 21 points in 38 college games for the University of Minnesota last season. It was his first college season, even though he is 20 years old, and he was passed over in the past two NHL Drafts.
Mittelstadt is a late bloomer who made the United States World Junior team and will head back to college next season.
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