Montreal Canadiens: A Brief Look at the 2024 NHL Entry Draft

The 2023 NHL Entry Draft is officially in the books, and now it’s time to look ahead to the 2023-24 season. The Canadiens have plenty to be excited about, with the return of previously injured players and some new exciting young prospects vying for a spot on the team. Still, seeing as the Canadiens are rebuilding, expectations should be low as far as one-ice results go for next season.

And that means the likelihood of another top-10 draft pick is high, perhaps even another top-five pick. So with that in mind, I wanted to briefly look ahead to the 2024 NHL Entry draft before focusing on this season. Although not quite as deep as the 23′ class, the 2024 draft is already shaping up to be a talented crop of players.

Should the Canadiens be in the running for a top-five pick, they would have the chance to add a really promising forward who could help catapult their offense, with the biggest prize being centre Macklin Celebrini. Celebrini is a Canadian prospect going the NCAA route and is committed to play at Boston University this season alongside Lane Hutson. He is the likely #1 overall pick next June.

But Cole Eiserman, Ivan Demidov, and Berkly Catton, among others would all be great gets for the Canadiens, who now have a clear need at forward after shoring up the backend this draft. The selection of Reinbacher should allow him to go all in on a forward in the 2024 draft. But that is a year away, so who knows what will happen then.

Demidov, in particular, is an interesting prospect as he is from SKA St. Petersburg, the same team as 2023 seventh overall pick Matvei Michkov. But Demidov has just two years left on his contract with them, assuming he does not sign an extension. This means a team only has to wait one year after being drafted before he can come overseas, which shouldn’t scare anyone off. In a way too early mock draft for 2024, Corey Pronman of The Athletic mocked Demidov to go to the Canadiens at third overall.

It’s hard to say for sure where the Canadiens will end up picking next year, but there’s a decent chance it will be in the top ten again. So the good news is there is still plenty to look forward to, even if the Canadiens are having a less-than-stellar season. The Canadiens could also be getting an additional first-round pick from Calgary, depending on if one of the million conditions hits, or they could acquire a second one via trade. Either way, the 2024 draft will likely be very important from a Canadiens fan’s perspective.

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