The 2005 NHL Entry Draft was the Sidney Crosby sweepstakes, as the Pittsburgh Penguins earned the first-overall pick. Crosby wasn't the only star who came out of that draft, as Anze Kopitar, TJ Oshie, Paul Stastny, Kris Letang, Tuukka Rask, and Keith Yandle were some other valuable contributors who found teams that year.
The Montreal Canadiens won't complain about their fortunes that year, as they grabbed Carey Price with the fifth-overall pick. While Price became one of the top picks of the draft, the team wasn't completely sold on him when they selected him. Montreal had their sights set on Benoit Pouliot with the fifth pick, but had to change course when he went to the Minnesota Wild at No. 4.
""We had Benoit Pouliot, if he was there he would've been our pick. He wasn't there, the next player was Carey Price.""Bob Gainey
It was a harmless comment from the Canadiens' former general manager. However, it raises an interesting question about what the league might've looked like if the Wild hadn't taken Pouliot.
Goaltenders are a position that tends to slip if the teams picking in the draft don't have a need for more. It's rare to see goalies go in the first round, but this was a year where two went as Tuukka Rask went to the Toronto Maple Leafs at No. 22.
Price was a can't miss prospect in his draft year, and it's extremely unlikely that he would've fallen all the way to 22. A team would've found a reason to take him before the Maple Leafs who were obviously in need of a goaltender, but it's a nightmare for Canadiens fans to imagine what might've been if Price had fallen to their rivals.
Another interesting team picking behind the Canadiens are the Chicago Blackhawks. Nikolai Khabibulin started with the Blackhawks in 2005-06, and that also marked the debut of Corey Crawford. Crawford eventually replaced Craig Anderson in Chicago, but imagine a world where Price was taken by the Blackhawks and was the starting goaltender for their dynasty in the 2010s.
The Blackhawks took Jack Skille, which means there wouldn't have been a massive loss from their core if they had taken Price instead, and he would've been added to the star-studded roster. Chicago received some heroic performances from their goaltenders in those playoff runs, but many times they were winning in spite of their talent between the pipes. Price being the starter instead would've made them unstoppable.
On an even more outrageous choose-your-own adventure, imagine if Price had fallen to the Maple Leafs. The Leafs took Rask and eventually traded him to the Boston Bruins for Andrew Raycroft. There's also a scenario where Price could've been the player going the other way in that deal, which would've made him the goaltender in waiting after Tim Thomas led them to the Stanley Cup in 2011.
It also would've changed the course of history with some of the historic Canadiens-Bruins battles of the 2010s, as Price wouldn't have been the goalie standing at the other end in some of those epic playoff battles. Without Price, the Canadiens might not have even been the team in those series.
The Pouliot draft pick didn't change much for the Wild organization as he became a role player that moved around to many different teams. However, for the Canadiens and the rest of the league, it changed everything.