2024 NHL Draft Prospect: Cole Eiserman Could Be A Good Project for Canadiens

Most draft content on this site has been about the No. 5 overall selection. However, the Canadiens also have the 26th pick in the draft and could use that to trade for a veteran forward or trade into the top 15 to take another prospect. That possibility is slowly becoming a reality, so Habs fans should get familiar with some prospects in the 10-15 range. Cole Eiserman is the first player we will look at, as the former No. 2-ranked prospect has fallen throughout his draft season.

Scoring Touch the Canadiens Need

The Montreal Canadiens drafted the United States NTDP's leading goalscorer in 2019 when they took Cole Caufield with the 15th overall pick. Caufield is no longer the record holder with 126 career goals, as Cole Eiserman broke it this season with 127. Eiserman could have the best scoring touch in this draft class, as he finished the NTDP season with 58 goals and 31 assists in 57 games. He was second on the team behind 2025 draft prospect James Hagens.

Eiserman could join the NHL tomorrow and immediately become one of the best shooters in the league. He has a quick release that explodes off his stick and can pick any open corner he sees. He has the same type of shooting profile as snipers before him, like Auston Matthews and Connor Bedard, where he can change his release and not lose anything on his shot.

Eiserman will never hesitate to shoot a puck. The ability serves him well on the man advantage, where he sets up on the half-wall on his off-side and fires shots in the same way as David Pastrnak and Alex Ovechkin. Penalty kills are constantly getting better in the NHL, finding ways to shut down these shooters on the half-wall. However, the Canadiens already have the right-handed version of this with Caufield on his half-wall. Could we see a scenario in the future where we have both of these players on their respective half-walls firing one-timers from Lane Hutson and Nick Suzuki in the middle?

Everything Else is A Work In Progress

Eiserman knows that his strength is shooting, which makes him put everything else about his game on the back burner. He has a lot of giveaways in the offensive zone, due to how much he tries to create offense by himself. Eiserman has a poor habit of overhandling the puck to get himself shooting lanes, then forcing passes at the last second which get intercepted or put his teammates in bad areas.

Eiserman can't drive a line by himself, and he'll need a player who can transition the puck up the ice and create plays for him. Luckily, the Canadiens have some depth in their forward groups. They also have the No. 5 pick, which would give Eiserman a future center in Cayden Lindstrom if the chips fall correctly for the Canadiens.

The Canadiens have the personnel to take the risk of trading up and taking Eiserman. Their first-round selections this season could create a future top-six of:

Caufield - Suzuki - Slafkovsky
Eiserman - Lindstrom - Dach

That top-six doesn't even include players like Alex Newhook, Luke Tuch, and Joshua Roy. A trade to move up to this pick and solidify the depth of their young forward group would be a smart move for the Canadiens and a move worth considering.