Montreal Canadiens 2013 Draft Class: Sneaky Good Class Highlighted by Artturi Lehkonen

It's officially draft month! For June, we will look back at some of the draft classes to see how the Habs front offices of the past did with their selections. It's too early to examine some of Kent Hughes' first few draft classes. The 2013 class will be the subject of our ninth look at the history.

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The 2013 NHL Draft was at the Prudential Center in New Jersey. The top three selections were big hits for the Colorado Avalanche and Florida Panthers, as they took Nathan MacKinnon and Aleksander Barkov. Jonathan Drouin went third overall to the Tampa Bay Lightning, while Seth Jones and Elias Lindholm rounded out the top five.

Round 1

25th Overall - Michael McCarron

McCarron had an interesting journey to the Canadiens, as he started his post-NTDP career by joining the Western Michigan University Broncos. He opted to join the London Knights for the 2013-14 season instead, playing in the OHL for three years before joining the St. John's IceCaps. He split the 2015-16 season between the IceCaps and Canadiens, which he did for the following three seasons.

McCarron's last two seasons with the Canadiens franchise saw him stick in Laval with no call-ups, before getting traded to the Nashville Predators for Laurent Dauphin. He had a career-high in points this past season with 22 in 70 games for Nashville.

Round 2

34th Overall - Jacob De La Rose

De La Rose spent most of his career with Leksands in Sweden. He moved to North America in 2014-15 to play with the Hamilton Bulldogs, splitting his time between Hamilton and Montreal. He did the same for the next two seasons, with most of his games coming in the AHL with St. John's.

De La Rose spent the entire 2017-18 season in Montreal, registering 12 points in 55 games, but Detroit picked him up on waivers before the 2018-19 season. De La Rose spent three more seasons in the NHL before returning to Europe.

36th Overall - Zachary Fucale

Fucale had tons of hype leaving the QMJHL after a successful career with the Halifax Mooseheads and Quebec Remparts. He also won a gold medal for Team Canada at the 2015 World Juniors. He never played a game for the Canadiens, bouncing around in the minors before finally making his NHL debut with the Washington Capitals in 2021-22. Fucale finally gave up on his North American dreams in 2023-24, heading to the KHL.

55th Overall - Artturi Lehkonen

Lehkonen signed a three-year entry-level contract with the Canadiens on May 8th, 2016. He had 28 points in 73 games in his inaugural season and was a solid player for Montreal during his time. Lehkonen broke out in the 2021 Stanley Cup Final run, tallying 14 points in 20 games, including the overtime-winning goal in Game 6 of the conference finals.

The Canadiens traded Lehkonen to the Avalanche for Justin Barron and a second-round pick in 2022, where he scored his second consecutive conference finals-clinching overtime goal. However, he finished the deal and won his first Stanley Cup.

Round 4

116th Overall - Martin Reway

Reway came to North America for five games during the 2017-18 season, but that was the end of his tenure with the Canadiens. He's been bouncing around Europe ever since.

Round 6

176th Overall - Jeremy Gregoire

Gregoire was a valuable player for the Canadiens' AHL affiliates for three seasons from 2015-18. He became a free agent and signed an AHL deal with the Milwaukee Admirals. He went to the IceHL with Vienna in 2022-23 and played with Ilves in Liiga this past season. He is returning to Vienna for the 2024-25 season.