Montreal Canadiens 5th Overall History Part 1: Pierre Bouchard

The Montreal Canadiens are selecting 5th overall in the 2024 NHL draft, and not matter who they pick, the future is more than likely very bright. Generally, the 5th overall pick turns out to be a quality NHL player, and Habs fans are hoping David Reinbacher and this year's pick will continue that trend.

Its still early, but 2017's 5th overall pick Elias Pettersson of the Vancouver Canucks might be the second best player of the draft (behind who was drafted right before him, Cale Makar), leading the pack in goals and points. But there have been some disappointments recently at the spot like Alex Turcotte, Michael Dal Colle and Olli Juolevi.

But there have been some very high quality players selected at 5th overall (some of whom we will talk about later in this series). Phil Kessel, Rob Neidermayer, Thomas Vanek, Bill Guerin and Blake Wheeler all had long, quality careers in the forward position, and Morgan Reilly, Petr Svoboda and Eric Brewer patrolled the blueline.

But two names tower over the others: Scott Stevens and Jaromir Jagr. Neither need any introduction. Jagr is the most productive European, and second most productive player ever. And Scott Stevens was a era defining defender as the biggest, meanest, hardest hitting defender probably ever to be seen in the NHL.

The Montreal Canadiens have selected 5th overall seven times over the years, and we will be taking a look at all of them in chronological order. So lets go all the way back to 1965, and the Montreal Canadien's first 5th overall pick: Pierre Bouchard.