3 reasons the fifth pick in the 2024 NHL Draft will further transform the Canadiens
The Montreal Canadiens received good news following the 2024 NHL Draft Lottery, as they will hold the No. 5 pick.
The NHL Draft Lottery came and went on Tuesday night, and, as expected, the Montreal Canadiens hung onto their fifth-overall pick. No, they didn’t luck out and get the top selection, but they also didn’t drop to a “bad draft slot” at sixth or seventh overall - both of which were also possibilities.
So, now that we know they hold a top-five selection and general manager Kent Hughes has more than proven himself following his stellar first-round picks in the 2022 and 2023 drafts, let’s dive deeper into how maintaining a top-five selection will transform this team; maybe not in 2024-25, but definitely in 2025-26 and beyond.
Another top-five selection guarantees another franchise cornerstone
Juraj Slafkovsky is on his way to becoming a longtime cornerstone for the Habs, and if David Reinbacher keeps impressing us, he will be on the same path. Before Kent Hughes came to the organization, the Canadiens already had a couple of stars in the making with Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield, and they have already earned the ‘cornerstone’ label.
But now, Kent Hughes will add yet another top-five selection to the organization, something that we saw with Slafkovsky (No. 1 overall) and Reinbacher (No. 5 overall). One player who stands out more than anyone else is Cole Eiserman, who is coming off of a record-setting 2023-24 season.
We all know Macklin Celebrini will play for the San Jose Sharks, while Ivan Demidov, Artyom Levshunov, and Cayden Lindstrom could be picks No. 2, 3, and 4, or at least that’s how the mock draft at Tankathon drew it up as of May 8th.
If that’s how everything falls into place come June 28th, the electric Eiserman could find himself as the next top prospect for the Habs. And if recent history shows us anything, perhaps the Boston University commit winds up in Quebec long before his collegiate eligibility runs out.
Canadiens can land either the best or a marquee blueliner
Cole Eiserman isn’t the only ‘cornerstone-caliber’ player who could be available at No. 5 to the Habs, as perhaps someone like Artyom Levshunov falls. Or, because the Canadiens pick fifth in a draft that is beyond rich in talent at the blue line, they could take the second-best-rated defenseman that the draft offers.
That same mock draft has Zeev Buium heading to Utah, and if you watched some of his games during the NCAA playoffs, you would be very excited to have him in the system. Like Levshunov, Buium could break into the pro ranks before his college eligibility is up, while Zayne Parekh could see time in Laval come the 2026-27 season and even before that on a nominal basis, depending on how things go in Saginaw.
All three of the blueliners mentioned above have top-four potential, and they could ultimately create a sensational tandem alongside David Reinbacher, who, at which point, will have played a full NHL season. Imagine your team selecting the top-rated defenseman from last year’s draft and getting the same thing, or at least close to it, this season.
With the fifth-overall pick, Kent Hughes can make that happen, and a few years from now, not many teams would stack up well against a unit with Reinbacher and Defenseman X, which is what we can call them for now. Whether he rolls with a forward or a blueliner at fifth overall, Hughes will ultimately land a player who will break into the pro ranks before we know it.
The selection may realistically speed up the Canadiens rebuild
One of the biggest advantages of having such an early pick in the draft is that some of these prospects could see the NHL ice as soon as this season. Not everyone, as 99.9 percent of them will return to college, others will play in college for the first time, and yet others have commitments with their respective teams in other countries.
But I like using someone like Zach Benson of the Buffalo Sabres as an example. Benson may have gone 13th overall, but he also fell from what should have been a top-10 or even a top-five pick last June, and he finished playing his first season this year.
There are junior hockey players like Cayden Lindstrom and Zayne Parekh, who could also get drafted, sign, compete in camp, and make their way onto the big club. Plus, there are also college players like Artyom Levshunov and Zeev Buium who could forgo their remaining eligibility in the near future, sign, play well in Laval, and find themselves in the NHL before they know it.
This isn’t saying the Habs first-round pick will see playing time in Montreal this season or even in Laval, which can only occur under special circumstances for CHL players under age 20. But it is outlining that top-five picks have a much greater probability of seeing professional ice before their peers, and perhaps even thriving early in their respective careers, as we’re seeing from Juraj Slafkovsky these days in the NHL and David Reinbacher in the AHL.
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