The Montreal Canadiens have found recent success in the first round of the NHL Draft, but it hasn't always been that way.
Since 2006 it has been a mixed bag for the Canadiens when they took to the stage to make their first-round selections. Starting in 2005, that wasn't the case, the Canadiens got their hands on the starting goalie of their future in Carey Price. As we all know, Price is the winningest goalie in Habs history, he won 361 of his 712 starts, all in a Habs sweater.
2007 was a good year for the Canadiens, where they drafted Ryan McDonagh 12th overall and Max Pacioretty 22nd overall. Then the Habs didn't make a significant selection until 2016 when they selected big Russian defenseman Mikhail Sergachev, who had plenty of promise. Unfortunately, Sergachev didn't take off in Montreal, but instead in Tampa after the trade for Jonathan Drouin
The bad and ugly since 2006
Things have turned a corner since 2019 in terms of drafting, which is when the club drafted Cole Caufield 15th overall. Caufield is still developing and he has battled through injury, but he has certainly been an important addition to the Habs since he joined. The hopes are that Logan Mailloux (2021) and Filip Mesar (2022) will work out for the Habs, much like Juraj Slafkovsky has.
Then from 2023 on with David Reinbacher at fifth overall and then the pair of 2024 first-round picks - Ivan Demidov (fifth overall) and Michael Hage (21st overall), there are high hopes for the group. It would be tremendously disappointing if they turned out the way the group of players picked from 2006 have been. Again, 2007 was a good year, but until 2019 it was not so great for Montreal.
In 2006 the club drafted defenseman David Fischer, who never played an NHL game, which is not at all a good sign, The draft was loaded with talent and the Canadiens could have added a very good acquisition. A few guys that were available at the time of the Habs selection (20th) are Claude Giroux at 22 and Nick Foligno at 26th.
2007 went well, so we will skip ahead to the 2009 draft since the Canadiens didn't have a first-round selection in 2008. In 2009, the Habs drafted Louis Leblanc 18th overall, he played just 50 games over two seasons, scoring just 10 points. One selection later, the New York Rangers drafted Chris Kreider, who is a villain in Montreal, but a fan favourite in New York.
2010, 2011 and 2012 brought Jarred Tinordi, Nathan Beaulieu and Alex Galchenyuk to the club. Tinordi and Beaulieu were solid, but looking back at it now, things could have been better. Evgeny Kuznetsov went four picks after Tinordi and we all know what he meant for the Washington Capitals and Philip Danault was selected nine slots after Beaulieu. As for the 2012 draft, it was a weaker draft, but Morgan Rielly and Hampus Lindholm went fifth and sixth after Galchenyuk went third and they would for sure have been better picks.
2013, 2014 and 2015 saw the Habs draft Michael McCarron, Nikita Scherbak and Noah Juulsen. McCarron played parts of three seasons with the Habs, Scherbak played 37 games with Montreal, recording eight points and Juulsen played two seasons with Montreal before injuries derailed his career. Shea Theodore went one pick after McCarron, Adrian Kempe went three after Scherbak and Anthony Beauvillier went two picks after Juulsen.
2016, 2017 and 2018 wrap up this exercise, Sergachev was mentioned earlier, so we will skip 2016. But in 2017, Ryan Poehling was the Habs first pick, he didn't pan out and Jake Oettinger, who was drafted directly after looks like an elite starter for the next 8-10 seasons. As for Jesperi Kotkaniemi, he never really worked out in Montreal and the offer sheet sort of made the decision for the Canadiens easy, though they could have got Brady Tkachuk, who went fourth to Ottawa or Quinn Hughes who went seventh overall to Vancouver.