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The leaders of the Montreal Canadians have spent the last months preparing the NHL recovery and they are only only 72 hours old to make some important decisions for the future of the team.
The tricolor has undoubtedly already set up the most important bricks in recent years with the selections of Juraj Slafkovsky, Lane Hutson, David Reinbacher, Ivan Demidov, Michael Hage and Jacob Fowler.
The director general Kent Hughes has hammered since his arrival in post that he was not going to deviate from his original plan to find out in short -term success, but with the most recent participation of the CH in this spring series, it seems clear that Montreal enters a new chapter of this plan.
Decisions made on Friday and Saturday, during the draft, could therefore influence the next few years.
Well clever is the one who can predict what Hughes will do from his choices No 16 and 17. Will he recover twice? Will he come forward in the first round? Will he complete an exchange for an established player?
Hughes used these three different strategies in the last three years: the selections of Slafkovsky and Filip Mesar in 2022 with its two choices, the exchange of choice of first and second laps in return from Alex Newhook in 2023 and a transaction to climb to your choice no 21 in the past year (Michael Hage).
What will be his plan this year? Let’s analyze the options that arise.
A transaction for a center
Among the Basin de Partisans des Canadiens, the option of using one or two first-round choices in order to obtain a top-6 center player is probably the most popular.
Behind Nick Suzuki, the last season has certainly unveiled a problem in the Canadian centers line. Kirby Dach and Alex Newhook, formerly beautiful projects, did not seem able to take this chair which was offered to them on the top-6.
With the arrival of Ivan Demidov full -time in October, CH management would certainly like to give a little help to his young player in order to maximize his development. With two first -round choices, Hughes may well have the right ammunition to find a center.
You still have to have a partner to dance.
When Hughes tried his luck with Dach and Newhook, he probably bet on the development potential of the two players to make a project. If he puts his hands on a center this year, it is a safe bet that it will be an established player.
Here are some comparison of exchanges for centers that have involved first -round choices in recent years, during the repechage week. The acquisitions of JT Miller and Brayden Schenn are the ones that can approach the targets of CH since they were 26 years old, an age that would frame with the Canadians window.
Alex Newhook
ALEX NEWHOOK, 2023 : At the dawn of the NHL draft, Kent Hughes tries his luck with an old first -round choice which seems to have difficulty making his place with the Avalanche du Colorado. So 22 years old, Newhook is a project that has raised 30 points in 82 games the previous season.
BACK : CH has sold a first round choice (31st) and a second round choice (37th).
Kirby Roof, 2022 : The draft took place in Montreal and Hughes steals the show. He first sends Alexander Romanov to the New York Icelanders to get a first -round choice, which he then passes on to the Chicago Blackhawks against Kirby Dach. The latter, then aged 21, had obtained 26 points in 70 games the previous season.
BACK : CH has sold a first -round choice (13th) and a third -round choice (66th).
SAM REINHART, 2021 : Reinhart evolves as a winger, but since the NHL site considers it as a center player, let’s include it in the exercise. Former first round choice, second in total, Reinhart was 25 years old during the exchange and he had just known the best season of his career with 25 goals and 40 points in 54 games.
BACK : The Panthers sold a first -round choice in 2022 (which has become the choice no 28) as well as the promising goalkeeper Devon Levi.
JT Miller, 2019 : The Canucks acquired JT Miller on the second day of the 2019 draft. At that time, Miller was a 26 -year -old who had just collected 47 points, including only 13 goals, in 75 games with the Lightning of Tampa Bay.
BACK : The Canucks gave in a first round choice in 2020 (now the choice no 20), a choice of third round (71st) and Marek Mazanec.
Brayden Schenn, 2017 : At the time of the transaction, Schenn was 25 years old and he began to establish himself as a top-6 player in the NHL, as evidenced by his 55 points in 79 games in 2016-2017.
BACK : The Blues sold a first -round choice in 2017 (27th), a first -round choice in 2018 (now the choice no 14) and Jori Lehtera.
Claude Giroux
Go back to the draft
If no center player is available via transaction, Hughes could turn to the market for autonomous players with a veteran like Claude Giroux. Maxime Desroches has also paints a portrait of the options that could be interesting for Canadians.
If this is the case, Hughes could aim for more quality than quantity to the draft, in order to recover the player who makes the direction of the CH, whatever it is.
Moreover, the 2025 cuvée is full of good center players who could potentially be called in the top-10: Michael Misa, Andon Frondell, Caleb Desnoyers, Jake O’Brien, James Hagens, Brady Martin and Roger McQueen are all likely to be selected before the choices of CH.
With choices No 16 and 17, Hughes could therefore possibly advance in the top-10. For example, the specialized site Puckpedia Offers a tool that calculates the value of the choices to the draft (a tool which is of course only indicative).
According to this tool, the two first -round choices of CH would have a combined value of 45.69 points, a value almost identical to that of 45.98 points of choice no 6 of the philadelphia flyers.
The idea of advancing to have a player who appeals more to the Habs could therefore be studied with meticulousness.
Recuperate
Obviously, until proven otherwise, Canadians head to two first -round selections.
Without dwelling too much to this option, which has been treated with the many hopes profiles, CH could still take advantage of this strategy.
Read also: What choices for CH with the 16th and 17th choice?
First, Hughes could recover two attackers with his choices, which would maximize his chances of having a player who can evolve on the top-6 if one of the two players develops as hoped for.
Then Hughes could also opt for the selection of an attacker and a defender. The defensive brigade of CH is well stocked, but if a rear like Jackson Smith or Kashawn Aitcheson is still available in 16th row, the management of CH could be tempted to select it.
Finally, recovering twice in a row could also allow Hughes to make two very different choices. He could make a more safe first choice with a player whose floor is high, but the ceiling is lower, and then target the circuit with a player whose floor is very low, but the ceiling extremely high.
The answers to all these questions on Friday evening during the first round of the draft.
