It’s that time of the season again for Montreal Canadiens fans: as the NHL moves through the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs, Habs fans are looking toward the draft. Montreal has 12 picks in this year’s draft with five in the first three rounds. This mock draft will examine these first five picks to see who the Habs could pick and what it means for the team’s future. There will be many assumptions, so bear with us as we try to predict the future.
Related: 2024 NHL Draft Guide
The assumptions that will be made are as follows:
- Ivan Demidov is drafted in the top four (I honestly believe he will be)
- The Canadiens do not trade any picks (although they probably will)
- The player chosen is available (again, can’t predict the future)
Canadiens Pick 5th Overall
The Canadiens have the luxury of having the fifth overall pick for a second year. This season, however, there should be no surprises. They are done building their defence and goaltending and should be focused on building the forward group. Although very deep defensively, there are still some highly skilled forwards in the top 10 for the Habs to choose from, and they shouldn’t have an issue getting a player with whom everyone can be happy. The assumption that Demidov is drafted in the top four leaves the Canadiens with the option to pick one of Cayden Lindstrom, Tij Iginla, or Berkly Catton.
The Canadiens’ management seems to like size and skill, and Lindstrom is the best player for both of those qualities out of the three mentioned. He had wrist surgery, which held him back this season, and he rehabbed a back injury that could raise questions, but for all intents and purposes, he seems healthy and ready to go. Lindstrom will give the Canadiens even more size to go with Juraj Slafkovsky and Kirby Dach for years to come.
Canadiens Pick: Cayden Lindstrom
Canadiens Pick 24th – 27th Overall
The second first-round pick for the Canadiens was acquired in the Sean Monahan trade with the Winnipeg Jets. As of the writing of this article, it is in 27th place but could be as high as 24th once the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs ends. Montreal could choose from another wide range of forwards, but the talent will not be as high as in the top ten – or at least not projected to be. However, you never really know sometimes. The Canadiens also have the option to trade this pick, which is what I think will happen at the actual draft, but if they don’t trade it and it goes as high as 24, they have a good chance to draft a player who could be selected in the top 20.
Related: 2024 NHL Draft: Baracchini’s Mock Draft
I will go on a limb here and say that a player or two falls in the draft, and the Canadiens can grab him between 24 and 27. Beckett Sennecke and Igor Chernyshov are ranked higher but not that much higher, so they could fall in this range. Other available players are Ryder Ritchie and Cole Hutson (we know how general manager (GM) Kent Hughes likes drafting families). In my optimism, I believe Chernyshov will be in the Habs range, and they will draft the Russian. He is highly energetic, plays a solid 200-foot game, and could be a surprise star from the latter half of the first round.
Canadiens Pick: Igor Chernyshov
Canadiens Pick 58th
The Canadiens have only one second-round pick in this year’s draft acquired from the Colorado Avalanche in the Arrturi Lehkonen trade. Montreal’s second-round pick, which would have been 37th overall, was traded to the Arizona Coyotes (NHL Utah) for Christian Dvorak, then to the Los Angeles Kings for Sean Druzi and again to the Jets for Pierre Luc Dubois. This leaves the Habs with only one pick in the second round at 58th overall, much lower than their original pick. Many mock drafts have mostly defencemen in the late second round, and although Montreal could pick one, they would be better off doing that in the later rounds than the first two. A couple of forwards in this range could be an option.
Kamil Bednarik from the United States National Team Development Program (USNTDP) is an option; he is slated to play for Boston University next season but put up good numbers with 95 points in 88 games split between the USNTDP and the United States Hockey League (USHL). Another option is Swedish player Linus Eriksson, who had 34 points in 54 games split between Djurgardens IF J20 and Djurgardens IF of the HockeyAllsvenskan League. A third option at 58 is Justin Poirier of the Quebec Maritime Junior Hockey League (QMJHL); he scored 82 points with 51 goals in 68 games for Baie-Comeau Drakkar. Poirier is the smallest of the three.
Canadiens Pick: Kamil Bednarik
Canadiens’ Third Round Picks
The Canadiens have two third-round picks at this year’s draft: their pick, 70th overall, and the Minnesota Wild’s pick, 78th overall. In the Joel Edmundson trade, they acquired the Wild pick from the Washington Capitals. With the two picks, the Canadiens are hoping that one of the late second-round picks drops into their lap, and they do have a chance of that happening with Poirier. He isn’t very big at only 5-foot-8 and could drop to 70, where Montreal can grab him. The Habs cannot look at defencemen or goaltending with the second-round pick. Goaltending should be the last thing on their mind, but if they want depth defencemen, they could go with Jesse Pulkkinen, a Finnish player who played with JYP of Liiga last season. He had 40 points split between JYP, JYP U20 and KeuPa HT of the Mestis League.
Canadiens Picks: 70 – Justin Poirie, 78 – Jesse Pulkkinen
The Canadiens are on the cusp of turning the corner of their rebuild, and if they can draft players that can fill holes in the next couple of seasons, then they can quickly get around that corner and move towards contending. None of these players should be able to play in Montreal next season, but in two seasons, they should be ready when they are a consistent playoff team and ready to compete for the Cup.
