With all of that in mind, general manager Kent Hughes is eyeing the best opportunity to set his long-term plan for the organization in motion. He approaches it with eyes—and mind—wide open. In his pre-draft meeting with the media on Monday, the GM said all the things you’d expect to hear from someone in his position. He began by saying, “If the draft was tonight, we’d go first overall,” but also declined to trade the pick if the right offer came along. Hughes said there’s just as much chance of the Canadiens getting the second overall pick in the draft as trading the first and not owning a top-3 pick at all, that right now there’s a better chance he’ll collect some of the other picks of Montreal in the draft to move up from 26th overall to the first pick, and that the Canadiens are open to everything and not set on any particular plan. It all sounded pretty generic. But it was also genuine. The potential for the Canadiens to make big, bold moves — and draw much more of the spotlight already on them as hosts in possession of the top pick — is huge, and Hughes spoke like a man who always would be for. Design Options Round 1: (1st, 26th), Round 2: (33rd, 62nd), Round 3: (66th, 75th, 92nd) Round 4: (98th, 127th, 128th), Round 5: (130th), Round 6: ( 162nd), Round 7 (194th, 216th) Possible 1st round targets There was nothing general about Hughes’ response to a question about which players the Canadiens are considering using with the top pick. He could decline to answer, as most would, but confirmed that it will be one of Shane Wright, Juraj Slafkovsky or Logan Cooley. Wright is a think tank. He was the consensus pick for analysts dating back to his OHL entry as one of the few 15-year-old players in CHL history with an outstanding position. He arrived with the Kingston Frontenacs under tremendous pressure and thrived with 39 goals and 66 points in his first 58 games. Then the world as we knew it stopped spinning due to the pandemic, forcing Wright and most CHL players to the sidelines for an entire season. If the 6-foot, 191-pounder won over naysayers during this season, which saw him have 32 goals and 94 points in 63 regular-season games and three goals and 11 points in 11 playoff games, he worries about what lost in development during the 2020-21 season affected by COVID played a major role. But another reason why Wright’s position in most drafts became precarious was that both Slafkovsky and Cooley closed the gap in their own ways. Slafkowski, who is 6-foot-4, 218 pounds and plays like it, may not have lined up against the best players in the world at the Beijing Olympics in February, but he dominated against the best men available and led the tournament in goals ( 7) and points (7). He then represented Slovakia at the world championships in May and scored three goals and nine points in eight games. It was performances that reinforced the idea that Slafkowski appears to be the most physically prepared player in this draft entering the NHL and making an immediate impact. Had they not been offset by an underwhelming five-goal, 10-point season in Finland’s top men’s league, he likely would have overtaken Wright as the consensus pick. But would anyone really be surprised to see Cooley vault over the two players come Thursday night? Scouts we’ve touched base with show he has the highest offensive ceiling of the three players, and he showed it this season with 40 goals and 111 points in 75 games played with the United States National Development Team. “I think Cooley has the upside to be a top point-producing center and I see him as a player like (New York Islanders star) Mat Barzal,” said a top NHL executive we spoke with two weeks ago. But the same executive wondered if some habits could prevent Cooley from taking advantage of the opportunity to prove he can reach that upward level, and more people would have Cooley as the most likely player to go first if they disagreed. However, there appears to be no doubting the quality of all three players being considered by the Canadians. As Hughes’ special adviser — and former first overall pick of the Tampa Bay Lightning — Vincent Lecavalier said Monday, “They’re three different players, but they’re three very, very good players.” Determining which one is best for the Canadians will be based on a lot more than how they’ve performed since September. “At the end of the day, we’re trying to predict a player’s future — where he is right now and what he can become as a player in the NHL,” Hughes said. “That’s really how our evaluations are done. It’s not to figure out who’s the best player at 18, but who can be the best at 22, 23, 24 to help us get on the path we’re on to become a team capable of winning year after year. » Hughes said it’s a decision made with a lot of character in mind because, as he put it, “it’s probably harder to be the first overall pick in Montreal,” and “We’re trying to gauge their ability to deal with that. kind of pressure on a constant basis’. The Canadians will take as much time as they need before finalizing their selection. “It’s not a matter of hesitation. it’s about making sure we do all our homework,” Hughes said when pressed about being undecided just three days before the draft. “We want to talk to all our scouts. We start having meetings tonight and we want everyone to have a voice. Sure, we have some scouts in Europe who may not have seen games in Ontario in person. But these days, with (scouting technology) and (analytics provider) Sportlogiq, it makes all our courses easier to run.” Last year’s top pick: Logan Mailloux The 6-foot-3, 208-pound right-handed defenseman, who was controversially taken 31st overall by the Canadiens last summer after recusing himself from the draft because he had been charged with a crime in Sweden, has played just 12 games for the OHL’s London Knights last season. Mailloux served a first-half suspension and made his January debut with three goals and nine points before suffering a season-ending shoulder injury. He has since spent time in Montreal recovering from surgery and familiarizing himself with the Canadiens front office. He is expected to join the team’s development camp next week, although a contract with the club is far from imminent. “It is not our intention to negotiate with him,” Hughes said on May 31. “Logan is still being evaluated — less as a player and much more as a person and a member of the community — and we’ll be watching him do everything he promised to do to become a better person and a better teammate and member of the London community.” Organizational Needs You would have a much easier time pointing out what Canadians don’t need. Having finished last in the NHL, it’s hard to prioritize even what they need. For the better part of three decades, they’ve lacked elite centers, and it’s debatable that they’d get it in either Wright or Cooley. He’s also unlikely to be available to them via trade unless a team comes calling with a Godfather offer for the first pick this week. Anyone willing to give up a power/scoring winger? Because the Canadiens probably won’t get one unless they draft Slafkowski. That might not seem like a big deal to some seeing as Josh Anderson is signed in Montreal for six more seasons and Cole Caufield is overflowing with stars, but to suggest that the Canadiens don’t have that much of a need for that kind of player would be completely inaccurate. If you were to make a list of Montreal’s top prospects, it would start with several quality defensemen. But it’s very hard to suggest that any of them will develop into stars, and the Canadiens don’t have one on their current roster who fits the bill. They are also looking to trade their best defenseman in Jeff Petry. So that need could get a lot bigger by the end of this week. Oh, and then there’s what happens on the net. Cayden Primeau and Jakub Dobes are prospects who have shown they have the potential to one day become starting goaltenders in the NHL, but that day isn’t necessarily around the corner and the Canadiens enter the draft not knowing if the superstar under contract . to understand their net will really be in front of him again. As Hughes said Monday, when he has news about Carey Price’s health and future, he will hold a special press conference to cover the matter exclusively. Meanwhile, with so many options at his disposal for Friday’s portion of the draft, he might want to start stocking the Canadiens’ locker with goaltenders. At the same time, it’s an organizational need — perhaps the most pressing — to create the flexibility to sign Alex Romanov, Caufield and others who can help on the line, and Hughes will focus his energy next week on doing just that. . That means Petry may not be the only member of the current roster to be elsewhere.
