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Guessing Montreal's List Based on the TSN Article

Draft Class: 2024
Created By: HabsCanucks
Published: May 7 at 1:57 p.m.
Description
Bob McKenzie's draft rankings give us some insight into what NHL teams are thinking. Combining that information with what we've heard from Habs media sources might give a good idea of what to expect on draft day. Of course, if none of the scouts interviewed were from the Canadiens, the reasoning falls apart a bit...
ROUND 1TEAMORIGINALPLAYERDETAILS
1Logo of the San Jose Sharks-Obviously 1OA, and unanimously 1OA among scouts.
2Logo of the Chicago Blackhawks-Half the scouts had Demidov a 2OA, and 'm guessing that one of them is from Montreal, since they've reportedly been high on him since at least the 2023 draft.
3Logo of the Anaheim Ducks-This could be a defenceman, but my guess would be Lindstrom. Two scouts had him ranked here, and the reports out of Montreal are that the Habs are targeting a forward if possible. He's also a big player with strong tools, which fits with their other top picks under this management group.
4Logo of the Columbus Blue Jackets-None of the forwards outside of Demidov and Lindstrom got votes here, so that leaves the defencemen. RHD makes the most sense for the Habs, so I'll guess Parekh, who is the only one that we know they've talked to.
5Logo of the Montreal Canadiens-Only one of the scouts had Sennecke at 5OA, and my guess is that it's a Habs scout. Sennecke fits a lot of the criteria for top selections by Montreal's new management. He's big. He's a late riser. He has good tools. He didn't have the most productive regular season, but performed well in the playoffs (For other prospects, this was international events, but I think the same idea applies).
7Logo of the Ottawa Senators-We don't have much information beyond this point, but I'll take a guess that the two big RHD are players that they are interested in.
8Logo of the Seattle Kraken-I had Levshunov ahead since I think he's the better prospect, but it's possible that they prefer Yakemchuk.
9Logo of the Calgary Flames-Apparently Catton's size is keeping him out of consideration for the pick at the moment, but they did reach out to him earlier in the season, so they must have thought he was good enough to consider at some point.
10Logo of the New Jersey Devils-I have heard nothing about what Montreal thinks of Dickinson, but he seems like the kind of player they would be really interested in if they weren't loaded at LHD.
11Logo of the Buffalo Sabres-I'm probably underestimating how highly they think of Silayev, since scouts seem to be very sold on him, but the last European defenceman they took ended up in a less than ideal development situation in Europe this year, and I'm not sure that they'd want to risk a similar situation happening in Russia, where they'd have even less access and control.
12Logo of the Philadelphia Flyers-The only thing I've heard about Eiserman in relation to the Habs is that they're not interested in taking him in the 5-7 range. I think 12OA is far enough down that they might consider him though.
13Logo of the Minnesota Wild-
14Logo of the San Jose SharksLogo of the Pittsburgh Penguins
15Logo of the Detroit Red Wings-
16Logo of the St. Louis Blues-
17Logo of the Washington Capitals-
18Logo of the New York Islanders-
19Logo of the Vegas Golden Knights-
20Logo of the Chicago BlackhawksLogo of the Tampa Bay Lightning
21Logo of the Los Angeles Kings-
22Logo of the Nashville Predators-
23Logo of the Toronto Maple Leafs-
24Logo of the Anaheim DucksLogo of the Edmonton Oilers
25Logo of the Colorado Avalanche-
26Logo of the Ottawa SenatorsLogo of the Boston Bruins
27Logo of the Montreal CanadiensLogo of the Winnipeg Jets
28Logo of the Carolina Hurricanes-
29Logo of the Calgary FlamesLogo of the Vancouver Canucks
30Logo of the Philadelphia FlyersLogo of the Florida Panthers
31Logo of the Dallas Stars-
32Logo of the New York Rangers-

Top Comments

May 7 at 2:09 p.m.
#1
Z0ra
chibrikov is a steal
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The three people that Montreal is currently high on are:

Demidov
Lindstrom
Iginla

Normally Montreal values hockey sense, compete, and character in their prospects. The three that make the most sense are Iginla, Sennecke, and Stiga. Yes Montreal has been drafting bigger prospects, but those 3 things are what Hughes and company value the most.

Lindstrom doesn't make a lot of sense for the Canadiens given his compete level in the playoffs, I didn't like the way he played. Demidov is from Russia and he would 100% be the pick if he's available. Montreal would have to win the lottery in order to get him. Iginla checks all the boxes: goal-scorer, physical player, but also has the hockey sense, character (Jarome's son), and compete (had a solid U18 and was the driving force for Kelowna).

But the question is, how do you know that certain players have met with Montreal?
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May 7 at 2:41 p.m.
#2
HabsCanucks
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Quoting: Z0ra
The three people that Montreal is currently high on are:

Demidov
Lindstrom
Iginla

Normally Montreal values hockey sense, compete, and character in their prospects. The three that make the most sense are Iginla, Sennecke, and Stiga. Yes Montreal has been drafting bigger prospects, but those 3 things are what Hughes and company value the most.

Lindstrom doesn't make a lot of sense for the Canadiens given his compete level in the playoffs, I didn't like the way he played. Demidov is from Russia and he would 100% be the pick if he's available. Montreal would have to win the lottery in order to get him. Iginla checks all the boxes: goal-scorer, physical player, but also has the hockey sense, character (Jarome's son), and compete (had a solid U18 and was the driving force for Kelowna).

But the question is, how do you know that certain players have met with Montreal?


I think Stiga will be out of consideration for the same reason that Catton is; Habs management want to enough big, skilled forwards to support their smaller guys in the playoffs. Also, it's not impossible to imagine Stiga falling to the Winnipeg pick (even if some other teams would be making a mistake in letting it happen).

As for Lindstrom, I don't want to be too harsh on his playoff performance, since he was definitely still dealing with injury. Of course, that's cause for some concern itself, but every option after Celebrini comes with its own set of trade-offs. I do think there's a fit for him on the Habs playing on Dach's wing. He's strong in the face-off dot even though he's more of a natural winger, so he could split face-off duties with Dach. Lindstrom's more of a shooter while Dach is more of a playmaker, and their combined size could be difficult for teams to handle.

To answer your question, all my knowledge on that front comes from media reports throughout the season. Obviously, we can't know that they didn't talk with other prospects, but I'm using the information that we do have as best as I can.
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