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Wait before you buy a Ryan Leonard jersey in the colors of the Canadiens.

 Manuel Sperandio-Lemay
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Wait before you buy a Ryan Leonard jersey in the colors of the Canadiens.

Let’s talk about the draft.

If we assume that Connor Bedard is going to Chicago and that Adam Fantilli won’t be available at number five, the Habs will have to fall back on a high-quality player, but not on the cream of the crop.

I expect to see Leo Carlsson and Will Smith go before the Habs, but nothing is guaranteed. If one of them were to slip, rest assured: the Habs would pounce on the young man.

Especially if it’s Will Smith.

But the most likely scenario is to see Bedard, Fantilli, Carlsson and Smith leave before the Habs, who don’t seem to want to draft Matvei Michkov.

The question that will remain until the draft is who will be the lucky one. And right now, if there’s one name circulating en masse, it’s Ryan Leonard, whose praises were sung by Kent Hughes last week.

In reality, many people believe that if the Habs are ever in a position where they need to move out of the honorary top-5 (Bedard, Fantilli, Carlsson, Smith and Michkov), it will come down to Ryan Leonard and David Reinbacher.

That’s been the rumor for a while now.

But does this systematically mean that these two options are flawless? Does this systematically mean that no one else is in the running?

Absolutely not. After all, who knows what the CH is really thinking… and who knows what they’ll be thinking on the evening of June 27 in Nashville?

After all, these are not necessarily perfect candidates. Reinbacher, for example, seems to be on a public decline these days. He may not even be the best defenseman of his generation.

And who knows if the CH really wants a defenseman as their first choice?

What about Leonard? Is Kent Hughes really that sold on the player? According to Mathias Brunet, who discussed the subject with Paul Houde on BPM Sports, we shouldn’t be too quick to assume the whole thing.

Just because the GM spoke highly of him (comparing him to the Tkachuk brothers) doesn’t mean he’ll automatically draft him.

It’s true that ever since the GM praised the teammate of Will Smith and Gabriel Perreault (the three form an interesting trio), we’ve seen his name linked to the Habs a lot.

But is it true?

The La Presse journalist mentions that, as if by magic, since Hughes’ remarks, we’ve seen several mock drafts place the product of the American development program in the Flanelle’s ranks.

But beware: don’t assume that the GM is going to draft him just because he’s publicly praised him – on the contrary.

Kent Hughes is no fool. He can’t compare Leonard to Tkachuk and want to keep it a secret.

I doubt that’s the hidden card in his deck – Mathias Brunet

Mathias thinks that always playing with Will Smith has shown him to be the one who pulls Leonard. That’s why he thinks it’s between Will Smith and David Reinbacher for the Canadian.

And he even thinks that if both are available, the Canadiens will hesitate, but ultimately take Smith. To be continued.


In a gust

– Managing his rest will be a good challenge.

– With good reason.

– Matthew Tkachuk should be punished less. [BPM Sports]

– Oh well.

– After the Avalanche in 2022, the NBA champions are also in Denver.

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