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Canadiens: going into the draft wouldn’t cost so much

 Auteur: Manuel Sperandio-Lemay
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Canadiens: going into the draft wouldn’t cost so much

I’ve never really made a secret of it: I hope to see the Habs move up in the next draft if Connor Bedard, Adam Fantilli, Leo Carlsson and Will Smith go in the top-4.

Why would I do that? Because if they decide to avoid Matvei Michkov, the Habs can’t leave without one of the five draft picks.

Of course, that’s easier said than done. But why? Because the teams that draft in the top-4 haven’t traded their picks in 19 years, which says a lot.

Does that mean it won’t happen? Not necessarily, no.

To me, what it does mean is that if Kent Hughes really wants to crack the top four clubs to be selected in the next auction, he’d better get up early.

And he’d better see the stars align. After all, pick #5 is complicated for the CH, and it could be for other teams too…

What you need to know is that teams are prepared to deal with requests like this. They have charts with the value of the picks and the chances of each pick becoming a good player.

So, mathematically speaking, it’s easy to quantify the value of the choices to find an equivalence.

So Mathias Brunet picked up the phone to find out, via a field hockey man, what it might cost the Habs to move up three or one spot in two weeks’ time.

He shared his findings with Paul Houde on BPM Sports… and let’s just say, on paper, it’s pretty cheap.

In reality, to move up to the second spot, you’d obviously have to give away the #5 pick, but simply adding a late first-round pick (like the Panthers’ #31) might be enough. And to move up one spot? A second-round pick could do the trick.

I’m frankly astonished to hear such results, and I’m convinced that they can’t be transposed so easily to the 2023 draft.

Why would the Sharks accept the #5 “trouble package” pick in exchange for #37, for example? It’s really not a bad pick, but I don’t think it’s a bad deal.

This isn’t the price range we were discussing yesterday on the Sick Podcast, when it was time to find a price to go up.

To me, it’s going to cost more than that. It’s a question of risk management (if Michkov is the #5 pick) or quantity VS quality if another prospect is selected at #5.

To me, it’s clear: the CH needs big, talented players.

After all, I consider having a big, top-notch prospect to be more important than two prospects who are good, but who don’t change a franchise for the better.

That said, it doesn’t matter what I think. What’s important is what Kent Hughes and his counterparts think.

In a row

– It begins.

– News from the QMJHL.

– The A’s move is imminent.

– Speaking of the subject.

– The CFL in Quebec City?[Le Droit]

– Too bad, indeed.

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