Canadiens: 20 draft picks left in two years

The Habs still have a long way to go to rebuild their club. One of the keys to this will be to ensure that the Canadiens’ prospect pool is as strong as it has been for some time.

Colleague Tony Patoine, our in-house specialist on Montreal Canadiens prospects, is on the case this summer. Each week, he’ll present several of them in detail.

Obviously, we know there are several youngsters already in Montreal. Others are in Laval, in junior, in the NCAA, in Europe, etc.

But others are not under the Habs’ control. They will eventually become so via transactions or via the next amateur auctions, which take place once a year.

It’s always an exciting time to add new blood to a club. Young prospects can become guys that fans love to follow.

Case in point? Lane Huston last year.

In the past, the Habs have still had several draft picks in recent auctions. And when we look ahead to 2024 and 2025, the trend is still in that direction.

Over the next 24 months, if nothing changes (it will), Habs management will draft 20 times. No picks have yet been acquired for 2026 and beyond.

Note that even if the Canadiens have fewer picks in 2025 than in 2024, it’s still a more interesting draft. After all, there will be two first-round picks (if the Flames’ pick for Sean Monahan is indeed in 2025, of course) and two second-rounders – thanks to the Jeff Petry trade.

Next year, the CH has – for the moment – only a first-round pick and doesn’t have its second-round pick (thanks, Christian Dvorak). They do, however, have Colorado’s, thanks to Artturi Lehkonen.

The transactions of Joel Edmundson, Nick Bonino, Brett Kulak and Joel Edmundson (again) have made it possible to pick up the four later picks in the 2024 draft.

With many picks, but few in the early rounds, a year from now, I expect to see the CH GM on the move. After all, there’s no point in contracting a lot of late-round picks when they can be used as tools to trade up for bigger players.

Extension

There’s a world in which the Flames’ 2025 pick is pushed back to 2026. That said, let’s take it for granted that this won’t be the case, to make it simpler.

The important thing, in any case, is that the CH had a good choice with Sean Monahan.