Habs lineup: top-6 potential made up entirely of top-16 draft picks

Since Kent Hughes took the helm as General Manager of the Montreal Canadiens, a trend has become apparent in the team’s transactions.

Kent Hughes seems to have a penchant for former first-round picks who haven’t yet reached their full potential, or who are going through a slump.

The transactions to acquire Justin Barron, Kirby Dach, Mike Matheson, Alex Newhook and now Patrik Laine are proof of this.

With the addition of these players, well, quietly not quickly, Kent Hughes is building the Montreal Canadiens on top draft picks selected in the first round.

Right now, the Habs have so many former first-round picks, that the Habs’ top-6 potential for next season could be made up entirely of top-16 draft picks.

In fact, this was one of the topics discussed by Tony Marinaro and Grant McCagg after the acquisition of Patrik Laine.

With the addition of Laine, the Habs now have ten former first-round picks in their current active roster.

In salary order, these ten players are :

• Patrik Laine (2nd pick in 2016)
• Nick Suzuki (13th pick in 2017)
• Cole Caufield (15th pick in 2019)
• Juraj Slafkovsky (1st choice in 2022)
• Kaiden Guhle (16th pick in 2020)
• Mike Matheson (23th choice in 2012)
• Joel Armia (16th pick in 2011)
• Kirby Dach (3rd pick in 2019)
• Alex Newhook (16th pick in 2019)
• Justin Barron (25th pick in 2020)

Obviously, names could be added to the list if Logan Mailloux, David Reinbacher or even Filip Mesar were to make the club.

In short, these ten players include seven forwards, the vast majority of whom have an excellent chance of making the top-6.

In my opinion, and that of many other fans and analysts, the Habs top-6 could look like this:

Juraj Slafkovsky – Nick Suzuki – Cole Caufield
Patrik Laine – Kirby Dach – Alex Newhook

If this second line ever came into existence, it would be a trio made up entirely of players acquired by Kent Hughes via trade.

Organize the two trios as you wish, but in the end, the conclusion is the same: all six players were drafted in the top-16 of their respective years.

Newhook is the player who was drafted furthest back in his draft, as he was drafted at 16th in 2019, one spot behind Cole Caufield.

It should also be noted that the Habs will have a player in their top-6 drafted at each of the top-3 positions in a draft.

Martin St-Louis could very well decide to have some fun with a line consisting of Juraj Slafkovsky (1st overall in 2022), Patrik Laine (2nd overall in 2016) and Kirby Dach (3rd overall in 2019).

That really would be quite a line-up.

In short, Kent Hughes clearly has a strategy when it comes to having the most first-round picks on his team.

And in the end, we agree it’s really not a bad idea.

If these players were once drafted in the first round, it’s because they have the talent and skills to succeed in the NHL.

It’s going to be a very exciting season for Habs fans to watch, and all these former first-round picks have a lot to do with it.

Overtime

– The latest NHL speculation and questions.

– Excellent start for Verstappen at home.