“The Habs will probably have to add another big pick or two”

Since the start of the week, The Athletic’s prospect expert Corey Pronman has been ranking the NHL’s best banks of young players. He divided the 32 teams into four days (Monday to Thursday), and we’re now at the unveiling of the top-8 this morning.

Of course, as early as Monday, we knew that the Canadiens would be analyzed on Thursday. We just didn’t know where the club would rank among the top eight teams.

But here we are, ranked #6 by the expert.

This week is the 2024 NHL pipeline rankings, where I will assess organizations by their talent under 23 years of age. All team pages and the rankings will be found here, 8 teams released each day. https://t.co/pUncd7WqFu

– Corey Pronman (@coreypronman) August 26, 2024

In his paper on the subject (I recommend you read it), we read an introduction to the fact that two youngsters (Ivan Demidov and Juraj Slafkovsky, bearing in mind that this isn’t just a prospect ranking) have star potential.

It also says that the Habs have several youngsters, but not with such a high ceiling for top performers. And that’s why he added the following sentence to his paper:

The Habs will probably have to add another big pick or two. – Corey Pronman

And I couldn’t agree more. And why is that? Because, as I said around the draft when I wasn’t against the idea of drafting a defenseman with the #5 pick, the Habs don’t have their #1 defenseman of the future.

Let’s face it: it was conditional on Ivan Demidov already being gone. Passing on the Russian in favor of a defenseman would have been a mistake, we all agree with that. Demidov is too talented to think otherwise.

Because if you look at the young guys on the blue line (so without Mike Matheson), it’s clear that the young guys currently with the club aren’t among the NHL’s elite.

Kaiden Guhle doesn’t have enough offense right now for that.

And among the young up-and-comers, we have to wonder whether David Reinbacher will be able to rank among the league’s crème de la crème (I think he has the potential to do so) and whether Lane Hutson will be good enough defensively to be considered an elite defenseman.

This morning on BPM Sports, Luc Gélinas alluded to the list of the NHL’s top 20 defensemen, and it’s on that basis that I wonder if the Habs have a defenseman who will be better than Moritz Seider, 20th on the list.

Here they are!

What do you think of our Top 20 Defensemen Right Now list? @NHL | #NHLTopPlayers pic.twitter.com/UL0i1xtwWf

– NHL Network (@NHLNetwork) August 29, 2024

Another good question to ask is: who will be the #1 defenseman of the future?

And since the answer isn’t necessarily clear, I think drafting a good defenseman in 2025 might help a little. And as I see the Habs missing the playoffs and finishing around 22nd or 24th in the standings, a good choice could be waiting for Kent Hughes.