The Canadiens will pick up at 16th overall (unless the Flames win the lottery)

If the Canadiens don’t make the playoffs, where will they pick?

Excluding the possibility of the draft lottery changing things (a 4% chance), the Canadiens would have the 13th overall pick. The teams from Calgary, Vancouver, and Salt Lake City would finish ahead of the Canadiens in the standings.

The Habs would be the fourth-best team to miss the playoffs. But for now, the goal isn’t exactly to think about the draft in Montreal, let’s be honest.

What do you prefer? The Habs in the playoffs? Making one or two rounds?
or
The 13th and 16th picks in the next NHL draft in L.A? (Which would be the case if the Habs miss the playoffs) and also having a slight chance of moving up to the 3rd overall pick (lottery)

— David Ettedgui (@EttedguiDavid) April 16, 2025

If the Habs make the playoffs, which is still the most likely scenario, they would be the worst team among the 16 that qualify. Losing in the first or second round would give the Habs the 17th overall pick.

And if the Habs go to the conference finals, they would pick at best with the 29th overall pick. But at that point, it wouldn’t be the main focus #1.

But we must not forget that the Canadiens also have the Flames’ pick. And since the Flames will undoubtedly be the best team among the 16 that miss the playoffs (it’s official as of last night), they will have the 16th overall pick.

And if the Flames don’t win the lottery to move into the top-10 (a scenario with a 1.1% chance of happening), that pick will go to the Canadiens due to the trade involving Sean Monahan in 2022.

The Flames’ first-round pick that belongs to the #Habs will officially be 16th overall.

In fact, at 98.9%. It has a 1.1% chance of becoming the Panthers’ pick.#Habs #Canadiens #NHLDraft

— Marc-Olivier Beaudoin (@MOBeaudoin1) April 16, 2025

If the pick moves into the top-10 due to the lottery, the Canadiens will inherit the Panthers’ pick instead. This pick belongs to the Flames and will be higher than the 17th overall pick, even in the best-case scenario.

So if everything goes well, the Habs could pick back-to-back with the 16th and 17th overall picks. In fact, I think Kent Hughes would trade at least one of the two picks, but anyway.

HAVING the Flames’ pick for having Sean Monahan and getting a pick from the Jets (which ultimately became Michael Hage after another trade) from the Jets in 2024, it’s genius on the part of Kent Hughes, who liked having Monahan in town.

Now it remains to be seen if a Justin Carbonneau will fall into the Habs’ hands or if the team will go elsewhere in the middle of the draft – if they pick there, of course.

Overtime

– We adapt.

The Passion MLB podcast is like the chef’s debate: it’s better to be ahead of it than to be in the footsteps of the Sainte-Flanelle

Tonight, the podcast will be at 6 pm instead of 8 pm, and it will also be the case in the event of another schedule conflict with the… pic.twitter.com/FtcPNxiYG8

— Passion MLB (@passion_mlb) April 16, 2025

– Interesting.

The Winnipeg Jets are signing Alex Iafallo to a 3x$3.66M extension ($11M total) https://t.co/OWBedPBoW4

— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) April 16, 2025

– That says a lot.

Jim Montgomery started the season with the Bruins before being fired and hired by the Blues.

Now the Blues are heading into the postseason and the Bruins aren’t. pic.twitter.com/1RGv5ANkG8

— theScore (@theScore) April 16, 2025

– Robert Thomas should be fine.

Jim Montgomery says Robert Thomas (lower-body injury) was removed from the game for precautionary reasons and should be fine. #stlblues

— x – St. Louis Blues (@StLouisBlues) April 16, 2025