Draft: the Canadian has only one say among the top 68

The Canadiens are rebuilding. And normally, clubs that try to rebuild do so via the draft. This is one of the ways identified by the new administration.

That said, you know as well as I do that Kent Hughes and Jeff Gorton sometimes think differently. If the club can find a different way of doing things, it will.

And since the draft is an inexact science, the Habs have a lot of picks this year and not every guy is going to break through (or even sign an NHL contract), using some resources to go after players who fit the plan is a good idea.

That’s why, yesterday, the Habs moved two draft picks for Alex Newhook, a former Kent Hughes client who won the Stanley Cup in Colorado.

Because yes, the youngster fits in with what the CH is trying to do. He’s not a veteran coming to town, you know.

All that to say, the Habs gave Gianni Fairbrother and two good draft picks to get their hands on the young man, who can play center. Note that the Habs have several centers, but I’d rather have more than not enough.

#Habs Martin St-Louis on Alex Newhook: “he’s going to have opportunity to show us how high his ceiling can be; we don’t expect him to show it day 1 but we’re going to try to develop him like we do all the other guys and maximize what we have with this player.”

– Priyanta Emrith (@HabsInHighHeels) June 27, 2023

For agreeing to give away auction picks #31 and #37, Kent Hughes really feels the youngster is worth it. After all, they’re good picks.

No, the success rate with these picks isn’t always high, but the fact remains that the CH may have just traded Logan Mailloux and/or Owen Beck and/or Lane Hutson for Newhook.

It’s pretty funny to read many of you saying that picks 31 & 37 aren’t worth much, stats aside. And then a majority of these same twitter analysts believe that L Mailloux 31st, O Beck 33rd and L Hutson 62nd will all 3 be impact players with the #CH Edifying 😉

– Jean-Charles Lajoie (@JiCLajoie) June 28, 2023

But that’s part of the risks of the job.

That said, as I said, Kent Hughes has often talked about the draft as a way to rebuild his club. But even though he has nine rights to speak this year, only one is in the top-68.

With the Alex Newhook trade, the #GoHabsGo now have 9 picks in the 2023 #NHLDraft:

Round 1 ➡ 5th
Round 3 ➡ 69th
Round 4 ➡ 101st, 110th, 128th
Round 5 ➡ 133rd, 144th
Round 6 ➡ 165th
Round 7 ➡ 197th

– Priyanta Emrith (@HabsInHighHeels) June 27, 2023

Remember when we thought the Panthers’ pick would yield another top-10 pick? Well, the situation has changed.

Obviously, the CH’s top-68 pick is the fifth overall. Not only is it an excellent pick, but everyone agrees that it’s a pivotal one in the draft.

After all, the CH pick will change the rest of the draft.

Of course, we don’t know if the Habs will draft fifth tonight. Several rumours suggest that the Habs could move up or down, depending on need.

“As we speak, we still have the 5th pick, but we’re open to anything” – Kent Hughes(@JFChaumontJDM) https://t.co/zxA6HOGXxT

– Le Journal de Montréal (@JdeMontreal) June 27, 2023

What this means, in the end, is that the Habs will draft pretty high (if nothing changes…), but after that, we’ll have to wait until the third round to see the CH speak. We can forget, presumably, about Ethan Gauthier in Montreal.

We can also forget about Filip Mesar 2.0 with a late first-round pick.

I wonder what Kent Hughes has in store for us tonight. Will he be able to pull another Kirby Dach or Alex Newhook rabbit out of his hat to turn a pick into an established young player? Will he pay to move up? Get paid to go down?

It’s all on the table. Have a great draft day, guys.

In a gust

– Still, eh?

– The Jets goaltender is only seconds away from making a move.

– Will the Kings regret Pierre-Luc Dubois’ contract? [BPM Sports]

– Speaking of the draft.