Habs stock their roster with former first-round draft picks
Brendan Gallagher, Paul Byron and Max Domi were sitting side-by-side in the Canadiens’ locker-room after Monday morning ’s practice in Brossard when I asked them a question: Do you know how many former first-round draft picks are on the team’s training-camp roster?
“No,” Gallagher said, shaking his head.
Byron thought about the question for few seconds before saying: “I don’t know … 10?”
When told the correct answer is 13, Domi responded: “The draft is so overrated.”
Shot back Gallagher: “What are you talking about, bud? Fifth-rounders. That’s the round to be in.”
Gallagher was indeed a fifthround pick by the Canadiens (147th overall) at the 2010 NHL Entry Draft, while Domi was a first-round pick by the Arizona Coyotes (12th overall) in 2013 and Byron was selected by the Buffalo Sabres in the sixth round (179th overall) in 2007.
Only five of the former firstround draft picks at training camp were selected by the Canadiens: Jesperi Kotkaniemi (third overall, 2018), Noah Juulsen (26th, 2015), Nikita Scherbak (26th, 2014), Mike McCarron (25th, 2013) and Carey Price (fifth, 2005). The others are Domi, Joel Armia (16th by Buffalo in 2011), Phillip Danault (26th by Chicago in 2011), Jonathan Drouin (third by Tampa Bay in 2013), Hunter Shinkaruk (24th by Vancouver in 2013), Nick Suzuki (13th by Vegas in 2017), Karl Alzner (fifth by Washington in 2007) and Simon Després (30th by Pittsburgh in 2009).
“It’s not a bad thing to have,” coach Claude Julien said about all the first-round picks at training camp. “I think right now it’s about evaluating some of them. As you know, some of them are really having to put their imprint on our team if they want to be here. Others are young guys that are giving themselves a chance. If anything, the future seems to bode well for us as far as players are concerned, first-rounders, but also at centre ice.”
One of those players trying to make his imprint is Shinkaruk. Since being drafted by the Canucks, the 5-foot-10, 181-pound centre has been traded from Vancouver to Calgary and then from Calgary to Montreal this summer in exchange for Kerby Rychel. Shinkaruk has only played 15 games in the NHL, posting 2-2-4 totals.
When asked if there was added pressure being a first-round pick, the 23-year-old Shinkaruk said: “Maybe a little bit, but it’s fun. You worked hard when you were young to be able to accomplish that dream. That’s something that I was able to do. I don’t look at that as a negative. It’s something that I have to deal with and now it’s my time to show that that pick was worth it.”
While it’s nice to get drafted in the first round, it’s no guarantee of NHL success. The Canadiens know that as well as any team, with former first-round picks like Jarred Tinordi (2010), Louis Leblanc (2009) and David Fischer (2006). But if you look at the year-by-year first-round draft picks in the NHL Official Guide & Record Book there will be more names you don’t recognize than those you do.
When Leblanc decided to leave Harvard University in 2010 after only one season to join the QMJHL’s Montreal Juniors, I spoke with Harvard coach Ted Donato about the player’s decision.
“I think he was obviously under a lot of pressure and I think that led to his decision to stay up in Montreal and play major junior,” Donato said at the time.
“We’ve often talked about having the ability to not only to make the NHL, but to be an impact guy once he gets there and to stay there for a number of years,” Donato added. “I think it was a case where he felt his development would move along quicker playing outside of the NCAA. I don’t agree with him, but I respect his decision.”
With that in mind, it’s not a bad idea that Ryan Poehling, the Canadiens’ first-round pick (25th overall) at the 2017 NHL Draft, has decided to return to St. Cloud State University this year for a third season.
Gallagher doesn’t know what it feels like to be a first-round draft pick, but said he didn’t feel any extra motivation after not being selected until the fifth round by the Canadiens.
“To be honest, I was very happy to be drafted,” he said. “A lot of people will say they have a chip on their shoulder. I didn’t go (to the draft) ... I didn’t know if I was going to get drafted. It was a happy day for me. I didn’t take any negative out of it. I was drafted in the NHL and I thought it was a pretty cool thing.”
Being overlooked at drafts was nothing new for the 5-foot-9, 181-pound Gallagher. The junior Vancouver Giants selected him in the ninth round (195th overall) of the 2007 WHL Bantam Draft and he went on to become the leading scorer in franchise history with 136 goals and 280 points in 244 games. Now, the 26-year-old could become the next captain of the Canadiens.
As Domi said, the NHL Draft can be overrated.