Habs preparing for any draft scenario, assistant GM says
With fewer chances to see players, team will be taking a greater risk with its picks
Uncertainty is the key word as teams prepare for the 2020 NHL Entry Draft.
The draft was originally scheduled for the Bell Centre in late June, but it became a victim of the coronavirus pandemic. As a result, nobody knows when or where the draft will be held. Nobody knows if it will feature a large gathering of teams and prospects or be held remotely via conference calls because of social distancing guidelines.
But Trevor Timmins, the Canadiens’ assistant general manager, said his staff is working hard to prepare for any scenario.
“We have a structured process that we apply to every draft and this hasn’t changed,” Timmins said Thursday during a conference call from his home in Arnprior, Ont. “I have our scouting staff adhering to the process, which works toward developing our organizational draft board. With no draft date in sight, there’s no end point for us to work toward. I’ve kept our staff very busy, somewhat like a university professor, with assignments that have a due date.”
With no live games to scout, the staff is reviewing an online library of games and fine-tuning their impressions from games they viewed live before the virus halted play.
Timmins said there will be more risk involved in this year’s picks because the teams won’t have some of the tools that are normally available. The NHL combine, scheduled for early June in Buffalo, has been scrapped and nobody knows whether it will be rescheduled.
Also on hold are the Canadiens’ combine in Montreal and the team’s European combine, which has proved helpful in recent years.
The combines provide teams with medical information, projections of growth and fitness testing as well as an opportunity to meet with the players.
“We can’t travel to talk to players and coaches, but we can still talk to them by telephone and Facetime,” said Timmins.
Teams have also lost the opportunity to see players at cancelled events such as the world under-18 championship, which was to be payed in Plymouth, Mich., and the CHL and NCAA playoffs.
“Our final projection is (based on) the body of work over an entire season, but losing the world under-18 championship is important,” said Timmins. “We won’t be able to see these top prospects playing within their own age group. We’ve seen guys like Alexander Holtz and Lucas Raymond play at the world juniors and in the Swedish League, but it’s difficult to project when you see younger players playing against men.
“And the fact that the tournament was to be in Plymouth was important because the European players would be playing on the North American ice,” added Timmins.
Timmins said the lack of junior and NCAA playoffs is “a big miss for us to be able to see players perform under that type of pressure, that type of grind, with so many games in so few days. That’s a missing part we don’t get.”
The draft lottery was originally scheduled for Thursday, but is on
We’re all hoping a player can step in right away, but that’s rare. It usually takes five or six years to get established.
hold until the NHL decides whether it can complete the season and hold playoffs. The Canadiens are at No. 8 in the draft and, while Timmins said there are quality players who will be available, he preached patience.
“There are players who will ultimately play in our top-six forward group or a top-four defenceman and maybe a starting goaltender,” said Timmins. “We’re all hoping a player can step in right away, but that’s rare. It usually takes five or six years to get established.”
The final Central Scouting rankings were released Wednesday and there are six Quebec Major Junior Hockey League players among the top 30 North American skaters. Timmins said this was a good year for top prospects from the QMJHL.
“To be blunt, I hope they don’t all get drafted in the first round because he have only one first-round pick,” he said.
The Canadiens have 14 picks over seven rounds and Timmins said they could be used as “ammunition” to move up and down in the draft or be used to acquire future draft picks or established NHL players.