Canadiens land top pick, but Wright no slam-dunk
After winning the NHL'S draft lottery Tuesday night, the Canadiens will be picking first when the draft is held July 7-8 at the Bell Centre, but there's no guarantee they will use that pick to select Shane Wright.
Scouts have ranked the Kingston Frontenacs centre as the top prospect for the past year, but general manager Kent Hughes said Tuesday there's a lot of work to be done before a decision is finalized.
The Canadiens will abide by the tried-and-true rule: select the best player available.
“You always go with your evaluation first and if there's a player we feel is the best player available in the draft, then that's the player we're going to with. If there are different shades of the same colour in our opinion, could we value one because of a positional need, yeah certainly. But we're not at that point yet.”
Speaking on TV after the results of the draft lottery were announced, Hughes said the Canadiens will place a large emphasis on character. That means we won't see a public relations disaster like last year when the team drafted Logan Mailloux.
While Wright is the clubhouse leader, he may not be the lock he was earlier this year. In a flash poll of NHL scouts conducted by TSN'S Bob Mckenzie, Wright was the first choice of six of the nine scouts, while two liked Slovakian right-winger Juraj Slafkovsky and one picked Logan Cooley, who incidentally played with Hughes's son Jack on the U.S. team at the IIHF U18 world championships.
There are concerns about the quality and quantity of players available in this draft. There are no Sidney Crosbys, no Connor Mcdavids, no Auston Matthewses. And there isn't a player projected to be a generational talent such as Connor Bedard, the consensus No. 1 pick for the 2023 draft.
“I think it's a talented draft,” Hughes said. “It's hard at any moment to compare it to (previous) years' drafts because those players have 12 months of development and progress. We're excited to have the first overall pick because we have the opportunity to draft a player who's going to have an important role in the future of Montreal Canadiens. When, how, that's to be determined.”
Hughes and vice-president of hockey operations Jeff Gorton will travel to Finland for the world championships, which begin on Friday. They will then meet with the team's scouts and begin the process of evaluating players not only for the top pick, but for subsequent picks including the first-rounder they obtained from Calgary, which will probably be in the mid-to-late 20s.
Hughes said he and Gorton will encourage healthy debate and they will rely heavily on the scouts who have been following the players over the past year and, in some cases, for two and three years.
The Canadiens are hoping for a better outcome than the 2009 draft. That was the last time the draft was held at the Bell Centre. They selected local product Louis Leblanc 18th overall and he played only 50 games with the Canadiens.