Don't expect Canadiens to trade No. 5 draft pick
Q: Do we truly feel this year's NHL Draft will be such a team-impact draft? If not, then why not consider trading the fifth pick given the solid pipeline we now have?
Richard Linden Nantel on X (@ Rickyydallas)
The Canadiens might have a solid pipeline of defencemen, but they are desperate to find forwards who can score and I believe that's what they'll be looking for with the No. 5 pick. The only way I see GM Kent Hughes trading the pick is if it is for a young forward who has already proved he can score in the NHL.
Q; How do you think the draft is going to play out, especially at pick No. 5? Naoya Kusano on X (@Naoya808)
As mentioned above, I expect the Canadiens will draft a forward.
I don't pretend to be an expert on draft-eligible players because I don't follow them closely during the season, when I'm busy covering the Canadiens.
Well-respected TSN draft guru Bob Mckenzie does follow them closely. He has Cayden Lindstrom — a 6-foot-3, 210-pound centre who had 27-19-46 totals and 66 penalty minutes in 32 games this season with the WHL'S Medicine Hat Tigers — at No. 5 in his draft rankings. Lindstrom certainly looks like he would be a good fit with the Canadiens, although he was limited to 32 games this season because of surgery for an upper-body injury in December.
Mckenzie has Tij Iginla — the son of Hall of Famer Jarome Iginla — ranked No. 10. The 6-foot, 186-pound centre had 47-37-84 totals in 64 games this season with the WHL'S Kelowna Rockets.
I wouldn't be surprised to see Lindstrom or Iginla end up with the Canadiens.
Q: How strong is the Interest in acquiring Trevor Zegras
Don Ferguson on X (@Fergee29)
Good question. But since Hughes can't talk about players under contract with another team, it's hard to know how much interest the Canadiens might have in Zegras.
If I were Hughes, I'd definitely be interested in acquiring the 23-year-old Zegras, who has two seasons remaining on his contract with a salary-cap hit of US$5.75 million. The Canadiens need forwards who can score and Zegras can provide offence.
Zegras is also a close friend of Cole Caufield and they are playing on a line together — along with Brady Tkachuk — for Team USA at the IIHF World Hockey Championship, which started Friday.
You have to imagine Hughes will be keeping a close eye on how Caufield and Zegras perform together at the tournament.
Q: Which prospects do you see making the team next year? RWL on X (@Dis70hab)
A lot depends on what kind of moves Hughes makes during the off-season, but I expect to see defencemen Lane Hutson and Logan Mailloux with the Canadiens next season. I think management will probably want defenceman David Reinbacher, the No. 5 pick at last year's draft, to spend some time with the AHL'S Laval Rocket, like Mailloux did this season.
Q: Which contract would you most like to be traded — Josh Anderson or Carey Price? #36Reinbacher on X (@23reinbach36918)
Easy answer: Anderson. Price has two seasons left on his contract with a US$10.5 million salary-cap hit, but he won't play again and will remain on long-term injured reserve so his salary won't count against the cap.
Anderson has three seasons remaining on his contract with a US$5.5 million salary-cap hit, which weighs very heavily after he only posted 9-11-20 totals in 78 games this season. At this point, it's hard to imagine any other team having interest in Anderson.
The only team that might have had interest in acquiring Price's contract was the Arizona Coyotes. But they have now moved to Utah and the new owner, Ryan Smith, won't be looking to add dead contracts to make the salary-cap floor like the Coyotes had a history of doing.
Former Canadiens captain Shea Weber is now technically with the Utah team after the Coyotes acquired his contract from the Vegas Golden Knights last year. Weber still has two more seasons left on his contract with a Us$7.857-million salary-cap hit, but he won't play again, either.
However, there is a possibility Weber could become the first Utah player inducted into the Hall of Fame.
Q: I'd be intrigued to know how you think Jesperi Kotkaniemi would have fit into the team if he was still a Hab. I see he is not getting much ice time in Carolina. Would it be the same in Montreal or might he have had a bit more room to grow during this rebuild? MSH on X (@woobaman)
It really would have been interesting to see how Kotkaniemi would have developed with the Canadiens if they were in a full rebuild when they selected him third overall at the 2018 draft and if Martin St. Louis had been his coach. But judging from what has happened since Kotkaniemi signed his offer sheet with Carolina, he'd probably be a third-line winger or a fourth-line winger with the Canadiens, which is what he is now with the Hurricanes.
Kotkaniemi had 12-15-27 totals in 79 games this season and has zero points in eight playoff games. The Hurricanes were obviously expecting a lot more when they gave Kotkaniemi the one-year, Us$6.1-million offer sheet three years ago and then signed him to an eight-year, US$35.6 million contract with an annual salary-cap hit of US$4.82 million. The Hurricanes and head coach Rod Brind'amour expected they could help Kotkaniemi develop into the player the Canadiens were hoping he would be and he simply hasn't.
The Canadiens will continue to regret for many years not drafting Tkachuk, who went to the Ottawa Senators one pick after Kotkaniemi.