With the second round of the NHL playoffs completed, and the Montreal Canadiens eliminated, a few things about the upcoming NHL Entry Draft have been clarified. Although the Canadiens finished with the second best record in the NHL, they will pick higher up in the draft after being eliminated early.
Because the Chicago Blackhawks, Anaheim Ducks, and Tampa Bay Lightning all moved on, they will all pick later than the Habs will, so Montreal will hold the 26th overall pick in the first round.
As Justin Blades has explained previously, since the Canadiens advanced to the second round of the playoffs, the conditional pick that they sent to the Edmonton Oilers for Jeff Petry becomes a fourth round pick instead of a fifth round pick.
This will be the second straight season that the Canadiens will have just two draft choices in the first four rounds, which will be more than palatable if they can retain Jeff Petry, but could come back to haunt the team a little bit if they can’t.
We will be writing multiple draft profiles of prospects that could be available in the Habs’ drafting range, so stay tuned!
