After trading both of their first-rounders to the New York Islanders for Noah Dobson, the Montreal Canadiens sent a clear message: the rebuild is done.
When I heard the news, I immediately knew two things would be true. First, that the Habs wouldn’t be done trading picks, and second, that they’d be taking some high-upside swings on day two.
Check, and check.
Carolina stepped up at 34th overall, and Montreal traded the 41st and 49th picks to prevent the Hurricanes from doing their favourite thing — drafting a high-upside Russian. Just like that, Alexander Zharovsky was a Canadien.
Alexander Zharovsky
What are the Habs getting?
Zharovsky burst onto the scene quite unpredictably. He was mainly playing in the NMHL — essentially Russia’s Junior B level — last year. By the same time this year, he was playing bottom-six minutes in the KHL playoffs for Salavat Yulaev Ufa, after dominating in the MHL all season.
High-end skill permeates every one of his puck touches. Effortless pass receptions turn into one-touch dekes, he side-steps defenders with a wide arsenal of skills, and attacks defenders’ feet before setting up powerful screened shots. Elite Prospects called Zharovsky “the single-most skilled puck-handler from Europe in this year’s class, and it’s not particularly close” in their 2025 NHL Draft Guide.
That rapid ascension from the NMHL to the KHL playoffs doesn’t come without developmental hurdles. Zharovsky is very raw. His physical frame isn’t quite developed, his skating can get in the way of some of his brilliant ideas, and his decision-making will need to scale up as he climbs the ranks.
Thankfully, there were some promising glimpses in limited KHL minutes, especially on the latter front. Zharovsky adapted his decision-making, started playing for what was in front of him, and was effective as a result, despite only earning one assist.
When a young prospect has the amount of skill Zharovsky has, the main hurdle is usually to sift through an array of available plays twice as wide as their peers’, and choose the right play. Most prospects get there; decision-making rarely stagnates for creative forwards. I’m willing to bet Zharovsky is no exception.
The question then becomes how well Zharovsky fills out physically, and whether Adam Nicholas and the rest of the Habs’ development staff can get his skating to a level where it acts as a complement to his creativity, rather than a limiter.
Make no mistake, it’ll take some time to unlock it, but Zharovsky has legitimate top-six scoring upside.
Hayden Paupanekis
One of the steals of the draft
Once again trading up for the 69th overall pick, the Canadiens opted for a 6’4″ right-shot centre in Hayden Paupanekis, and I was elated. The consensus among the staff at Elite Prospects is that Paupanekis is a better prospect than Jack Nesbitt, whom the Flyers selected 12th overall.
One scout I spoke to outright said that Paupanekis could end up being a first-rounder in a redraft one day.
A high level of skating prowess and coordination are the main drivers behind Paupanekis being more than your usual big-man centre. He adjusts his feet quickly, attacks the slot relentlessly, and can both accelerate and decelerate comfortably to create room for himself. As he develops physically, those assets are only going to shine brighter: his lower-body strength will improve, his stride will become more powerful, and he’ll be able to fend off defenders more easily.
Another key detail in Paupanekis’s development is that he’ll be a top-six centre on the Memorial Cup host next year. The Kelowna Rockets are already shoring up for that opportunity, and Paupanekis will be a key part of their forward core.
Add to that his positional sense, defensive acumen, and motor, and you have a high-floor centre with the framework to become a second-liner. That is some amazing value at 69th overall.
Bryce Pickford
Extremely interesting over-ager
Bryce Pickford’s game evolved incredibly weirdly. The 19-year-old right-shot defenceman didn’t impress enough to hear his name called in 2024 due to not showing a true NHL dimension. He was decent all-around, but nothing stood out.
This year, out of nowhere, he became one of the best shooters among defencemen outside of the NHL.
An absurd uptick in goals — two last year, 35 this year — isn’t usually sustainable for defencemen, but Pickford’s shooting mechanics are solid in a vacuum. He transfers weight effortlessly through his wrister, catches pucks cleanly cross-body to set up his hip pocket, and applies a tonne of torque to his release.
Add to that his poise and composure both on and off the puck, his good defensive stick, and his net-front aggression, and Pickford could develop into a solid shoot-first third-pair defenceman.
Arseni Radkov
More than meets the eye
The Canadiens targeted Arseni Radkov with their 82nd pick in the draft, a selection I didn’t see coming. As I dug deeper into his tape, I came away impressed but still a tad skeptical.
The 6’4″ netminder has two key strengths: footwork and reflexes, a rare combination of tools for that size. He can quickly adjust his feet to stay square to shooters while managing low-shot rebounds well through his leg-kick and deflecting skills. A hard competitor, Radkov often doubles down on effort in scramble scenarios, and does a good job of making reads through crowds.
The skepticism comes from a technical standpoint. Radkov is very athletic and quick on his feet, but he tends to scramble a lot more than he should, and was especially weak on the glove side in my viewings. Still, he played backup on a team that couldn’t keep the puck out of its net, and still managed a .918 save percentage in the MHL.
With Radkov going the QMJHL and NCAA route — an agreement is already in place for him to join the Blainville-Boisbriand Armada next season before jumping to UMass in 2026-27 — there’s an opportunity for Radkov to quickly adjust to the North American game. He could end up being a sneakily good addition to the Canadiens’ ever-deepening goalie pool.
L.J. Mooney
Quickly making fans in Montreal
With the 113th pick in the draft, the Habs opted for the very undersized USNTDP product Little John Mooney. Yes, that’s his full government name.
Mooney has already raised eyebrows at the Canadiens’ development camp. The talented 5’7″ winger has been putting on an impressive display of skill, while also showing off just how impressive his retrieval and battle skills are.
Insane reactive edgework, great first-touch placement, and an innate sense of timing allow Mooney to shake off pressure along the wall, create separation from bigger bodies, and create chances. He leans proactively on defenders when battling for possession and doesn’t shy away from battles.
Add to that his playmaking vision, offensive positioning, and reaction speed, and you have the blueprint for how an undersized forward should play. Granted, Mooney’s considerable lack of size and average speed are true limiting factors, hence why he slid to the fourth round, but he exemplifies the Kent Hughes plan for the 2025 draft: rebuild’s done, so let’s swing for the fences and see what kind of gems we can unearth.
The late-round picks
In the fifth round, the Canadiens selected Alexis Cournoyer, who jumped from the Maritimes Junior A league to the QMJHL and put up stellar numbers for Cape Breton. He’s 6’4″, has great edgework, and tracks the puck extremely well. He was about to fly to Nashville to participate in their development camp when his childhood team selected him. There’s been chatter among NHL goalie scouts and QMJHL execs about his tremendous work ethic, which matters a lot when projecting netminders. He’s on an upward trajectory, which just might continue climbing.
With their first pick of the sixth round, the Canadiens selected Carlos Händel, a German right-shot defender who played this season with the Halifax Mooseheads. A poised puck-mover with some tremendous rush-defending tools, Händel’s main hurdle to an NHL future is his lack of urgency and situational awareness. If he learns to figure out when the best play is to just throw the puck out of danger, he’ll be a very interesting two-way blue-liner.
Andrew MacNiel was their second selection of the sixth round, and it was a surprise. He’s 6’3″, 200 pounds, but he scored three points in 33 games for Kitchener, and didn’t show much outside of a rugged net-front game and the occasional big hit. Not one outlet had him on their radar as a potential selection heading into the draft.
Finally, the Canadiens ended their 2025 draft by selecting left-shot defenceman Maxon Vig with their 209th-overall pick. The 19-year-old scored 32 points in 60 games for Cedar Rapids in the USHL, a decent tally given his mainly defensive leanings. The 6’2″, 212-pound blue-liner is committed to Bemidji State University in the NCAA this upcoming season, where he’ll hopefully continue to explore his offensive game and adopt more of a two-way projection.
What’s next for Montreal?
The Habs’ selections told us quite a lot about their intentions moving forward. They believe in their current group, they like who they’ve added, and that allows them to take calculated risks for upside.
There is still a glaring need in the organization for a left-shot centre. With Christian Dvorak gone, the Canadiens now only have Jared Davidson, Florian Xhekaj, and Filip Eriksson as natural left-handed pivots in the entire organizational system. Alex Newhook, Zachary Bolduc, and Joshua Roy could occupy that role short-term, but all three are at their best when playing on the wing.
That’s likely the next target for Montreal, either through trade, or via the draft. Free agency will likely have to wait until the market dies down a bit. We have seen some ridiculous price tags on centres so far this summer.
Regardless, look for the Canadiens to continue leveraging draft picks to make smart, timely acquisitions in future years as well. Hughes seems to understand better than anybody the true value of draft picks, and has been using that to his advantage so far in his tenure.
The Canadiens are shaping up for a really interesting stretch. No team has a better combination of current talent and future pieces than Montreal at the moment.
