Draft History: Players that have been picked ninth overall at the NHL Entry Draft

This season is truly a season of firsts. The Montreal Canadiens will draft 9th at the NHL Entry Draft for the first time in franchise history.

However, the Canadiens have previously picked a player at this position in the NHL Amateur Draft. In the 1975, they picked defenseman Robin Sadler at 9th overall but unfortunately, Sadler would go on to play in zero NHL games for the club.

That being said, here’s the full history of players who have been drafted 9th overall at the Entry Draft:

(Source: HockeyDB)

From 1979 to 2015, NHL teams have drafted 21 forwards, 15 defensemen and 1 goaltender with the 9th overall pick. Of those players, only 4 players have gone on to play in less than a 100 NHL games in their career.

All of the players have suited up for at least 1 NHL game (with the exception of last year's pick, Timo Meier), although 3 players would go on to play in less than 50 games for their respective teams. However 18 players went on to play more that 500 NHL games.

Of the 37 players drafted, 12 players have gone on to score more than a 100 goals and 18 players have put up more than 100 assists. Of them, 7 players have on to post more than 500 points and 2 of the players (Brind'Amour and Leetch) collected over a 1000 points over the course of their careers.

There isn't a lot star power on this list, but the it does include the likes of Cam Neely, Rod Brind'Amour and Brian Leetch. In recent years, the 9th pick has also resulted in players such as Dion Phaneuf, Logan Couture and Dougie Hamilton.

Unless the Montreal Canadiens choose to follow in the footsteps of the Ottawa Senators, the club should expect to draft at the very least a serviceable player with their 9th overall pick.