Every year around draft time, dozens and dozens of mock drafts pop up and make picks for who they think each team will take. Some give good reasoning, some don’t have any listed, but they’re all interesting. What we aim to do here, is compile every mock draft we can find, and see if the experts have any sort of consensus on who they think the Montreal Canadiens will take. Once the draft is done, we can come back and see who was right, if anyone.
| Mock Draft | Pick | Reaction |
| My NHL Draft | Anthony Beauvillier | A small, talented forward, Beauvillier is expected to be a second round player, but this late in the first round, depending on who is available, might be a solid pick. EOTP profiled Beauvillier here. |
| USA Today Sports | Gabriel Carlsson | A bit of an off-the-board pick, Carlsson is a defenseman with very little offense who played 17 pro games in the SHL this year. He says he models his game after Nick Lidstrom, but maybe just his defensive game. |
| CSNNE | Jeremy Bracco | A small, talented forward that broke Patrick Kane’s assist record with the USA national development program, EOTP profiled Bracco here. |
| The Draft Analyst | Joel Eriksson Ek | Big, strong, an excellent skater, and defensively responsible, Eriksson Ek seems to be potentially a great center in the future. Although while his shot gets lots of praise, he gets more praise for hard work than skill, which could be worrying if you want a top-six player. |
| Draft Utopia | Joel Eriksson Ek | Another vote for Eriksson, as many believe the Habs need prospect help at the center position. |
| Today’s Slapshot | Paul Bittner | One of the first round prospects that comes with warning flags, Bittner played on a line with two of the best prospects in the world in Nic Petan and Oliver Bjorkstrand last year, which likely inflated his numbers. EOTP profiled Bittner here. |
| The Hockey Writers | Denis Guryanov | We know from last year that the Canadiens aren’t afraid to draft Russians in the late first round, and Guryanov’s combination of size and skill may sway the Habs to do just that. With the KHL struggling, picking a Russian player is less of a risk than ever before. |
| Yahoo! | Jonas Siegenthaler | A sizeable, smooth-skating, defensive defenseman, Siegenthaler is known for making the simple play, which would endear him to Michel Therrien, but has almost no offense to speak of. |
| The Cannon | Brandon Carlo | A behemoth of a defenseman, Carlo is reminiscent of Jarred Tinordi, but it is worthwhile to remember how few players of this profile ever work out in the NHL. EOTP profiled Carlo here. |
| Bleacher Report | Jake DeBrusk | A break out player last year, DeBrusk scored a whopping 42 goals in the WHL. Speed, two-way ability, scoring touch, and willingness to battle in the dirty areas are DeBrusk’s big positives. EOTP profiled DeBrusk here. |
| BSN Denver | Anthony Beauvillier | Another appearance for Beauvillier. |
| McKeen’s | Anthony Beauvillier | Yet another appearance for Beauvillier, it seems being small and French is a big factor. |
| Sportsnet (Cox) | Daniel Sprong | Sprong is one of the most interesting players in the draft, possessing elite offensive talent, but absolutely grilled by scouts for attitude issues and lack of defensive effort. EOTP profiled Sprong here. |
| The Leafs Nation | Nicholas Meloche | Two reasons for this one, the Habs needing to add to their defense at the prospect level, and another Francophone available. That comes up a lot. Meloche isn’t ranked as a first round talent pretty much anywhere, so that French thing really is a big factor for people picking these drafts. He’s a big, smooth-skating defenseman who seems to play a simple game, but can put up a few points as well due to solid instincts. |
| Journal de Montreal | Joel Eriksson Ek | According to the scouts JDM spoke to, if Eriksson Ek happens to be on the board once the Habs take the podium, they’ll definitely pick him due to his size and goal-scoring ability. |
| Craig Button | Brock Boeser | Boeser’s first appearance on the list |
As more mock drafts come out, we’ll be updating this page, so keep it bookmarked. And if you have any mock drafts that we missed, send us the link so we can include them here.
So far it seems like no one can really agree what the Habs are after, which shouldn’t be surprising form such a tight lipped organization. For what it’s worth, the biggest organizational weaknesses the team has are on left defense, and the center position, as you can see here:
