The Montreal Canadiens seemed very keen on selecting Timofei Runtso, trading up four spots to select the defenceman. Runtso was in his second year of draft eligibility, having been passed over after playing in the NAHL in 2024-25, an environment he says wasn’t the best for him to show what he was capable of.
Making the move to the WHL this season, his game hit a new level under brighter lights. He contributed 44 points for the Victoria Royals, and many of the scouts who watched him say that total should have been significantly higher. On a team with zero NHL-drafted prospects led with a point total of 56, Runtso’s 44 almost doubled the total of the next defenceman on the team, and he was one off the team lead in assists.
Birthplace: Marina del Rey, California
Date of birth: July 6, 2007
Shoots: Right
Position: Defence
Height: 6’3”
Weight: 196 lbs.
Team: Victoria Royals (WHL)
It wasn’t a great season for Victoria, which finished ninth in the WHL’s Western Conference with offensive and defensive totals that didn’t allow them to compete with the playoff teams. Runtso’s -13 doesn’t look immediately suggest a quality player, but eight of his teammates sported even lower goal differentials as the team was unable to outscore its defensive issues, finishing with 44 fewer goals scored than allowed.
Getting drafted by an NHL team made the trip to Victoria worth it for Runtso, but he’s probably happy to move on to his next chapter. In the fall, he will begin his NCAA career with Miami University as he continues on his path toward professional hockey.
Runtso is a shifty player who dances through the neutral zone and opens lanes on offence. His transition game was the most impressive aspect of his play in 2025-26, and probably what caught Montreal’s eye. He is just an average skater, but has very strong puck-handling talents to get around players who try to get in his way.
His quick hands allow him to get the puck off his stick in a hurry, and the coaching staff in Victoria wanted that ability on its power play. Most of his points resulted from a quick-flip wristshot from the point as he sent it through traffic, but he can load up a more powerful version of it when he has the space. It’s something he could stand to do more, but prefers to set his teammates up instead.
There’s no one thing he does exceptionally well, but his game has shown no weaknesses, either. To truly take advantage of his offensive talents, he will need to find ways to launch more shots so teams don’t just take away his passing lanes. The flip shots from the point seem to be one tactic he’s started to perfect to address that, and he will work on that part of his game over the next few years.
His game isn’t fully skewed toward play with the puck, however. He is a strong defender, using his stick well to break up plays defensively. He can pin his man on the boards and strip the puck away, and get the needed separation to start a breakout.
His coaches will attempt to get him to use his body more to turn attackers away rather than just relying on his stick. He will find that he can outmuscle many forwards at the NCAA level with his size, which will continue to increase as he develops, and that could turn him into a real defensive force with multiple tools to use against his opponents. The stick defending will always serve him well, and will give him an edge over less dextrous options vying for the same role in the NCAA, and in the pro ranks as well.
In the past couple of seasons, the Canadiens have been looking for players who showed rapid improvement over the course of a season or two leading up to the draft, and that description fits Runtso. A year ago they witnessed the massive jump in Bryce Pickford’s goal-scoring in the WHL, selected him in the third round, and watched him double that tally in 2025-26 on the way to being named the CHL defenceman of the year. Runtso being a top performer as a freshman in the NCAA might be too great an expectation, but he goes into his collegiate career with some momentum in his development, and will now receive the added benefit of help from the Canadiens’ player development staff as he strives for another leap in his play.
Montreal had been relatively thin on the right side of the defence during Kent Hughes’s tenure, but the additions of Pickford, Runtso, and Cooper Cleaves who was selected after the Miami commit is helping to build up that area of the depth chart. The management staff has attempted to fill a few gaps in the organizational structure with this draft, and will hope Runtso is a player that can be plugged into the lineup once his university tenure is complete.
