By Zackery Robert
Moving on to Montreal and the oldest team in NHL history. Playing since 1909 the Canadiens have the most storied franchise and have had some of the most storied players in NHL history. However over the past decade and a half or so the Canadiens have not had much luck in the drafting and developing department. Just over the last couple of seasons have fans been able to see that those tides are finally looking like they’re changing.
To start off we will look at some of the Habs most successful draft picks to date. Montreal has been drafting since 1963 and has had a lot of players out on their sweater but to start off we will go to the 1971 draft where Montreal made an infamous trade to the California Golden Seals in order to obtain the first overall pick to select Guy Lafleur. Lafleur has gone down as an icon in Montreal and an all time great in NHL history. Tallying three Art Ross trophies, three Lester B. Pearson trophies, two Hart trophies and one Conn Smythe trophy Lafleur had done it all in Montreal. Finishing his time in Montreal Lafleur had put up 518 goals, 728 assists for 1246 points in 961 games to go along with immense playoff success and five Stanley Cup rings. Lafleur has his legacy cemented in Montreal with his jersey retirement at the old Forum on February 16th 1985.
Staying in the 1971 draft Montreal would make another franchise defining pick in the second round number 20 with Larry Robinson. Robinson was a tall 6’3 defensemen with a great skating stride, he would glide along the ice getting up and down the ice effortlessly. He was known as one of Montreal’s big three on the blue line with Serge Savard and Guy Lapointe. Robinson would win two Norris trophies with the Habs and help them secure six Stanley cups in the 70s and 80s, earning himself a Conn Smythe as playoff MVP in the 1978 playoffs. Robinson would play 1202 games for the Canadiens between 1972 and 1989 and score 197 goals and 686 assists for 883 points. He would have his jersey retired in the Bell Centre on November 19th 2007.
The Montreal Canadiens have had a ton of great draft picks over the years and it is quite the difficult choice as to who the third choice goes to but looking back through their draft choices one player is hard to ignore. In the 1984 draft Montreal selected one of their greatest players of all time in the third round, goaltender Patrick Roy. Roy burst onto the scene backstopping Montreal to their 23rd Stanley Cup as a rookie goalie, winning the Conn Smythe as well in that effort. Roy would win the Conn Smythe one more time in 1993 with the Canadiens. Roy would total four Jennings trophies with the Canadiens and three Vezina trophies as well. Roy would leave Montreal at the end of the 1996 season. His number 33 is retired in the Bell Centre and he would end his career with the Canadiens with 289 wins and a lasting legacy that will never be forgotten.
Looking now at picks that did not turn out to be anything but prosperous for the Canadiens. We will begin at their first draft back in 1963 where they held the first overall pick and selected centre Garry Monahan. After debuting for the Canadiens in the 1967-1968 season Monahan played in just 14 games for the Canadiens in his tenure between 1967 to 1969. He failed to gain a point in those 14 games and would subsequently be moved to the Detroit Red Wings in June of 1969. This however was the best thing Monahan did for the club as for part of his return Detroit gave back Pete Mahovlich. Mahovlich would go on to a stellar career with the Canadiens whereas Monahan will only be remembered for the return the team got on his exit.
Next we will head to, and stay at, the 1968 amateur draft where Montreal held the top three picks. You’d think that this would then set them up for an even more unbelievable future in the 70s then they already had but as luck turns out it was the opposite coming away from this draft. First we will start with the first overall pick Michel Plasse, the goalie would have a very quick tenure with the club after being selected in the expansion draft by the Kansas City Scouts in 1974. In his two seasons Plasse would hold an 18-6-5 record which isn’t bad but he was never around long enough to make that first overall pick worth it and with Montreal having future Hall of Famer and Habs Legend Ken Dryden in net, this pick really should have been someone else.
Staying in the 1968 draft we will pair the second and third overall picks together. Roger Belisle and Jim Pritchard were selected second and third overall respectively and both had equally the same impact on the Canadiens. First we will start with Belisle, he was chosen second and his career ended almost immediately after that, Belisle would play one season after his draft and it would be in the IHL for the Muskegon Mohawks and in those 11 games Belisle would record four points. After Belisle the Canadiens chose Jim Pritchard at three and his career, albeit personally better for Pritchard compared to Belisle, was still poor. Pritchard would play until 1977 but would never lace up hai skates once in the NHL. He would play two games in the WHA in 1975 but after that he would play in the NAHL until his eventual leave from the game in 1977. This draft was quite an awful showing for the Canadiens, with the three top picks not one would end up being anything more than fringe starting goalie and two bust picks for players at picks two and three. Fortunately this would not go on to impact the Canadiens success in the next decade as they would dominate with six Stanley cups in the decade.
The current day Montreal Canadiens have not fared quite well in the drafting and developing department over the past 15 years and only within the last few seasons have they seen some consistent positive strides hopefully leading to a highly competitive team in the future. In 2023 the Canadiens finished with the fifth worst record and with the results of the draft lottery in, Montreal will remain in their original fifth slot. Montreal is going into the draft as a team with double digit draft picks with 11 choices in the draft their picks look like this 1st, 1st (FLA), 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 4th (PIT), 4th (VGK), 5th, 5th (CGY), 6th, 7th. Montreal currently has an immense amount of good quality defence prospects and a good number of promising forward prospects, but what they are lacking is goal scoring so with that Montreal should use their fifth overall pick to choose one of three players who can help mightily with their offensive struggles, Will Smith, Zach Benson, or Oliver Moore. All players have a very high upside on offence and for Smith and Moore being centres they both have a great awareness on defence which will always be greeted with favour. Montreal looks to be in very good shape heading into this widely considered deep and talented draft.
For more information on the 2023 NHL Draft class be sure to pick up your copy of the comprehensive DraftPro 2023 NHL Draft Guide.