So last night was the NHL Draft lottery and Montreal walked away with the third pick overall. Not bad, although it’s not the first pick we can be glad we’re picking above the Leafs. Just because it’s Toronto.
This will be the highest Montreal has drafted since 1980 when Doug Wickenheiser was the first pick overall.
Needless to say, the Habs can potentially draft a highly skilled player who can probably impact the team as early as next season. Unless they trade their pick and a player like Plekanec to get a big centerman.
At first when I took the rumors about a trade of the sort at face value I was ok with it. But (there’s always a but), why trade for someone who might only have one or two seasons of high performance left in them when you can draft a young player who will impact the team for a lot more than two years.
Personally I’d like to see Montreal draft Grigorenko but not because it would apparently convince Patrick Roy to coach Montreal. After watching highlights of his on youtube, I find that he plays like Evgeni Malkin. And we all know how much Malkin contributes to the success of the Penguins.
Final NHL CSB rankings have Grigorenko ranked third after Yakupov and Murray while TSN’s top 10 Draft rankings have him second with Murray in third. Hopefully Edmonton and Columbus follow the NHL CSB rankings instead of the TSN rankings allowing Grigorenko to be available when the new Habs’ GM steps up to the podium.
If Grigorenko is unavailable when Montreal’s turn comes around, I’d like to see them pick Ryan Murray. At 6’1 201 lbs, he can add some weight and depth to the defensive core.
There is absolutely no way of knowing who will draft who. And although the pickings aren’t as good as previous years, there still plenty of skill and potential available. We’ll just have to wait until June 22nd to find out who will be the next player to pull the “Sainte-Flanelle” over his head.
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robertptome's Blog 
If edmonton draft yakupov they r stupid they have drafted 6 forwards in the last 5 drafts. Edmonton should be the one to draft Murray with Colombus following suit drafting Yakupov. Then it comes to the habs who will choose between a 6’3″, 200lbs left handed Center in Mikhail Grigorenko or a 6’2″, 180lbs right handed Centre/RW in Filip Forsberg. Either way size should be coming to the montreal Canadiens lineup personally I hope its Forsberg, I read he is a hardworking team player
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Well having seen Grigo play a few times this year I definitely hope that the candiens draft Forsberg. I have been thoroughly unimpressed by him and every game he played he was outshone by Duclair, who I think is a fantastic hockey player and someone to watch for. The same can be said in the playoffs! Yea he had a few points in some of the games but he never took control of a game the way I thought he would….. The points just kind of came to him
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First of all thanks for reading and commenting.
I have to admit that I haven’t been to or watched any of the Q’s games on TV this year. Whatever I saw of Grigorenko was through highlights on either RDS or Youtube. So I had to base my opinion on him on what I did see of him in those highlights.
I saw some highlights of Forsberg recently and I do agree with some that he might be a good fit for the Habs as well.
In any case, I feel that the Habs will be gaining a key player in the long run.
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