Montreal Draft Recap

[Vik (Habs)]

In the days leading up to this year's entry draft, Habs fans were excited to see their team finally looking to build through the draft. It would be the first time since 2012 that the Habs would make a selection before the 4th round and, given that the only pick used earlier than that in 2012 was to select Brandon Whitney, it could be argued they hadn't made use of any since 2011. Going into the 2015 EHEC Entry Draft, the Canadiens had two 1st round picks (#18 and #20), one 2nd (#46), and two 3rds (#75 and #76) and appeared to have every intention of retaining them.

That didn't last long.

First, pick #76 was dealt to the Rangers for Ryan Martindale. After being told to look for a house in Montreal, Martindale was moved in a package that also included picks #18 and #46 (along with half the team) in a blockbuster deal for Mike Richards. Just when the team seemed to be ready to build through the draft, they dropped from 5 picks in the top 90 down to 2 and fans started speculating how long until those two were dealt for another Eric Brewer type (it took a couple days but they instead dealt a 5th rounder for an almost exact replica of Eric Brewer in Niklas Kronwall).

But, for better or worse, Habs fans did get to see their team make the trip up to the podium to announce a pick, albeit, a little later than originally thought. It seemed like the team was ready to jump up from #20 when GM Vik took a rather long bathroom break and missed the opportunity (I hear Roberto Luongo is still laughing as a result). When the draft finally made it around to #20, our incredibly mature GM was heard saying "If I can't have him, I don't want any of them!" To whom he was referring is currently unknown though some suspect that the GM actually believed Connor McDavid would drop all the way down to their pick. Regardless, the pick was dealt to San Jose in return for picks #29, #88, and a 2nd in the 2016 draft. Fans were left shaking their heads with each strong defensive prospect (a clear area of need) selected and instead saw their team settle for Fredrik Forsberg. I'm told he hasn't been as injury prone as Peter was in his day but he shows up for about as many games.

The team's next selection would come at #75 where they would select Tory Dello. When Vik was asked what they liked about Dello, he replied "He's only going to get better." After watching some video of Dello, it's clear that's because he can't get any worse.

Also in the third round, David Cotton was selected with the 88th pick. After the pick was announced, Vik was seeing dancing around making some remarks about cotton picking that our editor's felt best not to repeat.

In the fourth round, Montreal selected Austin Wagner 112th and Devante Stephens 119th. When asked to comment on the selections, Vik's exact quote was "Bamm bamm!"

Moving on to round 5, Ivan Yemets (121st), Vitek Vanecek (122nd), and Andrew Mangiapane (130th) were the club's three selections. Yemets is a faceoff ace that isn't a natural center so he's bound to be successful. Vik was asked if he thought Vanecek would ever be a starting goaltender and he literally rolled around on the ground laughing. Not sure if that's a positive sign or not. And when the 130th pick came up, Vik was seen flipping a coin to make the decision. When asked if he'd really flipped a coin to decide between two players Vik said "I didn't even know we had Aucoin. Our defense is going to be awesome!" To be fair, even a retired Adrian Aucoin could probably give Montreal a better D group.

To finish off the draft, William Borgen was selected 157th overall and, after trying to draft a previously selected prospect, Vik was seen panicking and calling out names until one turned out to not have already been selected. Jonathan Davidsson ended up being the unlucky winner selected at #187.

After all the picks were announced, Vik was asked if the scouts were happy with the results. "What scouts?" was the response. Seems like drinking might become this reporter's new activity of choice.

[Jets GM]

Good read.

[Buffalo LEPS]

Thumbs up !