Well, the National Hockey League season officially ended last night when the Vegas Golden Knights won the Stanley Cup with a 9-3 win over the Florida Panthers.

The Golden Knights therefore ended the streak at home in five short games.

The Panthers’ magical journey therefore ended, just like that of the Montreal Canadiens in 2021, after five games in the Stanley Cup Finals.

It’s a shame for the Panthers, who proved in the playoffs that they are a formidable team capable of winning titles.

By defeating the Bruins, Leafs and Hurricanes, three NHL powerhouses this season, one would have expected the Panthers to perform better in the Finals.

But like CH in 2021, the Panthers seemed to run out of energy in the finals.

Speak to the likes of Matthew Tkachuk and Aaron Ekblad, who both played with absurd injuries.

In the end, however, Florida pulled off a great performance that no one expected, especially considering they were up against a powerful Boston Bruins in the first round.

When the Panthers narrowly qualified for the playoffs, we all expected that they would be defeated by the Bruins, and that they offered the Montreal Canadiens the 17th pick for the same reason.

Because yes, throughout this story, the Habs supporters wanted the Panthers defeated in order to get the best possible rank for the first round of picking in the Ben Chiarot trade.

Well, after all, with the Panthers’ defeat last night in the Stanley Cup Finals, CH have their 31st overall pick in the next draft, which will be held on June 28th and 29th.

The CH therefore officially knows the nature of its second choice in the first round (the first being the fifth overall).

Unfortunately, this second first-round pick doesn’t end where it was hoped and hoped for earlier this season.

We remember the time the Panthers were closer to Connor Bedard than they were in the playoffs…

Despite everything, the CH face another first-round pick that could be very useful for them.

The first option would be to get hold of a good prospect late in the first round.

There are often surprises about whether players are still available in these waters and the CH could take advantage of them.

Signing a goalkeeper could be the route chosen by CH, considering the organization are sorely lacking in one or more big hopes at the position.

The playoffs also showed that it takes a good goalie to perform and go far.

Could 1m90 Czech goalkeeper Michael Hrabal be CH’s 31st choice?

Note that he gets by just fine in French, as can be seen at 1:21 in Anthony Martineau’s video below.

It is currently not possible to say what hopes the CH will present at the end of the month.

On the other hand, in Buffalo I could see that some are better prepared (😂) than others for a possible life in Montreal.

First post combine video.👇😃 pic.twitter.com/O5q8d65945

— Anthony Martineau (@Antho_Martineau) June 14, 2023

The second option would be to trade that pick to get a player who will be important to the team’s future, similar to the Kirby Dach trade in the last draft.

This decision could well be part of a transaction to acquire Pierre-Luc Dubois.

In short, CH have multiple options available with this first-round pick and now that we officially know the rank of that pick, things could go wrong.

The Canadian was last drafted 31st in 2021. Logan Mallloux had been Marc Bergevin’s choice.

Much

– Read.

– Naturally. It’s reminiscent of the Tampa Bay Lightning beating the CH 2021 in the finals…Will the NHL implement a rule to limit such situations?

– Effectively.

Absolute class from Panthers coach Paul Maurice 👏 pic.twitter.com/woaADkA3mQ

— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) June 14, 2023

– Again, congratulations to the Golden Knights.

This video says it all. love your friends

Sweet dreams, Vegas. 👍#Vegasborn #UKnightTheRealm
pic.twitter.com/K3sRCN4jLF

— Gold and Steel (@GoldandSteelVGK) June 14, 2023

– Continued on the flyer page.