The Montreal Canadiens retained the fifth overall pick in the NHL draft lottery on Tuesday night, and general manager Kent Hughes hopes this will be the last time he speaks this early in the event.
The Habs had the fifth-best odds of winning the top pick at 8.5% based on their 28e Rank in the NHL overall standings.
Since the end of the season, Hughes has made it no secret that he hopes to see his group in the playoff race next winter.
“I believe as long as we make progress, we can be in the race,” Hughes reiterated via video conference on Tuesday. If so, we will create a draft later next year. »
The San Jose Sharks won the lottery on Tuesday. They finished last overall in the NHL and had just over a 25% chance of being drafted first overall.
The best available candidate, according to the majority of experts, is Canadian forward Macklin Celebrini, who played for Boston University last season.
After that, it’s hard to predict who will be selected, Hughes recalled, citing a recent article by Bob McKenzie of the TSN network.
“It will depend on each team’s needs. “We have to wait and see what decisions lie ahead, but we are confident that we can get a very good player,” emphasized Hughes.
The Montrealer has made no secret of his desire to sign an attacker with the fifth pick in the 2024 auction. The problem is that this year we find more defenders than attackers on most pundits.
Russian Ivan Demidov is second on McKenzie’s list. He is followed by defenders Anton Silayev and Artyom Levshunov. Center Cayden Lindstrom of the Medicine Hat Tigers is ranked fifth. The next attacker is in ninth place, the Finn Konsta Helenius, then we find him in 10th placee Rang Tij Iginla, the son of former Calgary Flames star Jarome.
“There is no doubt there are some very good forwards and defenders in the top 10,” Hughes said.
“I said that if the performance was the same we would prefer to take an attacker and that remains the case,” he added. We will sit down with our scouting team and solidify our vision of the group of players available. It’s difficult to discuss this before you have had this meeting. »
The Canadian won the lottery in 2022 and received the right to speak in the front row. He then selected Slovakian striker Juraj Slafkovsky in front of his fans at the Bell Center.
Last season, the Canadian also appeared on the fifth line in Nashville and chose Austrian defender David Reinbacher. Many believed that Hughes would choose an attacker as the year was considered to be richer in attackers than defenders.
Even though the perception is reversing this season, Hughes obviously wants to improve the quality of his offensive group.
“We have a deep defense, especially on the left side,” Hughes explained. If we can get another striker who can become a top player, a member of our top six, then that would be something we would be interested in. But we could take a right-handed defender. If we are taken and he is the best player available on our turn, we have a decision to make. »
True to form, Hughes also indicated that he would be open to discussing with his colleagues whether they would like to receive the fifth pick. However, he admitted that it was “very likely” that he would exercise his right to speak.
The NHL Draft will take place on June 28th and 29th at the Sphere in Las Vegas.
To watch in the video
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