The Canadiens own two first-round picks in the 2025 NHL Draft and is a piece or two away from having the league’s best future (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
The Montreal Canadiens had some intriguing drafts since entering their rebuild after the 2021 Stanley Cup Finals run. We will never forget the 2022 NHL Draft, as the lead-up had Shane Wright going first overall, but a stellar season set the front office’s sights on Juraj Slafkovsky with that pick. Then, the Canadiens went off the board the following season with the fifth-overall pick, alienating some of their fans, when they selected David Reinbacher over Matvei Michkov. However, in 2024, the Canadiens righted the ship by taking Russian superstar Ivan Demidov in the same fifth slot. Montreal also landed Michael Hage, a breakout star in the NCAA this season, with the 21st overall pick in 2024.
All those drafts helped the Canadiens to build up one of the top prospect pools in the league, but scouts are now pegging the 2025 NHL Draft as the most crucial one of their rebuild. If the 2024 draft solidified the Canadiens’ rebuild being on the right path, then scouts think the 2025 edition could turn it into one of the stronger rebuilds in recent memory.
“This year’s NHL Draft could be the most important in the Canadiens rebuild,” a rival NHL scout told RG.
“It’s scary to think they could land another top-ten pick if their season continues to crater and also get a top-20 pick from the Calgary Flames. At least 29 teams in the league would kill for the Canadiens’ prospect pool, maybe more, and it’s about to get even deeper.”
With the Canadiens reportedly looking to add a third 1st-round pick in the 2025 NHL Draft, the polled scouts may not be too far off.
Canadiens Have Options with Their Picks
There will be plenty of rumors about how the Canadiens will deal with their abundance of draft picks in the lead-up to the draft. They have nine picks in the first four rounds of this year’s draft for now, and if you map out their roster over the next few seasons, there aren’t many more spots to fill. It’s getting to the point where the Canadiens will be stuck with excellent NHL-ready prospects in the AHL without a place to play.
If the season ended today and the draft lottery kept the same order as last year, Montreal would have the eighth and 16th overall picks, unless they’re able to extract an additional first-round pick between now and March 7.
The draft class quality begins to drop after the first five projected picks, but there are some intriguing options if the Canadiens stay in the 8-16 range. Interesting options like Caleb Desnoyers, Jake O’Brien, Viktor Eklund, Roger McQueen and more could very likely be available in the later part of the top-10 and into the teens.
It wouldn’t be the first time scouts told us about the potential of Roger McQueen in this year’s draft. McQueen has been out since October with an injury, but he had as high of a chance of going first overall as anyone at one point this season. With his injury concerns, it may not be the case anymore, but as an NHL scout told RG earlier this month, McQueen’s potential is untapped.
“Take away the injuries, the inconsistencies, the late birthday. McQueen is a top-ten pick in this year’s draft who has first-overall qualities.”
Outside of McQueen, NHL scouts are circling two other WHL prospects as gems in that range, while a source from the QMJHL is fighting for home-grown Quebec talent that would be a nice fit in Montreal.
“Radim Mrtka and Carter Bear are two players in the dub (WHL) who are rising after some impressive seasons,” the NHL scout adamantly told RG. “Mrtka is a shutdown right-shot defenseman who could sneak into the top-ten like Reinbacher a couple of seasons ago, while Bear is a physical, hard-nosed forward who is turning heads with the number of points he’s putting up this season. You really can’t go wrong with either.”
Mrtka could be seen as a redundant pick if the Canadiens believe David Reinbacher is still the guy, but Bear is an intriguing option. The Canadiens have plenty of offensive skills in their pipeline and on their roster, but they don’t have the mix of skill and grit that Bear brings. However, Bear isn’t the only power-forward kind of player in this draft that is seemingly taking the CHL by storm.
An Alternate Draft Strategy
The polled scouts didn’t all say to hold on to both picks and take two swings. Some believe the Canadiens are in a spot where they can package two of the first-rounders together and make an enormous splash at this year’s draft. It would take everything working in their favor, but some believe it isn’t that far outside the realm of possibility.
“The worst thing that could’ve happened for the Canadiens’ rebuild was if they had continued to win enough this season to get a playoff spot and Calgary also snuck in. Montreal would’ve had two mid-first-round picks and would’ve been stuck with two chances to get it wrong in a below-average 5-20 range compared to past years,” an NHL scout remarked. “Now they have their own pick that only continues to get better, and the Flames are also beginning to lose more than win. They could be sitting with two top-15 in June and the opportunity to package those together to land a key asset for their rebuild.”
Another scout shared a similar sentiment, but they are more on the side that the Canadiens could earn a top-five pick without having to trade.
So, the question had to be asked: if the Predators or Kraken would make that deal, why would it be a good move for the Canadiens instead of taking two guys like McQueen and Mrtka?
“The top five in this draft is absolutely stacked. If you’re the Canadiens and you can take a guy like Porter Martone, instead of two lottery tickets on McQueen and Mrtka, you make that trade a million times out of a million. Imagine Martone, Michael Misa, or even Caleb Desnoyers added to Demidov, Hage, Slafkovsky, Nick Suzuki, Cole Caufield, Lane Hutson, David Reinbacher, and Jacob Fowler. The return to the glory years wouldn’t be far off.”
One thing is sure, Kent Hughes and the Montreal front office have put themselves in a great spot heading into the 2025 NHL Draft. The only question is how creative they are willing to get with their abundance of draft capital.
Nate Duffett
