Carey Price, in 2005 will be a franchise goalie, and top of the league within a few years. I don’t think he’ll surpass guys like Brodeur or Roy, but hewill come very close.
He'll be Montreal’s No. 1 goalie for the next 10 years, and is already showing why he was drafted so high. He’s the top goaltender prospect in the NHL right now, in front of Jonathan Bernier and Tuuka Rask.
David Fischer, who was picked in 2006 has yet to develop after being sick, but is showing signs already that he could be a top four defenseman.
The last two first round picks were McDonagh and Pacioretty in 2007. Pacioretty is already turning heads and almost made the opening roster straight out of college this year. He's a future power forward in the making and is already being compared to Jarome Iginla.
McDonagh, on the other hand, is considered a future top two defenseman on any NHL team at this point.
Montreal’s success in the last few years has definitely come through their drafting progress. Now Montreal (although struggling a bit early this season) is a contender, a top five team, and has a very enviable prospect pool, considered by experts to be fourth in the league (see HockeysFuture.com).
It’s impressive, considering Montreal has not had a pick higher than No. 7 since 1984. This doesn't include the No. 5 pick, Carey Price, however, which was in 2005, and came through a league-wide lottery after the lock-out.
So this is the result of good drafting and management. A lot of teams have caught on and are now desperately holding onto their prospects, while trying to get high draft picks.
The worse teams will still trade their best players for draft picks, hoping they’ll find the hidden gem within the first 30 picks of the draft. Having many high draft picks, however, is no guarantee of success.
Look at the Florida Panthers and Los Angeles Kings. Those teams are filled with young and talented players, but are lacking leadership and direction, thus they are going nowhere fast.
In conclusion, make sure your recruiting team knows what they are doing, always get "the best player available," and keep in mind that good stats in the minors don’t always translate to success in the NHL. And please stop trading away prospects for quick fixes or aging veterans.
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about 1 month ago
Nice read! Good to see how impressive the Habs look on paper. You chose the right time to post this article at this time to make people realize and snap out of OMG! Montreal is losing MODE! We have potential...if we can rock once, we can rock again. Go Habs Go!
about 1 month ago
Nice article, I agree drafting is crucial in the salary cap era but I do have a few points I'd like to add.
I'd argue that the Kings ARE going in the right direction and that they haven't drafted poorly. Some teams are just able to rebuild faster. LA has a number of young players who will be stars in the years to come (Kopitar, Brown, Johnson, Doughty, O'Sullivan, ect).
I also find it hard to praise the drafting of Kostisyn in 2003. Sure, he is a good player who could be very good but in a draft that featured several franchise players he is a consolation prize. AK will always be the guy the Habs took intead of "x". With X being Ryan Getzlaf, Mike Richards, Jeff Carter, Zach Parise, Corey Perry, Patrice Bergeron, and the previously mentioned Dustin Brown among several others (Brent Burns or Shea Weber might look good on the blueline as well?). However, as badly as they messed up that first pick in 03 they made the most out of their last pick. Montreal grabbed Jaroslav Halak in the 9th round. Good scouting indeed.
from about 1 month ago
I agree, I'm not going to praise Montreal for missing out on Getzlaf, Richards or Parise!
They are still complaining they need a big first line center...well they missed 2 right there. I do praise them for taking the risk to pick Kostitsyn though knowing he migh never play a game in the NHL. He's a late bloomer, took longer to develop than the others but I still like him better than Zherdev!
about 1 month ago
great read! credits to Trevor Timmins for the nice work going through the drafts!
they did good in guys like komisarek and Price I think. for the rest, need to wait ...
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