2024 Montreal Canadiens NHL Mock Draft 2.0

2024 Montreal Canadiens NHL Mock Draft 2.0

hello everyone and inside today’s locked on Canadians it’s the Habs mock draft 2.0 you’re locked on Canadians your daily podcast on the Montreal Canadians part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day hello everyone and welcome to episode 102 of locked on Canadian we are your daily Montreal Canadians podcast part of the locked on podcast Network where you get your team every single day of the week on Google Apple Spotify wherever you get your daily podcast or here on youtube.com if you are watching thank you so much for subscribing and today’s episode is brought to you by FanDuel and remember to make every moment more because right now new customers get $200 in bonus Bets with any winning $5 bet that’s $200 in bonus Bets with any winning $5 bet just visit fanduel.com lockon to get started I am of course your host for today’s festivities once again I am of course Scott matla and you may be wondering hey I heard mock draft what are we doing uh I started doing this I think it was a year or two years ago that i’ run a couple of mock drafts throughout the end of the year uh segment of you know the Habs off season the draft is now 11 days away at the day I’m recording this 10 days away when you are hearing this we are so so close to uh the big day where we can stop doing the speculation thing and do the we’re getting mad at whoever the Canadians picked thing and I like to run a mock draft using FC hockey’s Mock Draft simulator I try to use their consensus rankings for everything and I once again ran three mock drafts again for this episode uh picking what I think were the best fits based off of what I’ve heard from other Scouts and Prospect experts at events and off uh talking to them on Twitter DMS Etc what if we the Canadians go defense first and go heavily on defense in a draft to kind of restore some of that Pipeline with all the players coming in now and then one draft and this is the favorite one I think I’ve ever done is I picked the guy rated at the top of every round regardless of what position they were playing uh just picked whoever the top rated player was even if the Habs if it could have been all centers and guess what oops all centers on the team here uh that was a very fun one uh these are all four round mock drafts I didn’t go much deeper than that because as much as I like to pretend that I know stuff about things my knowledge is limited to what was in the hockey prospect black book what was in the elite prospects guide what was in the mckin guide Etc to be able to build and provide you with all the definitions that I do have and we’re going to start right with my first draft uh sometimes mock draft simulators get weird uh like in this one where uh cona helenius went second overall which uh if that happens I I’m not going to make a bet because I’ve eaten enough disgusting things on this podcast but uh horrifying enough that I did not understand any of it because also Michael Brin said nyard went third overall and at that point I’m like I should throw this out and start over but I’m gonna press on because I need to bring the people content first round fifth overall Ivan demidov demidov uh from SK St Petersburg in the KHL I think we’ve talked so much about him we’ve talked about it with hady cakes a couple of weeks ago here arguably the best skilled prospect that could fall to the Canadians at the spot it seems unlikely but we keep hearing hey is uh demidov going to fall down is this going to happen are the Canadians going to learn from their mitkov mistakes and for me I look at this and I go I couldn’t not pick this player they were there’s too much talent there for me to ignore fifth overall and also in this draft because for whatever reason the simulator lost his mind Lindstrom was there AA was there Kon was there a lot of these defenseman were there Aram levanov went fourth overall to Columbus but I’m like this is a perfect fit for what the Canadians need they they are crying out for that next level skill and you know what we’re gonna give it to him and we gave it to him uh with Ivan demidov uh 26th pick Michael ha someone that I’ve really like across the board right now in so many facets a player I really really enjoy and that if he’s available at 26 I am asking Ken Hughes in reality in this upcoming draft make this pick there’s so much about this player to like someone that I really enjoy uh Teddy stego was also available Here Andrew boso went one pick before this which in this mock which is the player I kind of actually had my eye on at this point here but I look at what haes did after he recovered from his shoulder injury uh that he said he was playing through at the start of the Season just an incredibly uh talented player uh at 57th overall the Canadian’s uh other pick here is defenseman and I’m going to try and get his name right here Leo wellenius Salen Salin it’s probably Salin Pat I am so sorry Patrick maxel if you’re listening to this you can yell at me in private I promise he was right Solin wenus I am sorry I’ve screwed up his name across the board here Prospect experts are currently screaming at me I’m yelling at me nobody wants to be here just a guy who is a really good Baseline to build off of I’m looking at his stats in the under2 League this year uh in Sweden 42 points in 43 games uh another three in the under 18 tournament 23 and 28 in all International games three points and five playoff games didn’t not get a crack with the senior team this year uh is slated to start with the junior team next year as well but it seems like this is a guy who could rise very quickly 6 feet tall 183 pounds uh description from Elite Prospect gu sound Puck distributor and inzone Defender defensive skating allows him to match speed with E and contain opponents sometimes picking the guy who just has the really safe Baseline to build off of is never a bad thing and honestly I’m kind of here for it uh as a defenseman ironically the only defenseman in this fourr mock draft that I picked uh at 70th overall Luke Misa somebody that taking Lauren Kelly from Elite prospects advice watching some of this fast dude plays fast plays hard he is everywhere playing for Miss Saga soon to be Brampton I believe and just somebody that I’ve kind of had my eye on this year in a lot of different levels he’s so fast the the elite prospects gu uses the term break next speed and if he can continue to improve he’s a smaller frame right now he’s 510 165 pounds he is not a large player but he went from 26 points in 62 games in his first season 43 and 64 to 81 and66 this year that’s a player who is showing year-over-year Improvement and that’s exactly what you want in a player like this and in that at that point in the draft you’re looking for who can give me the most bang for my buck and a guy like Luke Misa at 70 overall with speed playmaking ability and to continue improving and building on that seems like a really good fit for what the Canadians might take a a swing on in there and now we’re getting into the area that I’m like there are less names that I know less names that I know less names that I know one that I recognized from Hatty cacash is uh Terk parisek peras I may again if I am mispronouncing these it is not intentional I’m just very stupid sometimes uh all of his rankings are in the upper 30s so again this whole draft simulation something got wonky in there very very quickly high-end quick possession player good at setting up and finishing plays off doesn’t just get open but a just positioning to F to the perfect opening there 105 points in 68 WHL games this year with Prince George another 14 in the playoffs he did he only played Four WHL games last year was playing in an under 18 League a prep school where he put up 66 and 30 honestly that’s a really impressive number and yes this is a team that had Riley height and Zack Funk on it uh two very good uh older players on it guiding them forward but if he were to be that far down for Absolut whatever you we’re talking 78th overall I would be stunned if he were still there when the Canadians picked but you want to talk value it’s you can’t beat that kind of value at 78th overall and then the last pick is uh coming out of London is Sam O’Reilly someone that maybe not as flashy or as offensively inclined as the other players he put up 56 points in 68 games with a Powerhouse London Knights team 12 points in 16 playoff games the I’m going to read just the first little blurb from this that is on their website O’Reilly is a Relentless shutdown defensive center with physicality details and a clever quick touch passing game say less this is 120th overall mind you and there’s almost zero chance he falls this far in reality 6′ 176 pounds and that he is working so hard on the defensive side of the puck to do all the little things right zero chance that this is a kid who is available there for the Canadians but how could you ignore that Canadians are looking for someone else there’s not if you like Owen backck what why not get another Owen back and have another one in there that you can solidify your bottom six going forward or even your middle six going forward with guys who just know how to shut opposition down however we’re not done today folks we have many more mock drafts to get to well two more that I have done I’m going to dig into my reasoning for those and more coming up next but first as I said off the top of the show today’s episode is brought to you by the folks at FanDuel sports book and summertimes means baseball of course I’m rocking my Red Sox jersey today after beating the Yankees on Sunday night baseball with nine stolen bases the NBA Finals might end tonight but they are still going the NHL finals are going on and you can bet it all on FanDuel right now because right now new customers get $200 in bonus Bets with any winning $5 bet that’s bucks you can use to bet on everything from the finals MVP the con Smite to are the Yankees going to collapse into a fit of sadness after losing to the Red Sox to who’s going to hit the next Dinger out of the park just visit fanduel.com lockon and add a big win to your summer bucket list with FanDuel America’s number one sports book we are back here at locked on Canadians and we are continuing to move through our mock drafts here and by we I mean I am continuing to move through my mock drafts here because I did a couple of different ones because I love you and I care about you and I want you to and I want all of you to see hey the draft could go a lot of different ways who knows in the second mock draft I did is I went with if there is a Defender available I’m going to try and pick them and make the most out of this uh so my first my first pick for the Canadians in this draft was a defenseman that was available again hockey hockey mock draft simulators can get weird in the last two that I ran Berkeley katton went second and Zay Pera went third each time could not explain why don’t understand why because it allowed me in my second mock draft here to at fifth overall to pick artim Le arim levanov defenseman from Michigan State arguably the top defenseman in this draft class uh rangy physical lot of room to grow some raw spots but I don’t even think it’s really up for debate that many consider him the best defender in this draft but also at this time in this draft thing there’s Anton salv there was Z buam there was uh Sam Dickinson also available Carter yakam chuk further on but I’m like if levanov is there I have to go that route and there’s I sincerely doubt that he would be there in reality and maybe this is Zay Pera maybe this is Boo maybe this is uh Dickinson in this spot but I picked the top overall D here and then scrolling down as things kind of leveled out a little bit in terms of where players were going uh in their consensus ranking 26th overall I picked em o hen Heming uh out of TPS under 20 team in Finland there uh if you like em heinan you’re going to like em Heming as well probably the best pure shooter in second best pure shooter in the draft Cole Eiserman is in this draft of course he is uh he’s he’s a shooter shooter uh he will take the puck that he will get it into areas and he has a variety of shots that he can utilized I believe Scott wheeler ranked him as one of the best shots in the draft 6’1 205 pounds up modern power forward played for a lot of different teams year put up 18 points in 13 games with the under 20 team at TPS put up 11 points in 40 games in Liga had a couple of under 18 and a couple of world juniors games mixed in there definitely so and then put up another 10 points in 11 games in the playoffs with the under 20 side uh someone that I’d be interested in a lot of work to be done on the other parts of their game but someone that I can definitely get behind uh switching back to defense now Harrison Bruni out of Cam Loops this is someone that uh I heard talked a lot about at the draft someone that I didn’t really pay much attention to because I haven’t quite frankly been focusing on the defenseman in this draft because I’m thinking forward forward forward forward here a playmaking two-way defenseman there’s not much that he can’t do goes from locking down on the net front stick checks communicates and follows pokes with hits off the rush matches fast moving attack to push them wide and gets the stop on opposing forwards if all else fails he has the speed to recover that comes from Elite prospects put up 21 points in 49 games for cam loops this year uh and then put up uh Four Points in seven games in the under 18 tournament uh for them this is someone who’s 6 foot three 187 pounds is again a lot like the Swedish defenseman in the last round someone to build a base off of necessarily the most flashy no but is this somebody that you have a lot of ground to work with and mold them into what you are looking for absolutely the case and I don’t think Canadians fans with someone like this who can be I don’t want to say a shutdown Defender but can be a really good reliable defender in his own zone is someone that I would absolutely take that chance on going into the later rounds here which brings us to our next draft pick Ronda pick number 70 at this point uh and I picked Christian Humphrey is with a consensus ranking of 63 not he was FC hockey hasn’t fully updated their stats yet and there say he’s 51050 Elite prospects has him at 51170 pounds and this is just the first sentence from his uh draft guide always positioned in the right spot again exactly what you’re looking for in a player put up 58 points in 52 games with the ntdp uh under 18 team team in that league and then put up another 24 and 23 games in the USHL with the usntdp Juniors team at the under 18 tournament put up four goals and one assist in seven games committed to the University of Michigan in two years so he’s got one more year to go through the junior program before he heads off to one of the I don’t want to say fastest rising because Michigan has always been very good but one of the uh more prestigious NCA hockey programs in the NHL that has been churning out players over and over and over again uh ironically played for Bishop Carney where I am from originally in Rochester New York he’s from Pittsburgh PA seems like a really good bet right-wing Center even if he isn’t making uh the team as a centerman still going to be there uh then I still went for I went for at 78 overall someone that kept falling down the list here is Brody zimer and maybe it’s Zimmer I’m I’m going with zimer for right here out of Minnesota going to Minnesota but he just put up points last year uh 70 and 61 games with the national team or under 18 national team with the US ntdp Juniors 24 and 27 put up 12 points in seven games at uh the under 18s uh with the Team USA there off to the University of Minnesota next year where he will play with uh Luke middl stat and potentially Rett pitlick from the Montreal Canadians already this is a name that kept falling down the board and I didn’t didn’t realize much about them looked it up 5’11 just shy of 200 lb seems like a kid who might really do some damage here and then with the last pick uh in the defenseman heavy draft and I know that’s crazy because there are three in there’s three defenseman and three forwards in this uh Gabriel Eliason from uh hv71 Scott wheeler called them potentially the most undisciplined player they’ve ever seen that they are ferocious that they go out of their way to really truly make things somebody’s problem he’s a big Duty 6’7 205 pounds at 17 years old right now the the quote from the draft guide here is a towering defenseman with decent skating ability and an endless lust for violence boy howdy they were not kidding I can’t think of the last time I saw penalty minutes this high in a European league in the under 20 League this year six points and 36 play in 36 games 103 penalty minutes in seven games at the under 18s put up 20 penalty minutes overall for his entire under 18 uh in 22 games put up 77 penalty minutes also committed to the University of Michigan in two years where uh you can’t be getting thrown out of games this is is a dude who if you get to the net front area you’re going to hate every second of it and I know Habs fans have learned to love Arbor Jack guys’s little what if I just give you a little cross check what if I just make this your problem now imagine that but taller potentially heavier with maybe more upside I don’t know uh overall how he would compare but the phrase endless lust for violence is gives me both pause and deals me with like Amusement cuz I’m just imagining you have Jacky on one side and you have Elias on the other and they are just crosschecking a dude back and forth between them like he’s a pingpong ball guys will get you into the playoffs guys will get you through the playoffs discipline is a concern got to take less penalties if you’re gonna you’re gonna rough a dude up rough him up subtly there’s ways to do that as we have learned we are not done with mock drafts though we have one more left where I I made it easy I picked the top rated player at the beginning of each of my the Canadians picks we’re getting into that coming up next but first shopping for life insurance is not easy it’s stressful you don’t want to think about it you got to navigate everything find the policy that’s right for you and one that isn’t going to cost you too much money and life is unpredictable you always want to be prepared if that moment ever comes and with policy gen genius you can find life insurance policies that start at $292 per year for a million dollar worth of coverage some options are 100% online and let you avoid unnecessary medical exams I you know sitting down going through trying to find life insurance I hated it I didn’t like any of it I didn’t know what half of this meant with policy genius they are convenient in timesaving because they help you compare all of your options from America’s Top insurers in just a few easy clicks and their award-winning agents will walk walk you through the process step by step to help you find the coverage that you need so get Peace of Mind by finding the right life insurance with policy genius head to policygenius.com or click the link in the description to get your free life insurance quote and see how much you could save that’s policygenius.com we are back for one final segment here and we’ve done couple rounds of the mock trat here I want to see your mock drafts drop your mock drafts four round mock drafts in the comments tweet us at Lor Canadians lockon Canadians gmail.com scottm matla on Twitter if I don’t respond or I don’t respond to your DM it’s because they’re full full so full of spam that thanks to Elmo site I have just stopped paying attention to most of that it is nothing personal I promise you in that regard four round mock draft top rated player at the beginning of each round starting with pick number five falling to fifth overall again Ian demid demidov I don’t know what else I can say that if he falls to fifth overall and Lindstrom and ainla are gone or that’s not the choice this is the guy this is your guy this is your man sign draft him do the thing Kent and Jeff and technically Jeff and Marty and uh mortan and you know Bob R all of you folks I don’t know if any of you actually listening to this if you are I’m sorry if you are also take my advice take this and run it’s a huge win for the Canadians and then going to 26th overall once again Michael H was right there a guy that again I really really like this player someone that I think could absolutely be an an interesting piece to add uh to the team here I think there’s a lot of talent and skill that I would absolutely go for excuse me heading down to 57th overall here now we’re kind of getting into the who is sliding a little bit Jesse pinan was ranked 47th in FC hockey’s consensus rankings at 57th overall I was able to grab him in this draft 6 foot6 220 pounds he is 19 years old he is an older player in this draft he is a re-entry I believe will be 20 at the end of December there so he’s a little bit older boundless creativity and confidence with the puck you can see it in the way he invites four checking pressure only to dangle past them and lead the rush that comes from Elite prospects guides here uh put up 28 points in 18 games with the under 20 team this year in Finland went up to Liga put up eight points in 29 games was loaned to a team in the mastis the second league Four Points in six games put up three points in seven games at World Juniors and has eight total for under 20 leagues uh somebody that I think a lot of draft experts thought hey they might take a risk on this kid last year and he’s taken that next step forward uh an offensive defenseman that size that can move the puck and skate that well is a huge Boom for any team and for the Montreal Canadians come on how do you not take a look at that and go it’s tantalizing we can’t you can’t just ignore it overall uh the next pick heading into the third round here 70th overall ranked 61st in the consensus rankings at FC hockey is Ben Danford playing for the ashua generals again not a guy that has a ton of Flash in sizl to his game as a defenseman 33 points in 64 games just one goal but thinks the game in a way Advanced way more than most you know how to defend in zone and move the puck up ice always uh plays the opposition physically Clos the Gap at the Blue Line pressures the opposition we talk about building block players guys that you can do a lot with because they are moldable and you can turn them into something that’s what Ben Danford reads like here and again this was I picked the top player available this was not a oh there’s another guy there kind of thing this is I picked the top available player there and Ben Danford was that we are now back at 78 overall and we’re heading to Sweden for this and I’m going to botch their name again because of course I am uh Simone z uh playing in Sweden right now playing for rogal someone that the Canadians probably would have actually gotten a a good look at this year if they were going to watch Adam angstrom in Europe or in uh in the shl playing for this team of course put up just four points in 42 shl games but 27 and 18 with their under 20 team where he was the captain of their team here again someone that it seems like they can build with uh zth excels in small areas with his imposing stature he can knock opponents away Shield the pucking control on the wall in the defensive Zone he rotates well follows a check puts his stick in the right lane denying space and plays and plays from the opposition 6 fo3 187 pounds this reads to me like a really strong defensive B hard checking you know defensive Zone Center and at that size boy it’s do you want to try and defend against a guy like that I really really don’t think so someone that I know the Canadians have definitely gotten to look at because he played for the team of one of their top prospects whom they watched a whole bunch and now we’re heading back into defense for one last time the last pick of the just pick the best guy available draft Anthony christoforo playing for the wins or Spitfires in the oh another defenseman I know you’re probably losing your mind that’s a lot defenseman again just picked the top player there’s nothing I could do in this draft here christop foro activates in every play showing both potent shot and vision to find teammates through the defense manipulates opponents with Fakes and handling skills again from the elite prospects guides here put up 38 points and 67 games as a defenseman seven goals 31 assists put up 41 and 63 last year but Windsor was also a tale of two teams one that was loaded and had a lot of talent and one that lost it this year uh went from plus 10 last year to minus 43 this year which is a lot that is a rapid change for a lot of things here uh but someone if you’re picking late in the fourth round again it’s a why not kind of thing here it’s I have a lot of fun doing these because I learned a lot about some of these players that go huh maybe the Canadians would actually be interested in that kind of player there like I look at seimon Z and I think that’s exactly the kind of player the Canadians might be interested in Michael ha is someone I think the Canadians might be interested in going into some of these other drafts that are players I think the Canadians would be very interested in based on their drafting habits I want to see your four round mock drafts follow the same thing I did do what you think is best for the Canadians pick defense just pick the best guy available depending on whichever simulator you use because I want to see what sort of things you can come up with there are so many different permutations I think is the right word to use for this for uh mock drafts remember to tweet us _ [Music] Canadian I because I am hosting the show you can follow me on Twitter at scottm you can follow this podcast wherever you get your daily podcast Google Apple Spotify and Beyond thank you so much for tuning in we are going to keep cranking out the draft content we are 11 days away at the time of this recoring 10 days from the time that you hear it I cannot wait to be a part of the draft and everything with you all again thank You’ all for tuning in and we will see you all next time [Music]

Inside the latest Locked on Canadiens

The Locked on Canadiens Mock Draft is back for a second round!

Scott navigates three different NHL Draft scenarios again, where he’ll pick what he thinks are the best players available for the Canadiens at the time. Scott also takes a look at drafting heavily on defence with the fifth overall pick, before doing a doing a draft of just the top rated player available when the Habs finally pick.

How did your brave host do? Let us know in the comments or on Twitter!

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