Montreal Canadiens at NHL Draft: who will they pick? Will Demidov be available? Will Habs trade?

Montreal Canadiens at NHL Draft: who will they pick? Will Demidov be available? Will Habs trade?

today on lockdown Canadians who are the Montreal Canadians going to draft at fifth overall you’re locked on Canadians your daily podcast on the Montreal canadi ends part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day hi everyone and welcome to episode 1098 of lockon Canadians we are your first listen of the day and we thank you so so much for that as you know we’re part of the lockon podcast Network where you get your team every single day and today is an important day today is the 2024 NHL draft at the time that you’re listening to this uh well at least at the time that we’re recording this Kent Hughes has not dropped a surprise bomb on us but um we’ll try and predict that in a later segment like right now what I want to talk about Scott and welcome obviously my co-host Scott mat love hze of the prize Scott who do we think the Montreal Canadians are going to draft tonight uh I want everyone to come in real close here because I have a theory they will select either a forward or defenseman or a goalie I know it’s a bold it’s a bold strategy here uh in reality is that I don’t have an actual like lead I have no inside source on this I am going by gut feeling and Vibes whatever you want to call it and I am looking at everything around this we heard a lot about Becka senica like two three weeks ago and that was the big thing they like Beck at senica oh they you know met with tjin they went out to dinner they took Kaden Lindstrom out all these other things and then we didn’t hear anything about Ivan demidov or demidov excuse me and then we’re just waiting waiting waiting and in the last few days we keep getting more and more little nuggets going in here that oh like Ivan de when he met with the media the other day oh I’ve been in touch with the Canadians they’ve come and seen me several times this year I’ve talked to them throughout the season this year and I go huh he says Chicago and Anaheim also uh did which okay duhh of course but I’m looking at this and then I’m uh Jeff Gordon today was asked a question that was the difference between michkov last year and demidov this year and he said the situations are different they’re different types of players and all I can think is you’re trying so hard to say that we just didn’t like mve michkov last year for whatever reason I don’t have to agree with it it’s I don’t agree with it I would have liked that pick last year but everything that I am reading into this is they really like Ivan deido and that if he is there at fifth overall I can’t help but feel he’s likely to be that pick Chicago uh in perfect Chicago Fashion knows something and isn’t saying anything and the thought is that arim lunov is going second overall to them and then Anaheim is where everything can go off the rails I’m not sure who they like but I do think that the Canadians really really like Ivan demidov they were down at the gold star Camp to watch him uh and meet with him there as well everything is leading me to believe and this is me definitely setting myself up to get my own feelings hurt that they really like Ivan deid of and I think that that right now is going to be their leading choice at fifth overall right and really for me the big question all along has been will he be available because these other teams ahead of them are either predictable or wild cards right like we all know who the clear number one overall is and we also know who the clear number one picker is and they’re not giving that up it’s the first time in their franchise history they really need this to center a rebuild around so we think or you know it’s almost certain that mlin cini is going to the San Jose Sharks like I don’t see them doing anything wild and trading that pick or picking anybody else at that point like there’s just he’s just a clear Far and Away runaway front runner like it was a clear clear Top Choice so then the wild card is really Chicago for me because Chicago like you said they might know something they’re not saying but they seem to be they seem to be playing the game there right like they they they aren’t clearly indicating who they’re interested in they’re letting some little tibits out there we think that you know we think we know who their choice is but for me like I don’t trust them so from my perspective they’re really the biggest wild card and that they might take the meat off they might like this could all be smoke and Bluster and they might take the meat off now Anheim is going to go off the board because that’s the kind of thing they do um and they are going to make a weird pick because that’s the kind of thing they do Columbus definitely to me seems pretty set on um Kaden Lindstrom and it does seem like the right fit etc etc again they could go unpredictable or they could just decide that Ivan demidov is the better player so they’re going to pick him right and that is going to know like that’s going to either if if he’s there at fifth overall I do sense the Habs are 100% going to pick him if he’s not then it becomes a question of who other who who else is available like we were talking a lot about Becka senica a couple weeks ago and people were worried about that I don’t necessarily think that they should be worried about that because for me my big thing is who’s going to be left like who is going to be left and I would not be unhappy with Lindstrom I would not be happy with TJ ginla he seems to have been F he faded out of the conversation since the combine everybody’s talking about him at the combine and he does seem to be likely to be available at 5 um so it might just be a situation where he’s the only guy left but as you said Scott I do think the Canadians have clearly indicated that they like to meet off the Canadians have also you know they’ve shown that interest in Kaden Lindstrom because there is like there’s a small possibility that he’s going to be available there at fifth so you know I said who are they going to pick like from my perspective I think the most likely to be available at that time is going to be tjla but who are they going to pick if or if Ivanov is available that’s a no-brainer choice to me it’s the and the thing is here is that uh Carolina Anaheim we’ve heard Anton salv is someone that they really like which feels far too early in the draft but I they want to do that go ahead they might like a guy one of the defenseman there they might go for Becket senica and then with Columbus we have to remember that their head of scouting is Trevor Timmons Trevor Timmons has a type of player I do think Kaden Lindstrom fits that and I also think that someone who is maybe a little bit toolsy and uh has the physical assets to go with that like a Kaden Lindstrom fits there things are lining up that if lunov goes second overall and if he doesn’t go second I imagine that Anaheim will probably take him third then there’s going to be some kind of forward that falls into the Habs lap there and you well if it’s not Lindstrom and it’s not demidov I’d love it if it’s TJ ginla and my thought is they really liked um Z boam they met with him they went out to dinner with him as well one of the top defenseman in this class are are behind lunov and then from there it’s a mix I’ve seen him in the top five I’ve seen him outside the top 10 he’s and my thought with that is I’m not opposed to that and the thing is that I’m not factoring in here right now is are the is going to make a deal because the Sharks traded up three spots in the draft today and it cost them a high second round pick and their first this year to move up to uh 11th overall out of or their other first this year their other first this year they moved up to 11th from 14th uh it was a penguin’s first round pick I believe it’s a price I don’t see the Habs trading up but let’s say demidov and Lindstrom are gone maybe you the have been calling people and asking they want to move into a spot that they called Columbus and my thought is they want to meet of as well or maybe salv maybe they trade back a little bit and then you pick senica you pick a TJ ginley you pick abam if he’s still there and you collect other assets with that that feels like a very Kent hu type of move potentially but my thought my order of going down this line here is it’s I thought you say my order of operations and then we were going to turn into a math lesson no because I hate ha math math is the devil and I hate it so much it’s right up there with Excel uh the coward Mark shley uh and some of the booking in aw but that’s besides the point is it’s demidov it’s Lindstrom for me it’s TJ ginla but I understand the Canadians potentially taking Z boam there I’m not opposed to it draft the best player available and boam might be that guy and if he is that guy we have plenty of NCA experts and plenty of prospect people to talk to about it right absolutely and there is also there’s an outside chance that Kaden Lindstrom will be available like I would be excited about that too like I personally there are very few play there are very few ways that Canadians can go at fifth overall that would cause me to be abjectly disappointed like and if there’s like if they as long as they take whatever best player is there you can’t fault them whether it’s a forward whether it’s a defenseman we know there’s no goalies in that area right now um and uh one final thing before we move on to our next segment scottt um is are you feeling optimistic about tomorrow or tonight I guess I am I I love the draft because it’s chaos it’s like I don’t know what to expect and that’s the most fun part I was talking with someone about it that I’m like I’m just waiting for one of these shoes to drop I’m like a crumb of news something I’m waiting for Kent Hughes to do something because this is exactly the time that he’s like I haven’t done anything poof right first round pi for some guy yeah some guy that’s Alex new hook that is top six Alex new but yes this is the exact time that he would do something the NHL awards are literally happening right now no one cares but it is the perfect time to make a trade right so obviously this recording will be obsolete as soon as we’re done it in the meantime the Montreal Canadians did not qualify us Ying in we are going to talk about that and then get to our Friday mailbag with all of your questions in just one moment here on locked on Canadians first this episode is brought to you by eBay Motors passion drive and patience the formula for winning championships is also what keeps your ride or die alive eBay Motors has everything you need to maintain your vehicle and level it up to Peak performers Peak Performance superchargers roof racks exhaust kits LED headlights and more whether you’re into speed power or style eBay Motors has got you covered with over 122 million parts for your number one ride or die you’ll always find exactly what you’re looking for and with eBay guaranteed fit your part is guaranteed to fit your ride every time or 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player he’s a very good power play piece he was for the rocket and I thought he could have been that for the Montreal Canadians as well and he came in and he kind of did well last year when everyone was admittedly injured terrible like the worst curse we have ever seen in around the Canadians before there and I thought okay comes in next year maybe he takes a middle six spot here play him with Kirby doc or play him with a Christian Dvorak or whomever and things just didn’t click this year for Yin in that he couldn’t hold a regular lineup spot and he wasn’t able to do enough with the role that he was given to really say that yes I deserved this spot I deserved to stay here right now and that’s just kind of it is that he didn’t do much to get himself into the into a role to deserve a qualifying offer there and it should be noted Gorton did say that this is not a acrimonious parting this was a mutual thing there is every opportunity that he may come back as an unrestricted free agent after he tests the market which Jared book reminded me the Canadians did this with REM pitlick as well came in and had a really strong year and they didn’t qualify him and then signed him to a three-year contract worth a couple mil or 1.2 a year they Bas they sa money and it allows them to give him a two-way contract because this qualifying offer I believe would have been a one-way contract so yeah absolutely so now it’s time to turn our attention to the mailbag we’ve got our really good friend Robert Rice asking us how would you rate the importance of acquiring ruer mccordi from the Winnipeg Jets based solely on the value of having a player whose name would have fit perfectly if he played for the team in the 1940s and had an actual hockey nickname such as Rutger the Ram oh man I mean here’s the thing is is that one I I sent this this name to somebody they heard me talking about like the the kids named after a college and I went I don’t don’t know uh I I don’t know anyone else named Rutger unless they’re one of those like honestly or like his last name like he’s got a first name that’s a last name he’s got a f yeah you’re not wrong uh he does have very uh dust bow energy uh from the Great Depression kind of thing that you could tell me Rucker mcgi is a character in Band of Brothers I like yeah absolutely he’s a guy in Band of Brothers yeah he’s the new Call of Duty you know Co-op you know teammate and that like I I think above all else is that I am really interested to see where this goes because it’s quiet too quiet around this because they the and this is me talking to you Elliot fredman you’re never going to listen to this podcast but hey this will likely be done by the draft end of the week it is 8:08 pm on a Thursday all of the NHL people are in one place well hopefully in one place hopefully no one is stuck on a rooftop in Vegas which who the hell knows with that this shoe’s going to drop soon on that I’m just curious if it is tonight or if it is tomorrow or if it is after like the first three picks have been made in that draft depending on where all of those pieces fall and I hope to God it’s the Canadians and I hope it’s cheap because I think that Rucker mcgi will sign his entry level contract then less than a week later and come play for the Canadians next year I think that would be a really good outcome and I know Scott you had a really great episode on that earlier this week and people had lots of thoughts believe me so we are G to get back to our thoughts um our question from our really good friend Kevin Kevin Hi how are you I hope you’re still listening to us in the car with your daughters um will the Habs draft even one goalie this year yes uh they absolutely they do this every year and I someone was asking me about this uh recently because they drafted so many goalies last year well more than one every year uh and Greg ball at Elite prospects and who we’ve had on this show to talk about Jacob Fowler and yakob doish before put out his he put out his draft list here I don’t know any of these people I’m gonna be really honest when it comes to goal tending I don’t know a damn thing about anything whatsoever if they draft anyone on this list we will have Greg back on and he can tell us how good these people are they will absolutely pick somebody uh whether that be in like the third or fourth round they will absolutely take a goalie in this draft because Kent Hughes likes to have pieces he’s got two third round picks a fourth two fifths and three SS I wouldn’t be shocked if he takes a swing at a goalie in the seventh round and picks someone in the third round he picked Jacob Fowler with the 69th nice pick last year I absolutely think that they will take another goalie this year if there’s starting to be a run on them they may trade up package some of those other picks and move up a little bit but I think that they will absolutely be drafting a goalie in this draft Kent Hughes loves to have his depth in all places right and the goalie cupboard and this organization will never be bare um well at least not under under Kent Hughes and Jeff Gorton’s tenure so Scott let me ask you another question here um not related to the mailbag do you think that the hals will go specifically defense heavy goalie heavy a good mix because last year it’s not like they didn’t draft any forwards it just felt like a very defense and goalie heavy draft I personally feel like they need to restock not restock I I I think they need to swing for the fences on some forwards this year I think they’re going to go heavy on the forwards this year I’m looking at the Canadian draft were uh and soon as this loads up there we go defenseman they didn’t have any second round picks last year and they traded their other first round pick to uh for Alex new hook Florian Jack they picked three forwards in the draft last year Florian Jacky uh Sam Harris and Philip Ericson Philip Ericson looks to be a little bit fun and everything but I think this year is absolutely going to be a year that they go more forward heavy based on the way the first round is shaking out I absolutely expect them to go after a forward at fifth overall and then 26 could be anything you have a guy like EJ Emer who’s a really good shutdown defenseman in there you have pieces like Andrew Bosa Teddy sta or Michael ha who are good forwards later on there who we picked in the mock draft uh we picked Michael ha in MO yep uh which we will have stuff for that at some point thanks to Sebastian and Hattie uh on on that we may upload those the shorts to our YouTube channel I think they’re going to go heavier on the forward here they have a lot of defensemen but a lot of those defensemen are now graduating so I can see them going forwards and then heavy defense and mix in a few goalies or other forwards as uh the draft goes down there and also they’re gonna pick OS K Vu and if they don’t I’m going to be so so sad if that does not happen you know if what what Andrew mapani has been traded from the Calgary Flames to the Washington Capitals for a second round pick well that’s breaking news that we will dissect in just one moment here on lock on Canadians I was like the timing for this o could not be worse because I thought it was a Hab trade we’ll be back in just one moment but first this episode is also brought to you by FanDuel you know FanDuel and I love sports I love them so much I never want them to stop but as the playoffs have wound down we’re getting fewer games after the drafts and the free agency sports are not sportsing like I want them to but FanDuel let me keep the sports going whenever I want all I have to do is open the app and dream up bets anytime I’m in the mood and this summer FanDuel is hooking up all customers with a boost or a bonus daily that’s right there’s something for everyone every day all summer long so head over to fanduel.com lockon and start making the most out of your summer FanDuel official sports betting partner of Major League Baseball and us as well all right Scott I am now aware of your opinion in the group chat I cannot repeat it on I cannot repeat it on the show I was trying to do an ad read and it popped up um so WTF is this trade for the Calgary Flames we will get we will get to our mailback questions in just a moment I don’t know what I’m not the the Flames it makes sense the Flames are rebuilding now this is a very clear sign that they are tearing this down tearing this down and getting assets to rebuild on the Fly Washington is not the team I expected to be in on these things the perer Luke dubuis trade which okay and now you have Andrew mapani who’s a very good Winger and the only thing I can think of is the capitals want to go for it in Obie’s final two years of his deal here they want to get him the record and they want to just get through and get m one last run if they can manage it I don’t think they will it’s a big if Scott like I would have kept that second round I mean I would have too but because Washington doesn’t have a prospect pool so now we’re talking about this and then they’ll go to the Stanley Cup Final next year yeah which of course but again the thing is how does this impact the Canadians we have their first round pick next year or one of their first round picks next year because of this whole the Shawn Monahan trade which go watch my episode with the amav from last week I’m not going to read the conditions again I don’t have the voice for that today but that second that first round pick is getting more and more interesting that Florida’s good Florida’s obviously a Stanley Cup champion now what’s going to happen what where’s that pick going to land I guess we’ll see but boy that’s a weird trade that’s a really really weird trade I sure anyways this is a Canadians podcast so uh thank you all for inding our’s mailbag um all right so Scott final definitive Definitive prediction on the top five picks all right you go first mlin celebrini AR te lunov I can’t shake the feeling the Ducks are going to pick Beck at senica Kaden Lindstrom Ivan demidov all right in a perfect world I do think that is the I don’t I can’t predict what the Ducks are gonna do I could say salv I could say senica I could say demidov I could say ainla I could say William Sam Dickens and I don’t know like and that’s the thing is it’s it’s gonna be very entertaining all right I had a duck Ducks expert to ask about this kind of thing so uh anyway um mine is obviously mlin cini I do think that the Chicago Blackhawks are going to take the meat off and Crush our hearts Le shuno is going to go to the Anaheim Ducks and then the uh Columbus Blue Jackets are going to pick K Lindstrom I think that’s like pretty much the only unshakable one is that everybody’s predicting that they’re going to take him at four and the Montreal Canadians are in fact going to take T gima which will not make either of us miserable by any stretch of a word so that was a question from Danton next question comes from uh Casey Lee what is the hottest prediction you can give or the hottest take you can give for the um the the draft I think you said it with Becket senut number three I don’t even think that that’s that hot of a take because he he rose up the thing like Ryan lovsky did yeah um I think that someone is let me look at the at the draft order here real quick just because I want to I go down on the line here Utah’s going to re I think my thought is because this always happens Utah is going to reach on they’re picking right after the Habs and every year we do this they always pick the guy you know that is a similar to the one that they did with Sosi they did it potentially with Logan kulie maybe and then they did it with rybach where they picked shim afterwards I can see them if the Canadians get Ivan demidov them taking a swing on someone going maybe a bit too far down and picking a cona helenius or a Berkeley Ken potentially I like Berkeley Ken I think that they will take a swing on somebody that isn’t a Cole Eiserman a TJ ginla or something in there uh and I also think Ottawa will trade down in the first round out of seven and maybe and collect you know either another roster player or more picks new friend Mark for first time writing rger mordi sounds like he would be a fantastic get though perhaps expensive what do you think would be the cost to acquire him so Scott you did cover that in an earlier episode now what is his value as compared to the fifth overall selection so from this question I’m kind of seeing that Markus thinking that that might be the cost I don’t like what’s what’s your thought my thought is it probably starts with the hab second first round pick like bare minimum is it starts with that because they’re not getting a signed player at this point too they could trade for Rucker mordi like uh I forget what team it was that traded for Jimmy vz’s rights and he still said no didn’t sign with them and then signed with the Rangers anyways so was that Detroit maybe was it Boston I want to say it was Nashville I’m not 100 look that up but uh our listeners will tell us it’s okay like listen we don’t have any memory right now um all I know is that they definitely went he went to the Rangers and everyone knew he wanted to go to the Rangers and that’s re up but I it starts with probably 26th overall and maybe a like mid-tier roster player if you’re sure you can get him signed you pay the price and you get him signed and you get him in the lineup immediately but it starts with that first round pick and maybe a Jordan Harris type player to make that work so and then finally our good friend Jeff the red so thanks for writing Mark uh our good friend Jeff the red what might be a somewhat realistic move that the Habs could do that would cause the most chaos at the draft what move could cause the most chaos yeah the Habs doing so I’m assuming this means also messing things up for other people picking deito is probably one of them uh picking Anton salv I think would be definitely in there because I think that he’s a reach at that spot uh but I think that’s I think picking even Beck at senica at five uh my and honestly because no one has linked these two at all and I know I mentioned him before the coyotes picking Berkeley Kon everything we’ve heard is the Canadians don’t seem to have much interest in again or cat and the two other stars out of the WHL there I could see the Canadians picking either one of them and just throwing everything out of whack 100% all right so that’s it for our draft preview we’re going to be uh we’re going to be recording obviously immediately after the draft we’ll record a reaction and we will have a live show this Saturday afternoon so make sure you are subscribed to this podcast wherever you get this podcast as well as on YouTube especially on YouTube because then you will see it pop up when we put up the live show um and you’ll be able to join us at that time make sure you’re subscribed make sure you uh follow us on Twitter lore Canadians make sure you follow us individually the active stick and Scott matla uh you can email us at lock on is@ gmail.com at anytime whether it’s a mailback question a thought anything you need you can also leave comments in the YouTube section you can also uh tweet us your questions also some people will send me mail back questions on Instagram we welcome all kinds of communication thank you so much for listening and we will absolutely 100% have an almost instant an a reaction after the draft of the picks the Canadians make or or trades etc etc so make sure you see us then thank you so much [Music]

The Montreal Canadiens are set to pick 5th overall in the 2024 NHL Entry Draft, and the day is finally here. We discuss the latest rumblings, rumours, and predictions. Will the Habs make a big splash? Will Ivan Demidov, fan favourite, be available at that spot? And what about trades? Will the Habs be making any of those and disrupting other NHL team plans? All that, plus the Friday mailbag!

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