Hold On! Things Can Change FAST For Montreal Canadiens!

Hold On! Things Can Change FAST For Montreal Canadiens!

Get all your odds at bonline.ag. That’s Marco Demo. I’m Sean Star. The Montreal Canadians and their first round picks. They own pick 16 and and 17. It’s a fun discussion. I like talking about should they, will they, won’t they, aren’t they? Um, with those two first round picks, first off, how valuable do you think they are today? Not much. Not Not as much as they would normally be, right? How’s that? Um, last year at 11, 12, 13, you were talking about guys like Jason Dickinson, who looks like he’s going to be a top pair of defenseman. Uh, Zeve Bull, who looks like he’s going to be a top pair of defenseman. Um, you know, Jet Luchenko, kind of a little bit of a reach, uh, in my honest opinion, but looks like he’s going to be a very good middle six center. Um, uh, Helenius for Buffalo, who looks like he’s going to be a very good middle six center, probably number two center, you know. So there there were some really good players that would nor like myest opinion like three of the guys I just named probably go top 10 easy in this draft. Yeah. Right. So you’re getting those in the teens. I don’t know that you’re getting that kind of value this season, but you’re seeing guys, and I talked about this was almost like a prophecy, but you saw guys who uh be it OHL playoffs, uh be it the UA teams that just happened, you’re seeing guys whose stock is increasing, right? So, you’re seeing a guy like Brady Martin who was in everyone’s teens a month and a half ago now firmly in everyone’s top 10 because of a, you know, really just solid, gutsy performance uh at the U8s for Canada. Um, you know, there’s there’s other guys that are quickly rising up uh the the draft and there’s some that are still kind of in the mix like a Carter Bear who tore his Achilles but looks like he’s going to make a full recovery. Um, and then you got guys that are probably going to be like second pair, middle six guys that fill out everything from like 13 on, right? And I think that’s kind of the the issue right now is like, you know, you look at some past drafts, you know, I don’t think you’re getting a Cole Cfield at 15 this year. Yeah. No, I agree. Uh, you’re not getting a Kyle Connor at 17 this year. It doesn’t look like it anyway. Right. Right. It’s it’s you know Kyle Connor you know we we look back at the 2015 draft and 16 was Barzal 17 was Kyle Connor and I believe 18 was Thomas Shabbat um holy moly right you’re not getting that kind well I mean granted they would have gone earlier if the Boston Bruins didn’t bite the big one but you know picking three guys uh and the best one of them was uh de Brrisk at the end right um but you know when you look at the 2015 draft like there There’s a lot of quality and I think it’s the main reason why there were so many teams that were willing to give up their 20 25 first round picks as early as they did was because there was a sense that people don’t necessarily feel like this draft has the top end quality of drafts prior like the 2024 draft was initially seen as a weak draft because people were really sleeping on a guy like Mlin Celerini as being like this elite piece. They thought he would be a good piece but you know elite and I was blowing banging his drums from the beginning. I watched too much Lane Hudson at beu not to know but Mlin Celibbrini to me is you know if not on par a hair below Conor Bard right now in terms of the impact that they had. I think I I think that’s a very fair state. I think he’s the actual center. Yeahard fair statement. Um you look at when you look at this draft, yeah, you have Matthew Schaefer at the top and then Michael Misa and then you know you after that you have a glut of players that can go anywhere between three and seven, right? And then after that you have another tier that basically goes from like nine to 15 16 and then after that we have Yeah. Yeah. from 20 to 45. What do you think though? like what if the Canadians keep the picks, right? Does that does that tell the fan base they’re still rebuilding? No. And so there’s two ways of looking at this. And I I really do like this sentiment, but at the same time, there’s a little bit of a risk that goes into it. And I’ll give you two examples. Okay, go ahead. On one end, you can draft, you know, uh, you look at the way the Canadians have drafted, you can draft a Michael Hayes at 21, who the way he played last season in a normal draft, he has more value than the 21st overall pick. Okay. Right. Like he, if Michael Hayes were in this draft, he’d be pushing the top 10. Wow. That’s how iffy I find this draft to be. like Michael H would be in that discussion for the top 10. If not, he would probably go like 11, 12, 13, right? So you you win out there. But on the flip side, then you pick a guy like Philip Meshar at 26. Well, then the risk is that that pick’s value, even though you like drafted a player, drafted players more often than not have more value than the pick because the pick is a total unknown unless you’re on the draft floor, the clock is on, and you see who’s available. And so, this is why I put it this way. Yeah. Go ahead. If the Canadians do not trade both picks, or if they don’t even trade either of the picks, that means that they didn’t get an offer that was good enough that would have warranted that pick and that they have more confidence in developing the player into either a key a good piece for them or a key trade trip when the time comes. Because that’s the thing, they may not be able to fill all the holes in their lineup in one summer. It’s a little insane to think that they were going to be able to do that. I like we talked about this on a previous episode. We want to see them fill a hole in the top six that it be left wing or center. Just get Demadov a running guy that doesn’t matter, right? Yes. And then you’ll you’ll spend the season trying to see who can fill that role for the time being or you sign a stop gap as of July 1. Just saying it. So it’s okay to view it that way. So that to me right now those picks aren’t valuable. Come talk to me after the combine. Yeah. Yeah. That’s the key is let a general manager fall in love with a prospect. Yeah. That is the key, right? Is there someone on the on the board that you can see the Canadians using these assets or maybe something else we haven’t talked about to move up? Is there someone there that especially uh the folks at Tivia Spar would definitely love to see the Canadians package their two first round picks and then some to try and get into the top five and draft Caleb Denuay of the month. I keep hearing that name. I keep hearing that name. He was definitely a guy that they really liked when they were uh in the basement of the NHL standings in like November. Uh and then well, we saw what happened. Yes, exactly. So, I could definitely like there’s a lot of people that would like to see that. I think basically a lot of fans would would be willing to package the picks to go and get quality because that’s the thing. But I don’t see one team between five and 10 that would entertain that. Yeah. Because think about it, right? Like let’s go and look at it. Nashville already has three first round picks at five. So do the Philadelphia Flyers at six, right? In fact, they’re probably going to look to trade those late 20s picks for other stuff, right? So, I don’t think they’re going to be looking for more. And then Boston is not trading with Montreal. Not happening because that back that’s going to backfire. That ain’t going to work. Not happen. Right. So, then you have Seattle at eight. That’s interesting to me. I don’t think they need more picks, but they’re definitely a team that could you can make a hockey trade for because of all the centers they have on that. I was gonna say they have so many. So that’s not a that’s not a move up partner. And then at nine, right, you’re you uh if I’m not mistaken, n 10 is Anaheim and then I forget who nine is. I’d have to look. I’m looking now. Um how far is denier from playing in the NHL? Probably. Yeah, probably like I I Denier to me reminds me a lot of the path that uh Pier Dubis had to take. Okay. Right. So I guess at that point when you look at it, okay, so it’s Buffalo at nine. And Buffalo does not want picks. No, no, no, no, no. They want real assets at this point. So that ain’t happening either. Um so and again, so we keep going back to the same kind of discussion. It doesn’t make sense because if you’re trading 16 and 17, ideally you’re getting into that seven, eight, nine, 10 range. Yeah. Right. Right. And there’s just nobody like And then 10 is Anaheim. And Anaheim again don’t need more picks. They need to start putting like their ownership wants to get it going. Yeah. They take all that backlash just so you can not playoffs. Correct. So, expect them to want to add, you’re not bringing in a coach like Quinnville to just like rebuild the team. Like, they’re they’re going to try to move it along. So, I again like I just don’t see a tradeup opportunity that would make sense other than you’re at the draft table and Pittsburgh or the Rangers or Detroit couldn’t get, you know, the guy they really wanted is off. They couldn’t trade the pick for something that could help their lineup right now and they’re willing to trade back a couple of spots. The Canadians have two second round picks, 30 41st and I believe uh 49th overall. And so they could easily trade one of them along with 16 to move up, right? And potentially, you know, there’s guys that may fall at that point like a Carter Bear or Roger McQueen that could be interesting. you know, um there are other, you know, uh players that could be of interest in that range as well that, you know, potentially could work their way into the lineup because the Canadians are going to be looking to draft not necessarily the best player available, but the best player available for the type of player they’re looking for. And I think that’s the key, right? So, they’re going to be looking for bigger players. They’re going to be looking for guys, you know, and Ken Hugh said it, they’re looking for a mix, right? So people that are like just draft the best player available. Sure you could draft the best player available. But then when it comes time to have to acquire the piece that you need, especially when you’re a Canadian’s team whose core is set, who’s drafted well, who’s ready to go, you need to go after the types of players that are going to complement what you already have. Yeah. And so there are a bunch of guys in there. So if the Canadians do just make those picks, that’s totally fine. because they’re either going to bring further value to the team down the line or they’re going to be used as trade chips down the line. One way or the other, that value is not lost. And in fact, if the Canadians development team can continue to improve them and get them to a level like for example, I’ll give you a direct example. Okay, Florian Jackie was drafted in what, the fourth round? Is he worth more than a fourth round pick today? Oh, yeah. I mean, come with 20 gold pro season. That is the type of asset management and and and developmental that the Canadians would be banking on so that when it comes time to trade these players, you’re not in a Philip Meshar situation, right? Yeah. You’re in a Cal Richie situation with the with the Avalanche. That obviously didn’t work out for them for reasons we know, but if they would have held on to Rantin, maybe things would have been different. Marco Demo, great stuff. Uh, thanks as always, brother. And we’ll be here summer months, winter months. We’re here every month. Uh, you can follow Marco Demo on XM Demo and check them out at RG Media where they’re hiring. So, if this is something you want to explore in terms of a career, a pivot perhaps, here’s what they call an opportunity. Thank you, Marco. Thank you guys. Have a good one.

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The Montreal Canadiens own picks 16 and 17 overall in the NHL entry draft later this summer. Shaun Starr and Marco D’Amico walk you through the options for the Habs and whether they think it’s better to use the picks or trade the picks? Also, how valueable are the Habs two first round draft picks?

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