@@Montreal Canadiens

Habs’ 1979 first round pick

  • September 2, 2022


I was watching The Hockey Guy’s 1979 re-draft, and noticed the absence of a Habs pick. Anyone knows what happened to it? Seems like the Draft being as deep as it was, they wouldn’t give it up for less than a premium player, unless they didn’t know in advance they were going to lower the age of eligibility…

5 comments

  1. Idk but we got out of the draft with Mats Naslund, Rick Wamsley and Guy Carbonneau so I think we did fine

    Edit : and Gaston Gingras who had a decent career

  2. [We traded our 1979 first round (16th) to LA](http://www.nhltradetracker.com/user/trade_list_by_season_team/Montreal_Canadiens/1978-79/1), along with Murray Wilson (3rd-4th liner), for their 1981’s first pick (we got Gilbert Delorme at #18).

    In 1978-79, Habs, then in the Norris Division, had a 52-17-11 record, while LA in the same division had a 34-34-12 record. Maybe the thinking was “We’re fine now, and LA will still suck in two years”.

    But in 1980-81, Habs and LA had a similar record (45-22-13 vs. 43-24-13). So the pick was a late 1st rounder (though habs had the #7 pick too (Mark Hunter)).

  3. It seems they traded their 1979 first round pick to Los Angeles for their 1981 first round pick. The Canadiens also acquired Pittsburgh’s 1st pick for 1981 which meant they had three of them. Those are the facts, I don’t know what the plan was.

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