yeah, this was an entirely avoidable situation. it's not quite like with the Coyotes and Miller last year, in that it hadn't exactly made the hockey news rounds what Miller had previously done. everyone knew about Logan Mailloux, and yet Marc Bergevin seemed to bull past all of it, anyway.

Stankoven, Pinelli, and Morrow were still available 😐

You think they'll renounce his rights?

I have a feeling Marc Bergevin is going to double down and sign him to an ELC within 12 months.



Interesting thing is that Chicago was picking right after Montreal at 31.

Did Marc Bergevin do his old club and his old buddy, Stan Bowman, a favour by not making Bowman face the choice of selecting Maillloux?

With all the things going on with the Hawks?




The fact that Mailloux specifically said on twitter he didn't want to be picked and the Habs pick him anyway seems senseless.




Is this some odd power move by Bergevin against Mailloux where the Habs control his NHL rights until he turns 27 and then he busts out?




The Habs put out a bilingual statement on twitter right away after picking him, which indicates to me that Bergevin was planning and plotting to take him for quite a while.




All we can do is speculate until either Mailloux signs his ELC or the Habs renounce his rights.

i would honestly imagine that the incoming PR hellstorm tomorrow morning might make Bergevin blink. it certainly made the Coyotes blink, after all, after the fallout from the Miller selection came down. then again, this is a 1st-round pick we're talking about, so there might be more truculence involved.

i would not personally try to read any sort of conspiracy out of this whole shebang, considering it just happened. Occam's Razor is also your friend: the simplest explanation is often the right one.

Raty, Pastujov, Chibrikov too

this season AND this offseason man...

u n r e a l

Other NHL teams have much worse players on their team and there's examples of teams doing much worse than this. The thing about Logan is, he can change and grow from it. While it sucks to be dealing with it, you have to learn to give people 2nd chances. As long as he stays on the correct path, he can redeem himself.

MB, come on Pastujov was still there, Robertsson too, I’m okay with Kapanen but Kidney

Hey, finally some new prospects I can be excited about!

Both players are actually good. Pastujov is very slow and likely won't be able to keep up with the NHL speed. Robertsson is just as slow. I'm glad we didn't pick them

Elliotte Friedman on ESPN/Sportsnet’s draft coverage discussing Jack Eichel: “Buffalo is still looking for a definite prospect/draft pick based deal there. I think they talked pretty heavily with Montreal yesterday. It was quiet last night.”

— HabsLinks (@HabsLinks) July 24, 2021

Still don’t think the habs can do it, unless the price drops and they don’t have to include Caufield/Suzuki.

Considering what Reinhart just got, I'd say Eichel's price plummeted.

1st + 2nd + Romanov + A depth forward

I don't see the price being overwhelming.

So the habs have drafted:

63 - Riley Kidney
64 - Oliver Kapanen
87 - Dmitri Kostenko
113 - William Trudeau
142 - Daniil Sobolev
150 - Joshua Roy
191 - Xavier Simoneau

That’s 4 players from the QMJHL. They got 2 Russian RHD. Daniil Sobolev is very interesting because he’s only 6 feet tall, but already 210 pounds, which is insane, especially for an 18 year old. Simoneau is a double overager and is 5’6.

Hmm, I wonder how untouchable Romanov is, as well as what his value is right now. As for Eichel, his value is definitely going to drop, partially because the draft is over. But there’s no deadline until the start of the season, so the Sabres might stretch this out a bit.

Considering that Romanov was a healthy scratch for pretty much the entire playoff run, I can't see Montreal having him untouchable.

Hopefully Roy turns into something, he had a butt ton of goals this season in the Q

He needs to develop the other aspects of his game in Laval, though

I agree with that, but his value is still a bit perplexing to me. KK & Suzuki have multiple NHL seasons to judge on, and Caufield has been a top offensive producer at every level of hockey. And the prospects are all in the same boat of having never played in the NHL. And I think what’s giving me the hardest time of placing his value is how fast he rose from a reach of a 2nd round pick to top prospect, to 3rd pairing guy in the NHL. This wasn’t the expected path for Romanov, and I’m not sure how other teams would see his trade value.

So the Montréal Canadiens draft class:
31 - Logan Mailloux
63 - Riley Kidney
64 - Oliver Kapanen
87 - Dmitri Kostenko
113 - William Trudeau
142 - Daniil Sobolev
150 - Joshua Roy
191 - Xavier Simoneau
214 - Joe Vrbetic

Logan Mailloux, Riley Kidney, Daniil Sobolev, and Joshua Roy are 18 year old CHLers, who will continue playing for their CHL teams for 2 seasons before they turn pro. (If they get a contract offer)

William Trudeau, and Joe Vrbetic are late birthdays, so they would only need to play in the CHL for 1 season before they’re able to play for Laval.

Xavier Simoneau is able to join Laval immediately, but he might go the same route as Rafaël Harvey-Pinard and return for his overage season in the Q, then sign an AHL deal for 1 year, and then sign his ELC if he earns it.

Dmitri Kostenko has a year left on his deal with Spartak Moskva. The Canadiens hold his rights until he’s 27, and he can come over to North America whenever he wants. (But I’d guess he signs another 1 or 2 year deal after this season before crossing the pond)

Oliver Kapanen has a year left on his deal with KalPa. The habs hold his rights for 4 years, and he can come over at any point.

And any of these players would be able to join the NHL if they make the team out of training camp other than Dmitri Kostenko, who would need to leave the KHL to attend Montréal’s camp.

I’ve scouted all of these players except Simoneau, not the biggest Sobolev fan, but we had a decent draft, a couple reaches, but a couple good picks too

NHL Draft Consensus Big Board: Top 100 prospects for 2021 :
https://theathletic.com/2716133/2021/07/21/nhl-draft-consensus-big-board-top-100-prospects-for-2021/
(20 draft boards compilation, including McKenzie with his compilation of 10, so basically 30 draft boards)

63 - Riley Kidney =78
64 - Oliver Kapanen =54
87 - Dmitri Kostenko =95
113 - William Trudeau =n/a
142 - Daniil Sobolev =n/a
150 - Joshua Roy =100
191 - Xavier Simoneau =n/a


Trudeau 98 for Pronman, 93 on McKenzie list (TSN)
Simoneau 106 for Pronman (Athletic)
Sobolev 126 for Pronman

Also, Mailloux 35 on McKenzie list

I had Mailloux and Kapanen as a 2nd, Kidney, Roy, Kostenko as 3rds, Trudeau, Sobolev as 4th, Vrbetic as a 5th and Simonesu I didn’t scout

I have a feeling Vrbetic could be the first prospect to benefit from the 3-tier development system and play for Trois-Rivières in 2022-23.

So Montréal turned a 4th round pick in 2019 into Oliver Kapanen, William Trudeau, and Sean Farrell.

2019 MTL 4th to SJS for 2020 SJS 4th
2020 SJS 4th to BUF for Marco Scandella
Marco Scandella to STL for 2020 STL 2nd and 2021 STL 4th
2020 STL 2nd to TBL for 2021 TBL 2nd and 2020 TBL 4th

Selected:
2021 TBL 2nd: Oliver Kapanen
2021 STL 4th: William Trudeau
2020 TBL 2nd: Sean Farrell

They also turned Zach Redmond into Dmitri Kostenko.

Zach Redmond signed as a UFA.
Zach Redmond traded to BUF for Nicolas Deslauriers.
Nicolas Deslauriers traded to ANA for 2020 ANA 4th.
2020 ANA 4th traded to SJS for 2021 WSH 3rd.
2021 WSH 3rd used to select Dmitri Kostenko.