Quoting: KentMcNally
I may not have been clear (or maybe I was and you did understand me). I was talking about Montreal acquiring picks in the 3rd to 5th rounds of the draft (not mid-first round picks).
I was questioning whether we need many more of the picks in the third to fifth rounds, given the quantity of prospects we already have and that 50 contract limit.
What I am saying it's since 2019 for exemple, Bergevin traded :
MTL 2019 4th vs SJ 2020 4th
CHI 2019 5th vs FLO 2020 5th
the draft after
SJ 2020 4th vs WSH 2021 3rd
the draft after
CHI 2021 3rd vs ANA 2022 3rd
VGK 2021 4th vs TBL 2022 4th
the draft after
TBL 2022 4th vs VGK 2023 4th
MTL don't use all their mid round picks, after that they could use those extra picks to make moves like Kent Hughes did
Romanov + 98th vs 13th OA
13th + 66th OA vs Kirby Dach
In 2021, Bergevin used a 2021 3rd + 2021 5th to acquire Eric Staal
In 2020, Bergevin used a 2020 3rd + Max Domi to acquire Josh Anderson
In 2020 again, MTL used another 2020 3rd round pick to acquire Jake Allen
Having a lot of picks is not bad, you never have too many picks
And MTL like trading down as well, I got a good exemple for you
Remember when MTL acquired Marco Scandella vs a 2020 4th (became Daniil Chechelev)
Then MTL flip Scandella half retained to STL for a 2020 2nd round pick (became Jack Finley) + 2021 4th (became William Trudeau)
At the 2020 draft, MTL traded that 2nd round pick from STL (became Jack Finley) to TBL for their 2020 4th (became Sean Farrell) + their 2021 2nd (became Oliver Kapanen)
So MTL traded a 2020 4th (Daniil Chechelev) for 2 months of Scandella vs Oliver Kapanen, Sean Farrell and William Trudeau
At the end of the day, you never have enough draft picks