We can already guess the reaction of several Canadian supporters if the organization ever dared to draft a left-handed defender in fifth place. For them, it was a waste since Montreal is already full of defenders on the left: Mike Matheson, Kaiden Guhle, Lane Hutson, Arber Xhekaj, Jordan Harris, Jayden Struble, Adam Engström…
However, as colleague Guillaume Lefrançois rightly pointed out this weekend, Matheson’s contract expires in two years, Guhle must avoid injuries and the others have not yet proven that they indisputably belong to a top 4.
So much the better if in fifth place, the CH can get their hands on a strong and talented attacker, the profile sought by Kent Hughes, but should we still draft an attacker at all costs if the coveted player is not available?
Here are three examples of vintages where the Canadian drafted according to his more immediate needs, and failed, and three examples where he ignored the staff already in place and was able to congratulate himself subsequently.
José Théodore is at the top of his game in 2005. He is 28 years old and in the season before the 2004-2005 lockout showed a record of 33-28-5, a 2.27 GAA and a save percentage of ,919. Théodore won the Hart trophies (most valuable player to his team) and Vézina (goalie par excellence) two years earlier. He remains the undisputed star of the team. What was the fury of the fans, and the commentators, when Montreal wasted its fifth overall pick on another goalie, a certain Carey Price.
The Canadian, at the time, did not score many goals. The favorite that weekend was not Anze Kopitar, rather unknown in America at the time of the draft, but Gilbert Brule, a tough forward, 87 points, including 39 goals, in 70 games in the Western Junior League . The Columbus Blue Jackets also let out cries of joy when Montreal announced their choice. They pounced on Brule in the sixth row.
Barely six months after this draft, Theodore was traded to the Colorado Avalanche for David Aebischer. Gilbert Brule, thrown quickly into the den of the wolf, was nursing a broken sternum. His career was short-lived, unlike Price’s.
Discussions were lively at the Canadiens table during the 2006 draft. Montreal was about to make its choice, at 16th place. André Savard, relegated to the role of Bob Gainey’s right-hand man after previously serving as GM, insisted that the team draft Claude Giroux. But another fringe of recruiters, led by Vaughn Karpan, now with the Vegas Golden Knights, is keen on the great right-handed defender David Fischer.
Unable to find consensus. Bob Gainey has finally decided. As the Canadian was already full of small forwards like Giroux, Koivu, Plekanec, Ribeiro and Higgins, we opted for the tall right-handed defender, a rarer commodity within the organization. Aside from Mike Komisarek and Ryan O’Byrne, more defensive defenders, there wasn’t much relief on the right side.
Fischer never made it to the NHL. He played barely two games in the American League, after two seasons in the ECHL. Drafted 22nd overall, Giroux is still in the National League almost two decades later. He played in 1182 games, amassing 1066 points.
The Canadian is well-endowed in left-handed defensemen in 2007. Sheldon Souray, 30, is coming off a 64-point season, but is threatening to take advantage of his full autonomy. Andrei Markov, 27, is on his way to establishing himself as number one. There is also the astonishing Mark Streit, 28, with the CH for two years, the indestructible Francis Bouillon and, possibly Alexei Emelin, about to cross the Atlantic. Montreal still dares to draft a left-handed defender from an American high school at 12th overall, a certain Ryan McDonagh. Instead, we dreamed of a big center in Montreal, and Angelo Esposito was the target the fans were aiming for.
Unlike the previous year, the CH made the right choice. But unfortunately, Gainey traded McDonagh before he even turned professional. McDonagh captained the New York Rangers, won two Stanley Cups in Tampa and is expected to reach 1,000 career games next winter, returning to Tampa.
Alex Galchenyuk’s experiment at center, the third overall pick in 2012, didn’t work after six years. We have been looking for a center over six feet tall for a thousand years in Montreal. The Canadian once again has the third pick in 2018. Jesperi Kotkaniemi, although not a favorite at the start of the 2017-2018 season, was the best center available in the eyes of many at the dawn of the draft, following brilliant performances against best 18 and under players on the planet.
We began to deplore the non-selection of Brady Tkachuk a year after the draft, following his success in Ottawa, but the favorite hope in the hearts of Canadian fans was called winger Filip Zadina, 44 goals in 57 games in Halifax. His career is no better than Kotkaniemi’s today.
If the Canadian had not been obsessed with this quest for a center player, he would have unearthed a possible number one defenseman, left-hander Quinn Hughes, drafted seventh overall by Vancouver, 92 points in the regular season (almost twenty more as Tkachuk, a winger), Noah Dobson, a right-hander, twelfth pick by the Islanders, 70 points, or Evan Bouchard, tenth pick, 82 points in Edmonton, 29 points in 22 playoff games.
After the failure over the years of Kyle Chipchura, Galchenyuk, Ryan Poehling, Kotkaniemi, we demanded from the new administration a center during the 2022 draft, Shane Wright preferably, first consensus choice of his vintage since he was 16, a Patrice Bergeron in power, said his most ardent defenders. Kent Hughes, Jeff Gorton, Nick Bobrov and Martin Lapointe surprised by relying instead on a power winger, Juraj Slafkovsky, in the first row, despite his hundreds of fans in the Bell Center already with their Shane Wright jersey at number 51.
The anger, fortunately, didn’t last long, as Hughes got his hands on center Kirby Dach moments after drafting Slafkovsky. We don’t see who would oppose this choice today, after the young man’s phenomenal progress in the second half of the season.
The Canadian was just eliminated, and intimidated, by the Ottawa Senators in the playoffs in the spring of 2013. Lars Eller almost ended up choked on his tongue after a vicious check from Eric Gryba. Michael McCarron, a 6-foot-6, 232-pound giant, is the toughest and fiercest player available at No. 26. CH recruiters have received clear instructions: rely on the size. They follow the instructions. McCarron, in the exuberance of the moment, even promises to correct the formidable Milan Lucic once in the NHL.
We use the same strategy in the third round by betting on the tough guy and protector of Connor McDavid in Erie, Connor Crisp, in front of a great local talent, Anthony Duclair. Would Montreal have had defender Shea Theodore in its sights, had it not been for its quest for colossi? He was drafted one spot after McCarron, at 27th overall, and is still a mainstay in Vegas after seven seasons. This 2013 vintage, however, it must be admitted, was very weak after the top 15.
In 2012-13, Ryan Warsofsky was an assistant coach at NCAA Division III club Curry College, less than two years after retiring from hockey at just 24 years old with the Bluefins. Cape Cod, in the obscure Federal Prospect Hockey League, which also included the Thousand Islands Privateers, the Danville Dashers and the Akwesasne Warriows.
Warsofsky then moved to the ECHL, with the South Carolina Stingrays, at just 28 years old, as head coach. In two years, his club won 88 games, suffered only 44 defeats and lost 12 games in overtime. After a promotion to the American League as an assistant in Charlotte, he served as head coach in Charlotte, then in Chicago, where he won the Calder Cup in 2022.
After two seasons as an assistant in the NHL in San Jose, since 2022, he has just been named coach of the Sharks, at 36 years old. He will be presented to the media in San Jose today. A meteoric rise. Have the Sharks found their Jon Cooper?
