0ne bold prediction
The Canadiens will draft Will Horcoff at some point over the weekend. Not necessarily 16th or 17th overall, but perhaps later in the first round, or earlier than they’re slated to pick in the second.
The son of former NHLer Shawn Horcoff, who ground his way through over 1000 games (mostly played with the Edmonton Oilers) before eventually becoming the current assistant general manager of the Red Wings, blew the competition away at the NHL combine in Buffalo earlier this month.
He’s a six-foot-four forward whose competitiveness is garnering much more attention than his offence. It was limited in his split season between the United States National Development Program and Michigan University, hence some publicly available lists projecting he’ll go 24th overall and some projecting he’ll fall all the way to 67th.
Based on conversations we’ve had, Horcoff’s size, strength, battle level and pedigree will likely see him picked higher than most public lists are projecting.
Potential Round 1 options
Pinning these down feels particularly challenging in a year in which there’s no real consensus on prospect rankings from eighth overall to 20th.
Speaking with a director of amateur scouting for a Western Conference team last week, he felt the variance in opinion within his own team’s meetings was as wide as he’s seen it in years.
“That’s still a good thing, because you want the debate to be as exhaustive as possible before forming your final list. But what I mean is that the group at the top of this draft is strong and the rest of the first round doesn’t appear as though it’ll yield as many sure bets as in years past,” he said. “Not to say there won’t be great players to come out of the rest of the first round; it just feels like there are fewer guarantees, which leads to less consensus on the potential of a given player.”
The scouting director wasn’t going to tell us how he feels about any of them, and all we’ve got to go on regarding the Canadiens’ preferences is rumour, rather than fact.
So, with that in mind, here are four players we think — and this is purely our opinion — they may consider at 16th or 17 thoverall:
Carter Bear: A six-foot winger with excellent hockey sense and a penchant for getting his nose dirty in the gritty Western Hockey League. Bear’s heady, steady play — he had 40 goals and 82 points in 56 games with the Everett Silvertips — probably makes him unavailable by the time the Canadiens are on the clock. But if a late-season Achilles injury that required surgery puts any type of scare into the teams picking ahead of them, perhaps he slips into their hands.
Lynden Lakovic: The six-foot-four, silky and speedy left winger scored 27 goals and 58 points in 47 games with the Western Hockey League’s Moose Jaw Warriors this season. Only collecting four penalty minutes, however, was just one indication he doesn’t fit the bill of a power forward. If the Canadiens feel he can develop a bit more edge and grit, the skill he possesses could see him land in Montreal.
Justin Carbonneau: The six-foot-one right winger scored 46 goals and 89 points in 62 games for the Blainville-Boisbriand Armada to finish second in QMJHL scoring this season. He’s skilled, he plays a heavy game, and the possibility the Levis, Que., native gets drafted by Montreal feels real.
Jack Nesbitt: He’s a six-foot-four centre who plays like he’s six-foot-four. There are concerns Nesbitt’s foot speed will keep him from toping out as a top-six forward in the NHL, but he had 25 goals and a 64 points in 65 games with the Ontario Hockey League’s Windsor Spitfires this season and appears like he can do more with a bit more opportunity.
- Eric Engels
