One was just selected 3rd overall while being one of the youngest player available in the draft. The other just had a tremendous season in the NCAA (almost a PPG) at 18 years old.
But sure, let’s compare that to a late 2018 first round pick and 22 1-25 years old who, right now, can barely can keep up the pace at the NHL level (dermott aside).
How did the last 3rd overall picked center work out for the Habs?
Sorry, I had too. Just trolling for fun, I would agree that the Habs prospect pool is far better than a lot of haters are giving them credit for. I would agree with what many are saying that by the time some of their pieces turn out, guys like Weber and Price won't be near the impact players they are today. I would argue Weber already was in decline before Montreal acquired him, and will likely never be the same again after having to take a year off to return at 33.
Timmins is the Habs best asset, he has had some exceptional drafts, and the last two drafts the Habs have had have been very good as ranked by most good scouting analysts. The Athletic is doing a team by team reveal of their top ranked prospect systems, and the Habs are still not up yet with only 7 teams left to reveal.
The Habs also have some good young pieces on their team, but they are missing the very high end talent required, and I think their D is much further away than one piece as they really need to build most of a brand new top 4, as I can't see Weber or Petry being an end guy in a few years.
The good news is they have prospect depth in the hardest position to acquire by other means, they have some good NHL wingers who are young, and while it would be nice to have an elite winger or two, you can get by without that a lot easier than not having good centers. They have thier picks again in this years draft, and hopefully Bergevin doesn't shit the bed and makes solid deals for players he is moving out. If they can add a high end offensive sniper in this draft, or maybe if they get the Best D available, it will help their outlook a lot. It's nice to add the position you need, but it should be whoever the best player available is, especially considering there is historically a better chance of landing a top end D later in the draft than there is a top end Center or Winger, so I wouldn't go out of my way to choose a D just because that's what you need, I think you need to take the best player available when picking in the top 8 or so.