Who would you have drafted? 2023

[Naslundforever]

Almost a week and I'm back to being bummed after days of convincing myself it wasnt that bad. Sure, Reinbacher is probably going to be a really good piece. It still was an atrocious decision to pass on Michkov.

A franchise as rich and influential as the Montreal Canadiens can't pay some people in Russia to take a look at the kid? Philly clears their arena and its events just to interview him, but somehow, we just throw the towel in advance because... because what? Because the prospect we pick is going to be fine so no need to put an actual effort into looking in the best Russian prospect since Ovechkin who could realistically drop to us? Reinbacher was a loser pick. Not in the sense that he isnt a terrific prospect, but because it shows a mentality of being afraid to take a gamble. I'm not only bummed about missing out on Michkov, but also because the draft weekend showed us that the Habs still have the same old issue as an organization. They're prudent, tentative. They play it safe.

Second best russian prospect after Simachev. Good on them for safely getting every level of prospect pool and the salary back on track while avoiding ufa’s or win-now trades. In 2-3 years if they’re not frantically trying to sign every ufa vet that could crack the roster up to the cap I’ll call it out at that point.

Also I feel you can come up with a more imaginative explanation for your discontent than « putting in actual effort », no?

 

[26Mats]

This video is hilarious:

 

[Milhouse40]

I just read that Michkov is hoping to join the Flyers for training camp in 2024, if true that would be a big win for them and a big mistake by the teams that passed on him.

Or maybe he gave that info the the teams he wanted to go to.....I think from all the info we have around that he did exactly that and pulled a Jagr

I'll say it: I like Reinbacher, but man it would have been good to have seen Michkov in today's development camp scrimmage.

He didn't report to development camp

 

[Whitesnake]

5 Matvei Michkov (Or Leonard...I'm torn...) (David Reinbacher)
69 Jacob Fowler (Same)
101 Etham Miedema (Florian Xhejaj)
110 Jaden Lipinski (Bogdan Konyushkov)
128 Quentin Miller (same)
133 Cam Allen (Sam Harris)
144 Mazden Leslie (Yvegeni Volokhin)
165 Danill Karpovich (Filip Eriksson)
197 Jordan Tourigny (Luke Mittelstadt)

 

[JianYang]

I have no idea. Never watched a minute of Leonard, redenbacher, michkov etc.

I don't think that makes you different than most people here, lol.

 

[McGees]

I'm mostly just curious who Bench Brawl would take?

 

[HuGort]

Ryan Leonard

 

[McGees]

This video is hilarious:

I don't get how these people were so shocked. It was a long time we knew it would be Reinbacher or Leonard...like WEEKS.

 

[26Mats]

I don't get how these people were so shocked. It was a long time we knew it would be Reinbacher or Leonard...like WEEKS.

A lot of the info about who was picking who turned out to be accurate.

But I didn't trust it in advance. And combine that with the fact that we haven't had a star forward in ages and a potential generational talent fell to our spot for off ice and size reasons and one can understand the emotions.

Kotkaniemi, Slaf, and Reinbacher. 3 in season risers for our last 3 top 5 picks. We'll see how each turns out compared to others that were more highly touted throughout their draft years and before...

 

[RC51]

No, it's not my job to second guess the habs GM. It might be fun for some of you but not me. I have been a hab fan for 65 years. I have seen ups and downs for sure. I have less insider information then KH. What I do see is a real plan to get the habs back to a great team. Finally it seems someone understands it takes 3-4 year to rebuild and not 6 weeks.
When you get to pick better talent you still might getting a few BUSTS just as it is possible to get a few great finds. right now habs need TIME to have the new blood grow into the NHL. Then see who is great who is good and who is not good enough. Finally hab fans understand it take time to rebuild. Gone are the years when the fans DEMAND the habs get into the playoffs or FIRE THE ENTIRE MANAGEMENT, FIRE MOLSON, FIRE THE ZAMBONI DRIVER. Fans acted like a 3 year old stomping his feet and screaming to his mom" I want ice cream now , BITCH "

 

[pickles555]

Leonard, or Benson

 

[First Line]

No, it's not my job to second guess the habs GM. It might be fun for some of you but not me. I have been a hab fan for 65 years. I have seen ups and downs for sure. I have less insider information then KH. What I do see is a real plan to get the habs back to a great team. Finally it seems someone understands it takes 3-4 year to rebuild and not 6 weeks.
When you get to pick better talent you still might getting a few BUSTS just as it is possible to get a few great finds. right now habs need TIME to have the new blood grow into the NHL. Then see who is great who is good and who is not good enough. Finally hab fans understand it take time to rebuild. Gone are the years when the fans DEMAND the habs get into the playoffs or FIRE THE ENTIRE MANAGEMENT, FIRE MOLSON, FIRE THE ZAMBONI DRIVER. Fans acted like a 3 year old stomping his feet and screaming to his mom" I want ice cream now , BITCH "

Good post. Altough I don’t blame some fans for being impatient, even if you think you understand a rebuild you still have never gone through it.
It was always the quick retool or the half-assed Bergevin reset .
A real rebuild is much harder than it sounds, losing is just not fun and I’m tired of it even if I understand we need 2 more years of picking high.

Edit: to answer OP ; Reinbacher, Dvorsky or Leonard altough I was worried all we have is small wingers

 

[BehindTheTimes]

first off, to all the haters that sent hate mail to david R. WHO THE F do you think you are.
If you are disappointed the habs did not pick your guy or ANY of your guys well TOOOOOOOOO BADDDDDDDDDD. A blind man can see what the habs plan was. Habs decided NOT to take Mich, so then what? clearly habs wanted Smith with David R as 2nd choice. For the first time in what 50 years NO TRADES! up or down. WOW. Now the habs had to choose between to NEEDS. Yes a 35 goal type player at 5th pick or whats even MORE RARE a top right handed big mobile dman ( and boy they dont grow on trees) It was also getting clear the Yotes were going to pick David R at 6th so pick me NOW or loose me forever. Since WHEN does deep draft never include dmen. I remember when the habs picked C Price, and the same hate mail again ( what a goalie! NOBODY PICKS A GOALIE at 5th, they can't score goals ) Remember all that shiiiit? So hear we go again with the haters. 3-4 years from now we will ALL KNOW who picked well and who picked the BUSTS. If YOU think you know better well I have some gold mine stock from north Korea since you know better and can tell the future.

Reinbacher doesn’t project to be a number 1 dman. Our own GM knows that.

 

[Catanddogguitarrr]

Ryan Leonard

His ceiling is not super high but he have a good chance reaching it. He was my second choice after DR.

 

[Catanddogguitarrr]

Reinbacher doesn’t project to be a number 1 dman. Our own GM knows that.

Our own GM answered with the pressure of the medias. He's a good gm but not the best in press conference. I think DR will become our number 1 dman. But that's just my opinion.

 

[BehindTheTimes]

Our own GM answered with the pressure of the medias. He's a good gm but not the best in press conference. I think DR will become our number 1 dman. But that's just my opinion.

Our number 1 and a real number 1 aren’t the same. I think his offence needs to develop a fair bit for him to become a number 1. He’s got lots to like though, I just would have picked a forward here (Michkov) without thinking twice.

The kids got swagger

 

[Catanddogguitarrr]

Our number 1 and a real number 1 aren’t the same. I think his offence needs to develop a fair bit for him to become a number 1. He’s got lots to like though, I just would have picked a forward here (Michkov) without thinking twice.

The kids got swagger

In think MM was the second best hockey player age 16 on earth after Bedard. But he can become like a Wright 2.0. The best players are those who peak at 25 yrs old. Age 16 is tricky.

I'm not worryed, Habs will pick another good offensive talent like thay did with Caufield in the next 2 or 3 years.

 

[BehindTheTimes]

In think MM was the second best hockey player age 16 on earth after Bedard. But he can become like a Wright 2.0. The best players are those who peak at 25 yrs old. Age 16 is tricky.

I'm not worryed, Habs will pick another good offensive talent like thay did with Caufield in the next 2 or 3 years.

The Wright argument doesn’t say much to me. I remain unconvinced that Wright was snything but the best Player in his draft.

The Slaf pick is going to sting imho.

 

[Catanddogguitarrr]

The Wright argument doesn’t say much to me. I remain unconvinced that Wright was snything buy the bes Player in his draft.

The Slaf pick is going to sting imho.

That was a bad year to pick a #1. I expect Slaf to become a good player but not that much more. A strong winger who puts up 55 pts.

 

[L4br3cqu3]

That was a bad year to pick a #1. I expect Slaf to become a good player but not that much more. A strong winger who puts up 55 pts.

At worst, could see him have a 'Alexei Ponikarovsky' type career, big complementary guy who can fill top-line duties but who won't score that much.

It wouldn't be the end of the world... but I hope he'll be way better than that.

 

[CristianoRonaldo]

26 goalies were drafted....

25 by the Habs...

 

[Jaynki]

A lot of the info about who was picking who turned out to be accurate.

But I didn't trust it in advance. And combine that with the fact that we haven't had a star forward in ages and a potential generational talent fell to our spot for off ice and size reasons and one can understand the emotions.

Kotkaniemi, Slaf, and Reinbacher. 3 in season risers for our last 3 top 5 picks. We'll see how each turns out compared to others that were more highly touted throughout their draft years and before...

Slafkovsky and Reinbacher are way more impressive as prospect than Kotkaniemi was as an 18YO. Also, potential generational talent dont fall to 5-7ov, come on... i am as high as the next guy on Michkov but lets calm the generational label.

Also, it is not a bad thing to pick a riser. Its actually a very good thing. Its just feel uncomfortable because for us unknowledgeable fans, they are not comforting names that we hear since their D-2.

You want your young player to be on a steep uptrending curve. Dont be afraid of that.

The biggest red flag, along with a shitty attitude, is lack of growth/stagnation in a young. Wright lack of growth between his D-2 and his DY is hugely, hugely concerning for example.

This is eerily similar to some stock market concept, when a stock rise rapidly in value, for example 80-100% in 3-4 weeks and makes a new all time high, the crowd is often afraid, think its too richly valued and are afraid to buy it. Little do they know that a stock that has doubled rapidly really likes to double again!

 

[Jaynki]

The Wright argument doesn’t say much to me. I remain unconvinced that Wright was snything buy the bes Player in his draft.

The Slaf pick is going to sting imho.

HFBoards on Slafkovsky having 10 points in 39 NHL games : Holy shit, worst overall pick since ever. What a dumb pick.

HFBoards on Wright who had 13 points in 34 AHL games : He was the best player in the draft, a good old canadian boy, he have still a lot of room to grow.

We can argue Cooley or Jiricek... but i will say it bluntly... Drafting Shane Wright would have been a catastrophe.

 

[RC51]

Reinbacher doesn’t project to be a number 1 dman. Our own GM knows that.

" our own GM knows that " where DR ends up 5 years from now is a complete unknown.
to state our gm is now Nostradamus is like me going to eat a big Mac and asking the 18 year old at the fry station due to his assertion he know hockey and only he knows the future and for 5 dollars he will tell you the future.

 

[HuGort]

I think he took idea of building great Defense. After playoffs this year. Didn't trust the Russian.