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Canadiens reportedly haven't settled on decision for No. 1 pick

Offside Staff
Offside Staff
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Jul 1 2022, 9:26 pm
Canadiens reportedly haven't settled on decision for No. 1 pick

What will the Montreal Canadiens do with the first overall pick in the 2022 NHL Draft?

Not even they know, apparently. 

General manager Kent Hughes and the Canadiens crew haven’t settled on a course of action for the top pick in the draft, according to a report from TSN’s Pierre LeBrun. 

“What I was told on this day is that the Habs’ braintrust remains undecided in terms of being 100% on the No. 1 pick, which is not shocking. Kent Hughes has said that they would use all the time they had leading up to next Thursday’s first round to settle on that No. 1 pick,” LeBrun said on Insider Trading on Thursday.

Centre Shane Wright of the Kingston Frontenacs has been the consensus No. 1 pick all season, but it was winger Juraj Slafkovsky of TPS in Finland’s top circuit who topped Bob McKenzie’s scout poll earlier in the week. 

Slafkovsky earned five of 10 first-place votes. Wright had four or 10, and Logan Cooley of the US National Team Development Program received the other first-place vote. 

“What it could do in the meantime is perhaps add some intrigue in the hours leading up to next Thursday’s first round in that everyone knows the New Jersey Devils are picking at No. 2,” LeBrun said. “There are some who believe that Montreal is waiting to see if the Devils make a move closer to the first round in terms of picking up the phone and asking Montreal what it would take to flip the No. 1 and No. 2 picks so that the Devils can make sure they can get their hands on winger Juraj Slafkovsky.”

The Canadiens won the rights to the No. 1 pick in the 2022 NHL Draft Lottery.

Slafkovky, NHL Central Scouting’s top-ranked European skater, earned MVP honours at the 2022 Beijing Olympics after pacing the tournament with seven goals in seven games. He also had a standout performance at the 2022 IIHF Men’s World Championship, leading Slovakia with nine points (three goals, six assists) in eight games.

Wright, Central Scouting’s top-ranked North American skater, scored 94 points (32 goals, 62 assists) in 63 games as captain of the Kingston Frontenacs. Last season, he captained Canada at the 2021 IIHF World Under-18 Championship to gold as an underager in the tournament, netting 14 points (nine goals, five assists) in five games. 

“The Devils are telling people ‘if a centre is the best player available in our eyes, we have no problem with taking another centre,’ even though the Devils have Jack Hughes and Nico Hischier,” LeBrun said. “Something to keep an eye on because I think the Habs would be willing to entertain that conversation.”

The first round of the draft is set for Thursday at Bell Centre in Montreal. 

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