Here we are, exactly a month away from the NHL Draft which should see the Montreal Canadiens select first overall. While Shane Wright seems to continue being the consensus number one on everyone’s list, cases are building up for both Juraj Slafkovsky and Logan Cooley to beat him to the wire. Both former and current NHL scouts are pushing for someone other than Wright and the gap between the top-3 seems very, very narrow. No matter whom the Canadiens select, it seems like they will be getting a good hockey player. But as one scout put it:

“I’m convinced that many teams don’t have Wright ranked first. Fans all range on that side because that’s the direction of the narrative, the logical thing. The Canadiens won’t be passing on a Connor McDavid by not opting for Wright”, related that scout.

Without further ado, here are the ranking for several different people following prospects:

	#1	#2	#3	#4	#5
CTL Bob Trask	J. Slafkovsky	S. Wright	L. Cooley	S. Nemec	J. Lekkerimaki
Consolidated Ranking	S. Wright	L. Cooley	J. Slafkovsky	S. Nemec	M. Savoie
Elite Prospects	S. Wright	D. Jiricek	L. Cooley	F. Nazar	J. Slafkovsky
FCHockey	S. Wright	L. Cooley	S. Nemec	J. Slafkovsky	M. Savoie
TSN/Bob McKenzie	S. Wright	L. Cooley	J. Kemell	M. Savoie	J. Slafkovsky
TSN/Craig Button	S. Wright	L. Cooley	J. Kemell	J. Slafkovsky	S. Nemec
McKeen’s Hockey	S. Wright	S. Nemec	M. Savoie	L. Cooley	D. Yurov
Sportsnet	S. Wright	L. Cooley	J. Slafkovsky	M. Savoie	S. Nemec
Dobber Prospects	S. Wright	S. Nemec	L. Cooley	J. Slafkovsky	M. Savoie
Recruit Scouting	S. Wright	L. Cooley	S. Nemec	J. Kemell	M. Savoie
Draft Prospects Hockey	S. Wright	M. Savoie	L. Cooley	J. Slafkovsky	S. Nemec
The Puck Authority	S. Wright	L. Cooley	S. Nemec	M. Savoie	J. Kemell
Smaht Scouting	S. Wright	L. Cooley	D. Jiricek	J. Slafkovsky	B. Lambert
Montreal Hockey Now	S. Wright	J. Slafkovsky	L. Cooley	S. Nemec	D. Jiricek
The Athletic/Corey Pronman	J. Slafkovsky	S. Wright	L. Cooley	D. Jiricek	S. Nemec
NHL Central Scouting (NA)	S. Wright	L. Cooley	C. Gauthier	M. Savoie	C. Geekie
NHL Central Scouting (EU)	J. Slafkovsky	J. Kemell	S. Nemec	D. Jiricek	M. Kasper

Folks, do yourself a favour and keep an open mind when it comes to this year’s Draft. According to every expert, there are no franchise players in there, no one to build your team around him. And the gap between the top-3, or even the top-5, is extremely thin. Don’t set yourself up for yet another deception because of unrealistic expectations. The Canadiens may or may not pick Shane Wright. If they don’t, trust your new management. What have they done so far for you to distrust them?

More reading…

• “Impossible that Wright is Lapointe’s type” by JD Lagrange
• Chainey: I Would Select Slafkovsky by JD Lagrange
• Habs Re-Sign Wideman – Defense Needs Work by JD Lagrange