Getting Two of The Top-3 Picks At The Draft

Go big or go home, they say. That’s what Brian Burke, then GM of the Vancouver Canucks, did at the 1999 NHL Draft. He had his sights on Henrik and Daniel Sedin and he had some work to do in order to get them. What did he do? He put his work boots and hard hat on and went to work.

To set the table, the 1999 Draft was not top heavy, very much like this year’s Draft. The Canucks already owned the third overall pick that year. So this is how he pulled it off:

Burke traded defenseman Bryan McCabe and the Canucks’ first round pick in 2000 (the following year) to the Chicago Blackhawks for the fourth overall pick.
He then paired the fourth overall pick and two third-round picks to the Tampa Bay Lightning in exchange for the 1st overall selection.
A deal was then made by Burke to trade the 1st overall pick to the Atlanta Thrashers in a deal for the 2nd overall pick with the assurance they would not take a Sedin. Atlanta took Patrik Stefan first overall.

This year

Now let’s set the table for this year’s NHL Draft. Much like 1999, there is no generational talent available this year. While Shane Wright is first on most people’s lists, the gap between him and Juraj Slafkovsky and Logan Cooley is quite minimal. You do have three fairly evenly matched players, all three predicted to become very good players but no star quality. All three come with question marks.

With that in mind, what if the Montreal Canadiens, who currently own the first overall pick, were to try to acquire two of the three picks at this year’s Draft? The New Jersey Devils are willing to trade the second overall pick, according to GM Tom Fitzgerald. So we know that at least one pick is available. However, contrarily to what some Habs’ fans and media seem to think, you don’t get the second overall for a Josh Anderson and a pick or prospect. And quantity never equals quality. You have to give something the team wants.

Obviously, there are many options and it can get quite convoluted. However, in both scenarios presented, I’m involving the Dallas Stars.

TO DALLAS	TO MONTREAL
Jeff Petry 33rd overall pick 2022	18th overall pick

Option A

The first one goes something like this:

TO ARIZONA	TO MONTREAL
Shea Weber Jonathan Drouin or Mike Hoffman 18th overall (DAL) Jayden Struble or Mattias Norlinder	3rd overall 27th overall (CAR)

The Canadiens then select first and third overall. It gives them flexibility as they can get Wright and Slafkovsky, or Wright and Cooley, or Slafkovsky and Cooley… or they go off the board and pick a center and a defenseman.

Option B

Or a second option could go along those lines:

TO ARIZONA	TO MONTREAL
1st overall Shea Weber Jonathan Drouin or Mike Hoffman Jayden Struble or Mattias Norlinder	3rd overall 27th overall (CAR) Cam Dineen

TO NEW JERSEY	TO MONTREAL
Cam Dineen Jan Mysak or Brett Stapley 18th overall (DAL)	2nd overall

Montreal then gets to pick second and third overall. Assuming that Arizona picks Shane Wright, the Habs then get Slafkovsky and Cooley, so they have their goals’ scoring power forward AND a top two lines center. They also still own two first round picks, number 26 (CGY) and 27 (CAR), which they could package to move up if they want as based on a recent article, it could be worth a 12-16 overall pick. And if the Wright fanatics think for a second that he’s worth more than both those guys, let them think that as they’re hopeless.

Or you think of other ways to get two early picks, as there are plenty of possibilities. Or you can have the vanilla Draft: the Canadiens pick Wright… or Slafkovsky… or Cooley. Nothing wrong with vanilla. It’s good. It’s safe. It’s easy. But it still leaves a lot of work to do for shedding salary and might not jump start or accelerate the reset as much as getting two of the top three picks would do.

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