Chasing the Draft – November 29th Edition

By Bob Trask – After the weekend games and with US Thanksgiving now behind us, it’s a good time to review the standings and the reverse power rankings to see where the Canadiens might draft in the first round. I currently have them in 15th spot for their own pick and 18th spot for Florida’s pick.

Among other teams that may be of interest, Ottawa dropped from a #4 overall projected pick to #7 while Vancouver dropped from #6 to #11. Toronto remains at the same level as last week with the #25 overall projected pick. Note: These are my projections and are not based solely on current standings or points percentages.

While the Habs level of play may not be sustainable, they still remain closer to a wildcard spot than they do to a top five pick in the draft. In a great article by Arpon Basu and Marc Antoine Godin in The Athletic, Jeff Gorton reiterated that the team will not adopt a tank strategy and will employ other methods to build what they hope will be a perennial contender.

Player Watch

These rankings are a cross section of which players various scouting services ranked at #15 overall and #18 overall.

15th Overall Ranking

PLAYER	POS	LEAGUE	GP	G	A	PTS
Will Smith	C	USDP	24	17	28	45
Riley Heidt	F	WHL	23	13	23	36
Colby Barlow	LW	OHL	20	17	14	31
Charlie Stramel	F	NCAA	14	2	2	4
Ethan Gauthier	RW	QMJHL	24	9	17	26
Mikhail Gulyayev	LD	MHL (Russia)	5	1	9	10
Jesse Nurmi	LW	Sweden Junior	24	15	21	36
Otto Stenberg	C/W	Sweden Junior	18	6	8	14

18th Overall Ranking

PLAYER	POS	LEAGUE	GP	G	A	PTS
Charlie Stramel	F	NCAA	14	2	2	4
Colby Barlow	LW	OHL	20	17	14	31
Kasper Halttunen	F	Liiga (Finland)	8	0	1	1
Quentin Musty	LW	OHL	20	7	18	25
Cameron Allen	RD	OHL	23	2	10	12
Theo Lindstein	LD	Sweden Junior	11	2	5	7
Oliver Moore	C	USDP	24	14	17	31
Nate Danielson	C	WHL	25	13	15	28
William Whitelaw	C	USHL	17	9	8	17

As is apparent by these rankings, there are a lot of differences of opinion about who should be chosen at #15 and at #18 in next summer’s entry draft. Undoubtedly the opinions will change over time as will the final spot where the Canadiens will make their picks. Stay tuned for next week’s draft projections and player rankings.

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