By JD Lagrange – What is it with the Montreal Canadiens struggling to drafting and developing offensive forwards, even when they have a very good draft selection ranking? In the past 11 NHL Drafts, the Canadiens have had two 3rd overall selections and one first overall. Each time, they selected a forward and two of the three didn’t last long with the organization.
Alex Galchenyuk was drafted 3rd overall in 2012 by the Canadiens. The then 24 year-old was traded to Arizona for Max Domi. Jesperi Kotkaniemi, another 3rd overall pick this time in 2018, signed an offer-sheet with the Carolina Hurricanes. He was 21 years of age and the Canadiens decided not to match the offer of $6.1 million.
In 2022, the Canadiens used their first overall pick to select Juraj Slafkovsky, a selection that surprised many as most hockey gurus and fans alike had Shane Wright as their top pick. Since being drafted, the big Slovak has played 64 games in the NHL so far and he has yet to light the lamp as one would expect from a first overall pick.
Comparatives
I figured that it would be interesting to see how the newest Canadiens’ high pick fairs against the previous two. For that, I had to go back and figure out how Galchenyuk and Kotkaniemi did after 64 games in their respective career.
It is important to note that Galchenyuk and Slafkovsky have reached the 64 games plateau over two seasons:
- Galchenyuk: Oct.2012 to Nov.2013 (lockout shortened season)
- Slafkovsky: Oct.2022 to Dec.2023 (missed 43 games to injuries)
Kotkaniemi played 79 games in his rookie season so he reached the 64-games plateau all in his rookie season as an 18 year-old, from October 2018 to March 2019.
Having clarified all of this, here are their major statistics through the first 64 games of their career:
| GALCHENYUK | KOTKANIEMI | SLAFKOVSKY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| DRAFTED | 3rd OA in 2012 | 3rd OA in 2018 | 1st OA in 2022 |
| GP | 64 | 64 | 64 |
| G | 11 | 11 | 6 |
| A | 27 | 20 | 11 |
| PTS | 38 | 31 | 17 |
| +/- | +14 | +6 | -18 |
| PTS/GP | 0.59 | 0.48 | 0.27 |
| TOI/GP | 13:09 | 14:04 | 13:20 |
| PP TOI/GP | 1:26 | 2:08 | 1:36 |
| PK TOI/GP | 0:00 | 0:00 | 0:00 |
| SHOTS | 106 | 109 | 76 |
| HITS | 35 | 45 | 93 |
| BkS | 35 | 31 | 44 |
| GvA | 13 | 37 | 21 |
| TkA | 18 | 28 | 20 |
Conclusion
As much as I could draw some conclusions based on those statistics, I have decided against it. For one thing, the start of a young player’s career doesn’t always dictate how the player will be in a few seasons, when he reaches his peak in development. But also, no matter what I could come up with, someone else will take it apart with their own theories. So I figured, why waste the time?
Instead, I will let you draw the conclusions that you want to draw (if any) based on the above. Regardless of where you stand, I find very interesting to see, side by side, how these three young men have performed at the start of their career.
I will say that if you’re reading criticism against Slafkovsky on my part because of this exercise, you cannot be more wrong. I was one of the rare people who wanted the Canadiens to draft him and I knew that he wasn’t the most NHL-ready prospect out there at the time.
The potential and future is bright for Slafkovsky and he has shown signs, in recent weeks, that he is maturing at the NHL level. We are all hopeful that he can turn the corner and that he starts putting up points on the board. In spite of what those over-protective fans can say, I don’t feel like it’s an unrealistic expectation placed on a forward selected first overall.
I’m not sure why you took the time to publish this comparison, although it is interesting. You rightly point out that the conditions were different for each player getting to 64 games. Also the management and coaching staffs are different and all three players play differently. I couldn’t really draw any conclusions but I liked all three picks when they were made and they all played differently. I just hope that Slafkovsky continues to grow his game the way he is now. It seems as if it is difficult to transform a player from European style hockey to North American style.
The reason why I did it is because I saw a tweet of someone asking the question, and as you mentioned, I thought that it was interesting. Nothing more. I was curious and thought that others might be. More so however, is to show that while some teams seem to have immediate success with their high picks, it seems like the Habs can’t find that gem (Price excluded) to push them over the top, when they have their shot at a high pick. That said, there is still a lot of time when it comes to Slafkovsky.