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Finally, it's Draft Lottery Day! |
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Follow me @KarineHains for all updates about the Montreal Canadiens and women's hockey
The Draft lottery has been kind to the Canadiens for the last few years giving the Canadiens the first pick overall in 2022 and then the fifth overall pick in 2023. There was some unrest in Habs land when the Habs used the first overall pick to select Slovakian winger Juraj Slafkovsky and there was even more unrest when they picked David Reinbacher at fifth overall in 2023. It was still nothing compared to the uproar caused when the previous regime decided to draft Logan Mailloux even though he had said he didn't want to be drafted as he felt he didn't deserve it. No, I'm not going to get back into what happened, everyone and their mother know it.
A few years later, Logan Mailloux has matured and became a contender to make the team this year after playing in the AHL all year long and being dominant. He didn't look out of place at all in his one game audition in the NHL playing the last game of the season.
As for Juraj Slafkovsky, he's become a mainstay on the Canadiens' first line and keep improving by leaps and bounds. Nobody is criticizing that pick anymore, because so far, so good as Brian Adams would say!
We've not seen much of David Reinbacher, but he did finish the season with the Rocket in Laval and from what I've seen, he's really promising
Now, it's time to think about this year. The Canadiens have a 41.9% odds of getting one of the top 5 picks. The detailed breakdown is as follows:
Odds of getting the first pick: 8.5%
Odds of getting the second pick: 8.6%
Odds of getting the third pick: 0.3%
Odds of getting the fourth pick: 0%
Odds of getting the fifth pick:24.5%
Odds of getting the sixth pick:44%
Odds of getting the seventh pick: 14.2%
It's not a mistake the Habs have no chance of getting the fourth pick and the lowest they can fall is seventh. Looking at the odds, they have more chances of dropping in the order than they have of moving up. Still, the Forum's ghosts may be working tonight...hopefully, the know what to do.
Draft Lottery coverage starts at 6:30 PM on Sportsnet and we should know the full lottery order by 7:30 PM. It's not the most entertaining show, but seeing Bill Daly flip those big logos is exciting. Good luck everyone! I'll be back later tonight to talk about the result, so, more to come...