Round 1 Notes: Montreal powers up, Chicago powers down

Ah Montreal. Damn we missed you.

For the first time in three years, the NHL gathered together for the annual festival of dreams known as the NHL Draft.

It was glorious.

La Belle Province, the City of Montreal and the Canadiens didn’t disappoint and, along with an assist from the Chicago Blackhawks and Ottawa Senators, got the off-season off to a raucous start.

So, what are we waiting for? Let’s get right to our top moments from Round 1 of what has been one of the most fluid Drafts in recent history.

I have zero insight into whether the Montreal Canadiens made the right selection when they took big Slovak winger Juraj Slafkovsky with the first overall pick. He was in the top three of virtually every Draft list and mock Draft created in the weeks leading up to the draft. But I can say with certainty I have never seen the kind of response to a first overall pick that Slafkovsky received. Not cheers, that’s for sure. But not really boos. But what was it? Groans? Or just a sheer outpouring of emotion of some kind? A kind of guttural explosion signifying, well, not exactly sure what. By the time Slafkovsky slid on the distinctive Hab jersey for the first time, there did appear to be real affection for the big kid who had impressed scouts with his advanced scoring touch.

As for getting the moment right – even if it’s impossible to tell whether the actual picks are going to work out or not – it was great to see Martin Brodeur come out to greet the fans on behalf of the New Jersey Devils as their management team took the stage to make the second overall pick. Brodeur of course is from Montreal and in fact his father, Denis, was the team photographer for years. Then, Brodeur handed off the official announcement of the second pick to newly installed assistant GM Kate Madigan, who received a great round of applause from the Bell Centre crowd. Sometimes it’s the small things. And speaking of the Devils, already deep at center, they, too, eschewed long-time presumptive first overall pick Shane Wright and took a second straight Slovak, defenseman Simon Nemec. Slovak hockey is back folks. Can pencil both those kids into the country’s World Cup of Hockey team for winter 2024.

Speaking of Kent Hughes, what a night for the Habs, who went with big and skilled with the first pick and then packaged defenseman Alexander Romanov and the 98^th pick in the Draft to the Islanders for the 13^th overall pick which they then used, along with pick 66, to get Kirby Dach from the Blackhawks. Dach was the third overall pick in the ’19 draft and, as with pretty much everything in Chicago, things haven’t gone exactly as planned. Dach has 19 goals in 152 games but, as is the case with young players in general but especially young players with large frames (think Keith Primeau, Victor Hedman) the maturation process as an NHLer is sometimes slow and it has been so for the 6-foot-4 Dach. In Montreal he’ll get a chance to grow into a role of some kind with other young players.

The Blackhawks ended weeks of speculation by officially waving the white flag on the next, what, four seasons, maybe more, by not only trading Dach but moving out high-scoring forward Alex DeBrincat to Ottawa for a motley collection of assets including the 7^th and 39^th pick in this year’s draft and a third-round pick in 2023. (As a side note, kudos to our Frank Seravalli for breaking the deal.) What are the chances that any of those players selected by the Blackhawks becomes half the player DeBrincat is? Sure, DeBrincat, the 39^th pick in 2016, benefitted from playing with Patrick Kane, and DeBrincat is going to get paid as he’s a restricted free agent at the end of next season. He scored 41 goals last season, has 73 goals in his last 134 NHL games and he’s 24. Going back to the trade deadline, the Blackhawks have dealt Brandon Hagel, 23, Dach, 21, and DeBrincat, 24. No truth to the rumors the new Chicago jersey will bear the logo ‘Cratering For Connor,’ a reference to Connor Bedard, the early favorite to go first overall in the ’23 draft. And of course the flurry of deals and deconstructing of this roster only highlights the looming issues of what to do with Kane, 33, and Jonathan Toews, 34 who are chewing up $21 million in cap space this coming season, the last of their current deals. Both possess no-move clauses but since the playoffs will be a mirage for this team for the foreseeable future, how soon do the discussions take place regarding finding a landing place for them before next season’s trade deadline?

So, what does this mean for Ottawa? Well it’s been a pretty good run of late for the Senators, who appear on track for a long-awaited new home rink closer to downtown Ottawa. They bought out Colin White and tried to trade Matt Murray and frankly it’s probably a good thing Murray blocked a potential trade to Buffalo, because the Senators used the seventh pick in the DeBrincat move. DeBrincat is of course right in the wheelhouse age wise for the Senators and suggests the future may be closer than we imagined for the them. There isn’t a Patrick Kane equivalent in Ottawa, so skeptics will wonder if DeBrincat can continue to produce at his current pace. But there are good young players in place in Ottawa and DeBrincat should thrive there. Could the Senators be a dark horse for a playoff spot next spring? Probably too much to ask at this point and the goaltending remains a significant question mark. The Murray contract with two years left at $6.25 million against the cap is onerous but I believe Anton Forsberg is the real deal in net and so good on GM Pierre Dorion for seizing the moment and turning the heat up on Atlantic Division opponents.

Feels like we’re picking on Chicago, but it’s the nature of the NHL pendulum that the teams that sink to the bottom of the heap become a dumping ground for other team’s mistakes. And teams have to pay for those mistakes in the form of assets, which is what happened when Toronto shed two years of injury-prone netminder Petr Mrazek in exchange for swapping the 25^th pick Thursday for the 38^th pick on Friday with the Blackhawks. I saw Toronto GM Kyle Dubas celebrated for making the move. Of course, had he not made an egregious error in signing Mrazek to a deal with a $3.8 million average annual cap hit, you wouldn’t have to be giving up a first-round pick. And someone has to play goal for the Blackhawks. Edmonton made a similar deal offloading Zack Kassian and the final two years of his deal that pays $3.2 million annually to Arizona with the two teams swapping picks, Edmonton’s 29^th for Arizona’s 32^nd. Same thing in Arizona where someone has to fill out the roster. Both the Leafs and Oilers are desperate to squirrel away as much cap space as possible heading into free agency next week.

What are we looking forward to Friday in Day 2 with rounds 2 through 7 on tap? Is this the day that J.T. Miller gets moved from Vancouver? With Patrik Allvin presiding over his first draft as Vancouver GM, it would seem to be in his best interests to move Miller, who has one year left on his deal and doesn’t look like he’s a candidate to be extended before the start of the regular season.

Finally, I will be totally honest: I did not miss the constant booing of NHL commissioner Gary Bettman during the last two remote drafts thanks to COVID. Not so, apparently, with the fine fans of Montreal who booed lustily as he appeared on stage to begin the evening’s proceedings with Guy Lafleur’s son, Martin, and Mike Bossy’s daughter, Tanya. It was a poignant celebration of two of the game’s greatest players and favored sons of Quebec both of whom were taken in drafts held in Montreal and who passed away a week apart during the past season. The cheers of ‘Guy, Guy, Guy’ and ‘Bossy, Bossy, Bossy’ sent chills. Speaking of nice touches, I thought the league handled nicely a brief but tasteful tribute to Bryan Marchment, the longtime NHL player and San Jose scout who passed away in Montreal on the eve of the draft. And finally, what a masterstroke to have Habs head coach Martin St. Louis to the stage before the first pick was announced. ‘Ole, ole, ole’ rang out as though this was Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final and St. Louis had some great words of encouragement for the fans and for the players whose names were about to be called by the 32 NHL teams.

In short, damn it was good to be back.

Round 1 Notes: Montreal powers up, Chicago powers down

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