The Hockey News’ Mark Seidel rates the 2008 NHL draft for the Southeast and Northeast division teams. He doesn’t think very highly of the Montreal Canadiens draft selections as you’ll read below:
C+, Montreal Canadiens – Although the Canadiens secured the tallest player in the draft with the selection of 6-foot-8 goaltender Jason Missiaen, the theme for Montreal’s weekend was small players. Their first pick – 56th overall – was U.S. NDTP scorer Danny Kristo who stands 5-foot-11, but plays like he’s 6-foot-5 and at NACS, we love his willingness to compete. Kristo has good offensive skills and has shown flashes of being a natural goal-scorer. He still has time to develop these attributes as he is headed to the hockey factory in North Dakota to play for the Fighting Sioux, so don’t expect to see him in the NHL for a few years. In the third round, the Habs went out on a bit of a limb by taking previously passed-over right winger Steve Quailer from the Sioux City Musketeers of the USHL. After that, the Habs took the aforementioned Missiaen who hasn’t become the stud that many, including us, predicted he would be after joining the Peterborough Petes. Like many big kids, though, his size is an asset and it’ll take a while for his coordination to catch up to his frame. Missiaen has all the tools to become a good goaltender down the road. The Habs finished off the draft by taking a couple more smallish forwards who have overachieved in their careers so far: Maxim Trunev and Patrick Johnson. It will be a stretch to see either play at the NHL level and we at NACS feel their highest upside is a career in the American League.