Habs News: Montreal Canadiens, NHL, Draft Lottery, Kent Hughes, Connor Bedard, Matvei Michkov, Chicago Blackhawks, Nashville

ROCKET SPORTS MEDIA | MONTREAL, QC. — This is your one-stop destination for your Canadiens news capsule. Here are your Habs Headlines!

Habs Will Pick 5th

On Monday night, the Montreal Canadiens learned that they secured the No. 5 pick in the  2023 NHL Entry Draft. The Canadiens had an 8.5 percent chance of winning the lottery, and having the potential of selecting generational talent Connor Bedard.

The fifth overall pick was a consolation prize to the Canadiens and their fans for a difficult  regular season finishing 28th place with a record of 31-45-6.

The Chicago Blackhawks moved up from third to claim the number one pick and the likelihood of selecting Bedard.

“When our logo flipped over, I was just, ‘Wow,'” said Blackhawks general manager Kyle Davidson. “You understand the impact that a first overall pick can have and having the first overall pick in the right year. Hopefully, that’s what we’ve got here and it can change a franchise, it can change a city and it can change an era in a team’s history.”

Following the event, Canadiens GM Kent Hughes delivered a ‘glass half full’ response.

“We had a better chance of picking sixth place than keeping our pick in fifth place according to the odds,” said Hughes. “We would have liked to win the lottery, but we planned to draft between the fifth and seventh rank and we got the best rank of the three.”

Hughes acknowledged that this draft class is talented but wouldn’t commit to tagging Montreal’s pick with a label of ‘franchise player.’ “I am very confident to see us get a very good hockey player at number five,” said Hughes.

2023 NHL Entry Draft: June 28-29

Nashville will host the 2023 NHL Draft at Bridgestone Arena on Wednesday June 28 and Thursday June 29.

In addition to the fifth overall pick, the Canadiens has a second first-round pick from the Florida Panthers, received in the Ben Chiarot trade. Based on regular season standings that pick is 17th overall but will drop to 29th if the Panthers defeat the Toronto Maple Leafs in the second round of the playoffs. That pick can drop further if Florida continues to advance.

Hughes said that Canadiens management team will be looking for particular traits in addition to talent when determining their selection. The Canadiens GM said that they value hockey sense, character and compete level. Hughes added that the Canadiens will draft the best player available with respect to long-term talent potential.

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