The Canadiens' first pick is worth a small fortune

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David St-Jean
May 8, 2024 (11:49 PM)

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The website The Athletic covers the entire NHL, with a dedicated journalist for each of the 32 teams.

Every year, they engage in a little game immediately after the draft lottery. A journalist covering a team acts as the general manager and selects who they would draft.

For the Canadiens, it's no surprise that Arpon Basu took part in the game, and he made quite a move. Basu is deeply involved with the team throughout the season, so he knows what he's talking about and understands the club's intentions.

Here are the picks made by the various journalist GMs:

San Jose Sharks: Macklin Celebrini

Chicago Blackhawks: Ivan Demidov

Anaheim Ducks: Artyom Levshunov

Columbus Blue Jackets: Cayden Lindstrom

Calgary Flames: Zeev Buium*

Utah: Anton Silayev

Ottawa Senators: Zayne Parekh

Seattle Kraken: Sam Dickinson

Montreal Canadiens: Tij Iginla*

New Jersey Devils: Berkly Catton

Buffalo Sabres: Cole Eiserman

Philadelphia Flyers: Carter Yakemchuk

Minnesota Wild: Adam Jiricek

San Jose Sharks: Beckett Sennecke

Detroit Red Wings: Konsta Helenius

St. Louis Blues: Michael Brandsegg-Nygard

*Transaction completed

Arpon Basu decided to trade the Canadiens' first pick, 5th overall, to the Calgary Flames, and here's why:

"With Ivan Demidov and Cayden Lindstrom selected with the first four picks, the worst-case scenario presented itself to the Canadiens. We had to decide whether to choose a forward at 5th overall, select a right-handed defenseman - Zayne Parekh and Carter Yakemchuk were available - or trade down, acquire additional draft capital, and get the forward we wanted from the start.

We chose option number 3, made the trade with Calgary, added a third first-round pick (in addition to the Jets' first-round pick acquired in the Sean Monahan trade), and selected Tij Iginla from the Kelowna Rockets, a playoff-style forward who should help fill out the Canadiens' top 6 in about two years." - Arpon Basu

Obviously, the Canadiens need forwards, and unfortunately, the 2024 draft is richer in defensemen. What irony.

According to the exercise, the Canadiens would trade the 5th pick for Calgary's 9th pick and Vancouver's first pick obtained in the Elias Lindholm trade (to be determined).

So, the Canadiens would have three first-round picks and the opportunity to select Tij Iginla, a player they like a lot.

Personally, I wouldn't make this trade. The chances of Iginla being selected earlier and Kent Hughes being left empty-handed are too great. The GM won't take that risk.

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Le 5e choix au total du CH échangé? On connaît maintenant sa valeur