Thoughts on Montreal’s Later Draft Selections

Having covered Montreal’s picks of Ivan Demidov and Michael Hage separately, it’s time to turn the focus to the eight players they added on the second day of the draft with some thoughts on each selection plus the underlying long-term strategy they used once again.

70th Overall – F Aatos Koivu

While we landed on Koivu going 78th in our mock draft, we did talk about him being an option at this selection.  What’s interesting is that his strengths aren’t the same as his father’s; he’s more of a shooter than a playmaker and while Saku was a two-way player, Aatos isn’t trending in that same direction.  That makes him more of a riskier pick than it might seem unless the two-way game comes around; right now, there isn’t much of a lower-line profile in him.

A year ago, Koivu wasn’t really on the radar too much when it came to this draft as he was mediocre at the Under-18 level.  In that sense, he’s another of the later-bloomer picks that this management group seems to prefer although he did tail off a bit at the end of the year.  That said, he was over a point per game at the U18 and U20 levels and even got his feet wet in Liiga.

Koivu indicated that his goal is to play with TPS at the top level full-time next season.  It’s an understandable goal to pursue but from a development perspective, I kind of hope he comes up short of that one.  For a player working through a late growth spurt and having a lot to work on, going and playing eight minutes a night on the fourth line is probably not the best for him.  If he wants to play pro, I hope he gets loaned to the second-tier Mestis where he should at least have a chance to play meaningful minutes.

The Habs have four years until they have to sign Koivu and it’s clear he’ll need to use at least three of those before he’ll be ready to sign.  As we’ve seen at times with other Finnish prospects, that’s not a bad route to take but I think the next two seasons could feature some ups and downs.

78th Overall – F Logan Sawyer

It’s not often that a player doesn’t change teams and yet played in two different junior leagues in the same season but that happened with Sawyer as his team left the AJHL midseason to join the BCHL, a circuit that got considerably more competitive after adding multiple teams.  Before the move, he was the leading scorer among draft-eligible players in that league.  While there was a dip in production following the league change, he was able to rebound for the playoffs.

At a time when skating is becoming more and more important in the NHL, it’s notable that Sawyer’s skating is a significant concern.  Not a little issue, a big one.  Playing in a lower junior level, he could get away with it but against higher-level competition, considerable improvement needs to happen.

If it does, the Canadiens could have an intriguing piece on their hands.  There’s no real standout tool to speak of but he’s a high-motor player with enough all-around offensive awareness that could fit in a bottom-six role in the pros if his defensive game is up to snuff.  He’s a lower-ceiling piece compared to Koivu but fits the profile of the type of depth player they seem to desire.  Having said that, he’s a long way away from being a contributor to this organization, even longer than Koivu’s timeline.

102nd Overall – D Owen Protz

A midseason trade did wonders for him as he went from a depth defender to a top-pairing piece, making him yet another late riser.  While Montreal has a lot of left-shot blueliners in their system, there isn’t much at the junior and collegiate levels anymore.  Notably, of the ones they have, there aren’t too many like Protz.

Protz is the type of old-school defender who could have thrived a generation ago.  At that time, being defensively sound with a penchant for well-timed big hits was enough to have some success on a bottom pairing.  But that’s not the way the game is played anymore; today’s blueliners need to have some puck skills and be good distributors.  He needs a lot of work on those elements.

If you’re looking for cause for optimism, a full year in a bigger role is going to force improvement in some of those weaker areas and I think Protz is a candidate for a decent-sized jump in his offensive stats next season as a result.  But even with that improvement, we’re talking about a player whose ceiling is pretty limited as a very physical third-pairing defender.  But given the need for more grit in the system, this pick made a lot of sense.  As a CHL player, he only has two years to sign so they’ll be looking for quick progression.

130th Overall – F Tyler Thorpe

In past years, the Habs have opted to take a shot on some players in their second or third year of eligibility and the back half of the draft is where that typically happens.  True to form, their first selection in the back half was exactly that.

This is around the point of the draft where players are getting picked for one or two particular tools.  In Thorpe’s case, he has a high-quality shot that should translate to the pros and he’s big and physical.  There’s not much else that stands out at this point and, like Sawyer, the skating needs some work.

It’s worth noting that he played centre before moving to the WHL and it’s also worth noting that last season was his first full year at that level so they’re banking on him being a late bloomer.  But this comes down to the same question that Xavier Simoneau, Rafael Harvey-Pinard, and Jared Davidson all had to face – how will he fare in his rookie season in Laval in 2025-26?  If Thorpe does well down there, he’ll get a contract.  If not, they’ll probably have to move on as their window to sign him is smaller than most of their picks.

134th Overall – G Mikus Vecvanags

Before delving into this pick, this is the range where I thought grabbing Justin Poirier made some sense.  Yes, he’s small which is something they clearly were avoiding but there’s legitimate skills that give him a good chance to be signed, something that can’t be said for a lot of players in this range.

Having said that, another dart throw on a goaltender makes sense.  It’s far from a given that Quentin Miller (one of last year’s dart throws) signs by the June 1st deadline and generally speaking, I’m a proponent of adding a goalie each draft at some point.

I can’t comment much on him as there isn’t much out there but my research basically turned up the following five words: Good athleticism, suspect rebound control.  That sounds like a lot of tall, lanky goalies of which Vecvanags is.

Even with him being drafted into the QMJHL, the Habs still get the four-year timeline which is the best of both worlds.  If Vecvanags does well there, they can turn him pro on an AHL contract for a couple of years if they wanted, helping to manage their contract limit while leaving a spot for Jacob Fowler and perhaps Yevgeni Volokhin down the road.  It wouldn’t shock me if that flexibility helped earn him the nod over some of the other project netminders still on the board.

166th Overall – F Ben Merrill

In a nutshell, this is one of those ‘let’s see how he looks in four years’ type of draft picks.  Merrill isn’t even close to being ready to play at the NCAA level let alone higher.  He even seemed overmatched in his two USHL appearances.

So why did the Habs pick him?  There’s a similar profile to Thorpe who went a couple of picks earlier.  He has a high-quality shot, can play centre or the wing, and is big.  The physicality involves a bit more projection than Thorpe given that Merrill played at the high school level but it should come.  Like a few of this year’s picks, skating is a major concern.

Merrill feels like the type of player that someone in the scouting room was saying to get now in case he has a breakout year next season and gets on a lot more radars.  I can see the logic in that.  But when he’s identified by one scouting agency as one of the rawest players in the draft, a lot of patience is going to be required.

210th Overall – F Makar Khanin

This pick surprised me a bit if only for the fact that Demidov’s linemate was still on the board at this point; he went 211th to St. Louis.  If you’re going to take a flyer on another Russian, why not go for the one your newest top prospect already has some chemistry with?

Don’t interpret that as a complaint about this pick.  It’s not.  Khanin did well at the VHL level last season, the second-tier pro league (Demidov played in junior).  Nick Bobrov said after the draft that he’s a skilled player that they’re taking a flyer on.  That’s fine in itself for the seventh round.

With no transfer agreement in place between the NHL and the Russian Federation, Montreal will hold Khanin’s rights indefinitely, making him a ‘hold and check in later’ type of selection.

224th Overall – D Rasmus Bergqvist

When you’re making the penultimate pick of a draft, there’s not much left to work with.  Bergqvist had a big growth spurt in recent years and is still in the process of filing out his frame so there’s a lot of physical projection being made here.

Bobrov said post-draft that Bergqvist’s player type is one that has some success when drafting late.  His profile is that of a toolsy player who hasn’t quite put it together yet.  He’s a good skater for his size, is willing to jump into the rush, and has a decent defensive game.  On its own, none of those elements stand out but as he fills out, some improvement could change his long-term outlook.  They have four years before needing to sign him so they can be patient.

General Thoughts

For the second straight year, one of the underlying themes of Montreal’s draft class seemed to be pushing the signing deadlines back as much as possible.  After all, this is a team that already has a whopping 21 players on entry-level contracts so there’s not a lot of wiggle room at the moment.  By making a lot of project/hold picks last year, that will give the Habs more flexibility next summer on the contract front; similarly, taking that approach this time out will help them in the 2026 offseason.  That said, that’s not necessarily a model I’d advocate for them taking on a regular basis.

After an exciting first day of the draft, Montreal’s approach on the second day was more underwhelming.  It felt like there was extra emphasis on size and grit and in particular, in the back half, it felt like they were trying to find the Best Fit Available for a specific depth role over the Best Player Available.  Sawyer, Thorpe, and Merrill all profile in that same high-motor bottom-six role, if not fourth-line role.  In doing so, they checked off some boxes as this is a prospect group on the smaller side but they need some of these dart throws to pan out if they want to truly say they’ve addressed the area.

Having said that, Koivu was a solid selection and while Protz felt like a reach, I think he’s someone whose stock should go up over the next year so that pick should look better at that time.  This prospect pool has fairly strong depth so it’s not as much of a concern if most of these picks don’t pan out but in general, it’s fair to say that they didn’t generally go for the most talented player left on the board.  At least they did that with their first two selections and really, if they pan out, this will be a successful draft regardless of what happens with these eight prospects.