10 Thoughts: Assessing Montreal’s 2025 Draft Class
Now that the bulk of free agent spending has come and gone, let’s take a look back at Montreal’s draft class from last month, a group that had some intriguing picks and also some surprising ones.
1) The decision to trade picks 16 and 17 early carried a little extra risk as obviously, teams didn’t know who would be available at that time. As it turned out, a pair of players viewed as top-12 options slid in Victor Eklund and Kashawn Aitcheson, not to mention Justin Carbonneau, who was another speculative link to the Habs. Eklund and Carbonneau would have been top-six talents, something that Nick Bobrov indicated was part of their marching orders this year. Aitcheson, meanwhile, could be a top-four version of Arber Xhekaj. While these weren’t franchise pieces, they would have been good prospects in this group. Still, getting Noah Dobson, an in-prime player at a premium position for eight years, was a solid move but in hindsight, the price they paid was a little higher than it might have first seemed when there weren’t names attached to those two picks.
2) Speaking of paying a higher price, did the Habs ever do that to move up in the second round, sending picks 41 and 49 to Carolina for 34 and 189. That combination of picks theoretically should have gotten them into the late first but it was noted after the draft that several teams were looking to trade up to that spot, cranking up the price. But if we take Martin Lapointe’s assertion at face value that Alexander Zharovsky was someone they had rated around where they were originally picking, they might have picked him anyway had they actually traded up to the late 20s in the first round with those two seconds. In other words, while it was an overpayment in terms of picks given up and acquired, was it really an overpayment if they picked the player they’d have taken had those seconds yielded a late first-rounder instead?
More on Lapointe’s assertion, that comment doesn’t suggest that Montreal would have taken him at 16 or 17, just that he was around there on their list. I’m pretty sure that the first 15 selections didn’t cover the top 15 players on Montreal’s list. (Columbus GM Don Waddell said they got three in their top 14 with the last being Malte Vass, the 76th pick.) Had the Habs kept their first two selections, I don’t think Zharovsky would have been one of the picks, someone higher-rated on their board would have been chosen. But by the early second round, it’s reasonable to think that most, if not all, of the top 15 on their board would have been gone, making Zharovsky the next-best player at that time.
3) Zharovsky’s skillset definitely fits the bill of a top-six player. Lots of speed and skill and he’s an elite stickhandler, something the Habs don’t have a ton of up front. He’s a risky pickup in the sense that he played against very weak competition and he has a lot of filling out to do yet but the upside is certainly intriguing. He made his KHL debut in the playoffs last season, getting into seven games but played barely six minutes per night. With there being talk that he’s ready for full-time KHL duty next season, that limited usage is a little worrisome (although bringing in a raw rookie into the playoffs is understandable cause to be cautious with ice time). This isn’t the same situation as Ivan Demidov who was way too dominant for the MHL so I’m hopeful that if Zharovsky isn’t ready to take a regular shift for Ufa, he’s sent back to either a stronger MHL team or even a VHL squad.
4) Montreal’s other trade-up move was more reasonable in terms of price paid with the Habs dealing pick 108 to Boston to move up from 79 to 69. Size was a big theme at the draft this year and given that the Canadiens don’t have the deepest of centre pools, getting a big middleman in Hayden Paupanekis with that selection makes sense. I like that he’s a decent skater for his size which gives him a chance to be someone with more than a fourth-line ceiling and getting to play for a bad Kelowna team down the stretch allowed him to work on his skill game a bit more which probably helped his draft stock. This isn’t a top-six player profile but you’re not generally going to get those in the third round. But Paupanekis is another big body in a pool of bottom-six prospects that is quietly being built up as a big, physical group if the players pan out (Florian Xhekaj, Luke Tuch, and Tyler Thorpe).
5) Something this scouting group has done a lot relative to when Trevor Timmins was in charge is draft players past their first year of eligibility and they did that again with the Bryce Pickford selection. Of course, a lot changed over the course of one year. His role was very limited in 2023-24 but last season, Pickford got much more ice time and more than made the most of it, showing an offensive upside that few others at the WHL level had. When you consider that he plays with a bit of an edge physically and is a right-shot defender, that’s not a bad profile to take a shot on even as a player that’s a year older than most in this class. Speculatively, I wonder if they could view him as someone with third-pairing NHL upside offensively, potentially playing behind Dobson and David Reinbacher, possibly replacing the role envisioned for the now-traded Logan Mailloux down the road.
6) One benefit of having a decent goalie pipeline is that you can think longer-term. Arseni Radkov is a longer-term project. A backup on his MHL team this past season, there’s at least a potential pathway to more playing time with a 2026 UMass commitment or, at least, a chance for the Habs to keep a closer eye on him. He’s very athletic and now the question is how much of his technical game can be refined to really give him a shot at being a legitimate prospect. Kind of sounds like Jakub Dobes a little bit, doesn’t it? Generally speaking, Montreal’s dart throws on goalies lately have been tall, athletic, toolsy players and Radkov is no exception. It’s safe to say that the Habs have a type when it comes to netminders.
7) The only other player that has top-six upside from this draft class was forward L.J. Mooney. The initials stand for Little John which is appropriate given that he was one of the smallest players taken in the draft. I like that he’s a standout skater, not just for his size but that he’s a legitimate speedster as he’ll need to be top-notch in that department to have a chance to stand out in the NHL. Skill-wise, Mooney should have gone much earlier but his small stature pushed him down much farther. He’s a long-term project to build up his limited frame but I have no issue taking a swing for skill at this point of the draft as at a minimum, he should be someone who can contribute in Laval one day.
8) Alexis Cournoyer’s story is an interesting one. He was only brought up to the QMJHL last season for the first time with a midseason promotion as a 19-year-old. He then went and dominated in the second half, putting him on draft radars for the first time and the Habs used one of their dart-throw picks on him to see if he can sustain it or at least continue to build his game at Cornell (getting a scholarship from that half year was another cool part of his story). As is often the case with their goalie picks, he’s a draft-and-forget for a few years type of selection.
Now, you might be thinking to yourself, ‘How many goalies do the Habs need?’ It’s a fair question as their prospect pool is pretty deep in quantity. Not so much quality, however. Yes, Jacob Fowler looks promising as does Yevgeni Volokhin. That’s a solid start. But after that, it thins quickly. Emmett Croteau, a dart-throw pick from 2022, hasn’t really established himself at the college level since then. Quentin Miller lost his QMJHL spot due to injury and is now heading to the NCAA so he’s further out than expected. Neither was invited to Development Camp which is also telling. Mikus Vecvanags, last year’s dart throw, had a year to forget. When your goalie drafting strategy is to take project players and hope that one pans out down the road, you have to pick a lot of goalies. Cournoyer (and, to a lesser extent, Radkov, who has a bit more upside) is the latest example of that.
9) Carlos Handel looked like one of Montreal’s better value adds from this draft class, at least based on the rankings. He profiles to me as one of those decent at everything players without a standout skill yet but he showed considerable improvement over the course of last season and brings enough of an intriguing offensive package to the table that there’s room for growth still. Players like Handel often don’t make it to the NHL but can usually be good AHL contributors for a little while at least which wouldn’t be a bad outcome at pick 177.
10) Remember earlier, I mentioned what a difference a year can make when it came for Pickford? I wonder if they have a similar idea for Andrew MacNiel. Buried on the depth chart in Kitchener last season, some blueline graduations will give him a full-time lineup spot in 2025-26 and someone on Montreal’s scouting staff likely felt that he could be a breakout candidate. Rather than wait to see if it happens, they used a late-round pick to make sure they’d have him if it does. Those usually don’t work out but if you were hoping for a swing at this pick, that’s kind of one. As for Maxon Vig, the seventh-rounder, he was another second-year-eligible player and showed some decent offensive skills from the back end in the USHL. He’s also college-bound and will be a longer-term project as many of their late-round selections often are. I was happy to see them get at least one lefty blueliner in the mix as that side of their prospect pool isn’t as deep as it might seem.
Final Thought
The saying is that teams generally want to hit on their first pick and get a second NHL player somewhere out of their draft class. While it’s simplistic, overall, it’s generally a decent goal to shoot for.
Even without a first-round pick, the Habs have a chance to do that. If Zharovsky pans out, he could be a solid second liner or a third-liner on what hopefully will be a deeper Montreal offensive group by then. I think Paupanekis has an NHL profile, albeit a lower-ceiling one but a big centre with a decent two-way deal has a chance to be a quality contributor at some point. So with those two alone, they might be able to check the two NHLer box.
I’m intrigued with Pickford’s offensive explosion from last season and if that wasn’t just a one-off where everything went his way, I could see him at least seeing some NHL time while Montreal has done better than most at getting something out of their smaller players which provides a bit of optimism about Mooney. And if one of the goalies pans out, even better.
For what the Canadiens had to work with, I think they had a decent draft class overall. It’s not one to get overly excited about but there’s a wild card in Zharovsky and maybe some secondary contributors after that. Getting that when you don’t have a first-round pick isn’t bad. And, of course, getting a core piece in Noah Dobson with those first-rounders (plus Emil Heineman) means the Habs are indeed coming out of the draft with a pillar, just not necessarily the way they’re generally acquired at the draft. All in all, it was a solid draft weekend for Montreal.