Habs to Pick 5th Overall in 2024 NHL Entry Draft
The NHL held its draft lottery on Tuesday to set the order of the first 16 picks in next month’s draft. The Habs had the fifth-highest odds to move up to first overall and while they didn’t move up, no one behind them did either, meaning they will select fifth.
The Habs went into the night with six different possibilities for where they could pick; their odds were as follows:
1st Overall: 8.5%
2nd Overall: 8.6%
3rd Overall: 0.3%
5th Overall: 24.5%
6th Overall: 44.0%
7th Overall: 14.2%
In the end, the drawings for the lottery held true to the original odds for the first time since 2010 which means the order is the following:
1. San Jose Sharks
2. Chicago Blackhawks
3. Anaheim Ducks
4. Columbus Blue Jackets
5. Montreal Canadiens
6. Utah
7. Ottawa Senators
8. Seattle Kraken
9. Calgary Flames
10. New Jersey Devils
11. Buffalo Sabres
12. Philadelphia Flyers
13. Minnesota Wild
14. San Jose Sharks (via Pittsburgh Penguins)
15. Detroit Red Wings
16. St. Louis Blues
Obviously, it hasn’t been too long since Montreal picked fifth overall as they only have to go as far back as, well, 11 months ago, when they picked David Reinbacher. Before that, Carey Price was the next most recent player for the Canadiens to select fifth.
This is a draft class that’s particularly deep on the back end, a position that the Habs likely will be looking to avoid this time around. Macklin Celebrini will obviously be off the table as will likely Ivan Demidov. From there, it’s a wide range of forwards in that next tier based on various rankings.
Among the players that GM Kent Hughes and company may have a chance to choose from are Medicine Hat centre Cayden Lindstrom, Jukurit forward Konsta Helenius, Kelowna forward Tij Iginla, Spokane middleman Berkly Catton, and US NTDP winger Cole Eiserman.
Montreal will have another seven weeks to ponder their selection as the first round of the draft is set to run on June 28th.