The 2022 draft was very exciting for Canadiens fans. The draft took place in Montreal, it was the opportunity for Kent Hughes to make his first selections with the Canadian and the CH had the very first choice overall.
We can also add the fact that Kent Hughes made a big transaction in the middle of the draft session to get Kirby Dach. However, we will focus on the selected players.
Mathias Brunet did a little exercise during his column on Wednesday at Return of athletes of BPM Sports by reclassifying the Canadiens players in their respective draft.
According to him, the Canadian did an incredible job in 2022 by picking up the two best players in this auction in Lane Hutson and Juraj Slafkovsky.
Even though he was selected first overall, Slafkovsky is not the best player in this vintage, according to Brunet. It is Hutson who occupies first place, while the Slovakian occupies second.
Seeing the young defender’s performances this season, it’s easy to understand why Brunet came to this conclusion.
Drafted in the second round (62nd overall), Hutson played two seasons at Boston University before joining the Canadiens. He now has 37 points in just 45 games in the NHL, which makes him the player with the best points per game average of this vintage (minimum of 10 games played).
Hutson is also capable of playing big minutes, even at a very young age. He already has a playing time of 22:42 per game in his rookie season!
For Slafkovsky, the result of this ranking by Mathias Brunet is also encouraging. Being overtaken by your teammate, who was not in direct competition for the first choice and who was a surprise, is not the end of the world.
Brunet is aware that Logan Cooley has a better current point production than Slafkovsky, but he believes that when both players reach their full potential, Slafkovsky’s size and style of play will ensure that he will be a better player than Cooley.
Hutson is not the only Canadiens player to have been better “reclassified” by Brunet. According to the BPM Sports speaker, Kaiden Guhle is the 10th best player in the 2020 draft, having been selected 16th overall.
Cole Caufield, drafted 15th in 2019, now ranks sixth in his vintage and Nick Suzuki, drafted 13th in 2017, takes 8th place in his draft rankings.
Kent Hughes made excellent decisions in 2022 and the future of Jacob Fowler, also selected in 2022, could further improve the quality of this draft for the Canadiens.
In burst
– Fleury is an angel.
– Speaking of Lane Hutson.
– The Sabers are currently playing good hockey.
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