The Montreal Canadiens are involved in numerous discussions, 24 hours before the first round of the draft, and all scenarios are being considered, assured the team’s executive vice-president of hockey operations, Jeff Gorton. Even that of trading the fifth overall pick.
• Read also: Jesse Ylönen will not return to the Canadiens
The hockey man was the one sent to meet the Montreal media at a Las Vegas hotel Thursday afternoon, due to the fact that “Kent is very busy right now,” he said.
“We’re already seeing teams move to change their position in the draft. I think we’re going to see a lot more of that and we’re having a lot of conversations internally right now to figure out what the best scenario is for us, namely if we stay where we are [avec le cinquième choix] and what we are going to do with the 26e choice. There are a lot of things happening and conversations.”
For Gorton, however, the chances of Montreal trading their top pick aren’t very high.
“I wouldn’t want to lie to you and say that it’s 100% certain that we’re going to draft fifth, but I’m pretty confident that that will be the case.”
Gorton assures, however, that the CH will be aggressive on the transaction market. Does that mean they will move?
“We have a lot of ammunition to carry out transactions,” he assured. We are involved in several conversations and we would not be there if we did not have the necessary tools.”
Demidov and Michkov, two different cases
One of the players that Montreal fans are most excited about is Russian Ivan Demidov, who many believe could be available at fifth place. The Canadiens’ staff spent some time with the talented right winger on Thursday.
“He seems like a good kid. He also seems to be in very good physical shape. We didn’t have a lot of time with him since he was meeting with several teams, but he’s an impressive kid.”
What makes his selection by the Habs even more plausible is that the organization doesn’t see many similarities between his case and that of Matvei Michkov, whom the team decided to let go last year for several reasons, some of which were related to his attitude on and off the ice.
“They are two different players. We’re trying to find the best player possible and that’s what we’re going to do. The situations of these two players are not linked and it will not change much on our decision tomorrow,” assured Gorton, who also affirmed that the state of health of another hope linked to the team, Cayden Lindstrom, was not a cause for concern.
“We read [les rapports médicaux] and everything seems fine.”
Separately, Gorton confirmed the team would not be making a qualifying offer to forward Jesse Ylönen.
