I wanted to make this list easy to access and to find on my substack, so — while this is already written with my “Introduction and Context” post — I figured I’d make an entirely separate post consisting of just this list.
I’ve developed A LOT as a scout over the last few years. When I started out, I was mainly doing secondary research while watching little game tape of the draft-eligible players, so I wasn’t really scouting. By the start of the 2022 draft cycle, however, I was in full-blown scouting mode, watching all the tape I could possibly find (something made a lot easier in May 2022 once I joined the Dobber scouting team).
This post is just as much for me to gauge my own progression as it is for anybody else who is curious about my work's end product: when it really matters, which players have I bet on?
And I do think that my progression is already quite clear. I made some early bets on guys like Alexei Goryachev and even Declan Carlile that I wouldn’t even consider making today. I've also felt increasingly comfortable picking guys ahead of where the consensus would have them, as I did with Jeremy Wilmer.
Also, yes, there are a ton of left-shot defencemen in my system… literally 11 times as many as there are right-shot ones — or should I say one. While I did genuinely keep that in mind for the 2022 draft, I wasn’t going to pass on guys like Lane Hutson and Isaiah George just because of my — and the Canadiens’ — organizational depth, which also reflects my drafting philosophy: Draft the players you believe will be the best and/or hold the most value, if they don’t end up fitting in your team when/if they do make it, flip them for a huge profit. George — along with Stanislav Svozil, Ryker Evans, Lukas Gustafsson, and Declan Carlile — is also comfortable playing on the right side, which matters.
With that out of the way, here are the draft selections I would have made with the Canadiens’ picks:
2020
16: Mavrik Bourque (C) — Kaiden Guhle (LD)
47: Daniil Gushchin (RW) — Luke Tuch (LW)
48: Anton Johannesson (LD) — Jan Myšák (LW/C)
102: Sean Farrell (LW) — Jack Smith (C)
109: Brett Berard (LW) — Blake Biondi (C)
124: Alexei Goryachev (LD) — Sean Farrell (LW)
136: Declan Carlile (LD) — Jakub Dobeš (G)
171: Ryker Evans (LD) — Alexander Gordin (RW)
2021
31: Logan Stankoven (RW) — Logan Mailloux (RD)
62: Stanislav Svozil (LD) — Riley Kidney (C)
63: Simon Robertsson (RW) — Oliver Kapanen (C)
87: Dylan Duke (C) — Dmitri Kostenko (RD)
113: Peter Reynolds (C) — William Trudeau (LD)
142: Kirill Gerasimyuk (G) — Daniil Sobolev (RD)
150: Lukas Gustafsson (LD) — Joshua Roy (C/RW)
191: Jiri Tichacek (LD) — Xavier Simoneau (C/LW)
214: Jake Martin (RD) — Joe Vrbetic (G)
2022
1: Shane Wright (C) — Juraj Slafkovský (LW)
26: Brad Lambert (C) — Filip Mešár (C/RW)
33: Jagger Firkus (RW) — Owen Beck (C)
62: Lane Hutson (LD) — Lane Hutson (LD)
75: Isaiah George (LD) — Vinzenz Rohrer (C)
92: Vladimir Grudinin (LD) — Adam Engström (LD)
127: Tyler Duke (LD) — Cédrick Guindon (C/LW)
130: Jeremy Wilmer (C) — Jared Davidson (C)
162: Cole Knuble (RW) — Emmett Croteau (G)
194: Ilya Kvochko (C) — Petteri Nurmi (LD)
216: Alexis Gendron (C) — Miguël Tourigny (RD)
2023
5: Matvei Michkov (LW) — David Reinbacher (RD)
69: Jayden Perron (LW) — Jacob Fowler (G)
101: Aram Minnetian (RD) — Florian Xhekaj (LW)
110: Alex Ciernik (LW) — Bogdan Konyushkov (RD)
128: Cam Allen (RD) — Quentin Miller (G)
133: Timur Mukhanov (C) — Sam Harris (LW)
144: Matthew Mania (RD) — Yevgeni Volokhin (G)
165: Tyler Peddle (LW) — Filip Eriksson (C)
197: Gavyn Thoreson (LW) — Luke Mittelstadt (LD)
Signed Players:
2020 Class
Mavrik Bourque: Dallas Stars
Daniil Gushchin: San Jose Sharks
Sean Farrell: Montreal Canadiens
Brett Berard: New York Rangers
Declan Carlile: Tampa Bay Lightning
2021 Class
Logan Stankoven: Dallas Stars
Ryker Evans: Seattle Kraken
Stanislav Svozil: Columbus Blue Jackets
2022 Class
Shane Wright: Seattle Kraken
Brad Lambert: Winnipeg Jets
Jagger Firkus: Seattle Kraken
Isaiah George: New York Islanders
Alexis Gendron: Philadelphia Flyers
2023 Class
Running ELC Counter
Habs Picks: 13
My Picks:
NHL Experience
Ryker Evans: 25 GP, 1 G, 7 A, 8 PTS
Logan Stankoven: 14 GP, 6 G, 5 A, 11 PTS.
Shane Wright: 11 GP, 1 G, 1A, 2 PTS.
Sean Farrell: 6 GP, 1 G, 1 PT.
Daniil Gushchin: 4 GP, 1 G, 2 A, 3 PTS.
Stanislav Svozil: 2 GP, 1 A, 1 PT.
Declan Carlile: 1 GP.
Total Stats Accumulated (Updated March 25, 2024)
Habs Picks: 249 GP, 34 G, 96 PTS.
My Picks: 63 GP, 10 G, 26 PTS.