What I heard and saw from the Canadiens at the NHL scouting combine

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BUFFALO, N.Y. — Every year, around this time, people start discussing the potential movement at the NHL Draft, how the ground seems fertile for blockbuster trades and shifts in the NHL landscape.

And every year, there is far less movement than expected.

The Canadiens are hoping to change that this year. But so are a bunch of other teams. And several of them are hoping to use the same currency that the Canadiens are using, namely draft picks and prospects, to find more immediate help.

The Canadiens have the Nos. 16 and 17 picks in the first round, and there is no doubt they would be willing to move one or both of those picks to fill a hole on their second line or blue line.

The problem is that the Vancouver Canucks hold the No. 15 pick, and they are also seeking a centre for their second line. They reportedly didn’t even send general manager Patrik Allvin to the NHL scouting combine last week, which at least gives the impression that the pick is as good as gone.

The Columbus Blue Jackets have the Nos. 14 and 20 picks, and GM Don Waddell has already stated that both picks are available for the right price. Would the Detroit Red Wings consider trading the No. 13 pick if it gave them a better chance to make the playoffs and stay there for good? You’d have to think they would.

So, the three teams picking immediately ahead of the Canadiens in the first round potentially have those picks for sale. If you were a team offering up some immediate help and looking for at least a first-round pick in return, which one of those picks would you prefer? The worst one? Probably not.

You could also add the Buffalo Sabres’ pick at No. 9 to that market, as well as the Anaheim Ducks’ pick at No. 10 and perhaps even the Utah Mammoth’s pick at No. 4, although that is likely a different market altogether.

What all those teams — aside from the Canucks — have in common is they are trying to get through the most challenging part of a rebuilding process, the one where a team shifts into trying to open a competitive window. The commonality between those teams, the quantity of those teams and the scarcity of teams looking to enter some version of a rebuild are factors that make this trade market less than ideal for the Canadiens.

Mathieu Darche has made it clear he does not see his new team, the New York Islanders, missing the playoffs again next season. The New York Rangers expect to be back in the playoffs. Same with the Boston Bruins. The Western Conference is composed almost entirely of teams that are in a competitive window or are looking to open one.

A year ago, Canadiens vice president of hockey operations Jeff Gorton said a few days before the draft that, “It’s a different dynamic where there are more teams out there rebuilding, we all know who they are. And sometimes, you’re swimming in the same pools.”

Those rebuilding teams are now trying to get out of rebuilds. And the pool is not getting any bigger. It appears to consist of one team: the Pittsburgh Penguins.

“There are teams that have been rebuilding for a while that are looking to take steps,” Penguins GM Kyle Dubas told colleague Josh Yohe last week at the combine. “They are interested. That’s potentially a good fit with us.”

A ubiquitous question at the combine every year is to ask the prospects which teams took them out for dinner. But that appears to be a dying practice. The Canadiens last year took no prospects out for dinner as a matter of policy — likely because that information would get out — and we didn’t talk to a single prospect who was taken out for dinner by them this year, which doesn’t necessarily mean they maintained that policy.

However, the Penguins had meals with Roger McQueen, Kashawn Aitcheson, Radim Mrtka and Jackson Smith, all candidates for their pick at No. 11.

An additional wrinkle to the Penguins’ situation is that the Rangers have the option of sending them the No. 12 pick this year or their unprotected first-round pick next year, a pick that could be much later in what is seen as a deeper draft. The Rangers must make their decision 48 hours before the draft. If they transfer that pick to Pittsburgh, does it change the Penguins’ appetite to add another first-round pick this year? It might.

The Canadiens don’t want to give away a first-round pick. But to get good value back for that pick or those picks, you need a buyer who is willing to weaken his team in the short term to build for the future. And it’s hard to see many teams willing to do that.

Therefore, a reality where the Canadiens might use the 16th and 17th picks to draft players seems quite plausible.

The beauty of having two first-round picks, and especially two consecutive first-round picks smack in the middle of the first round, is that you can use one of them to take a big swing knowing you have the other pick as a backup to draft a safer player.

It is much more challenging to have any sense of what the Canadiens are planning to do when they are picking outside the top 5 for the first time under this administration, but here are four players, presented in alphabetical order, that we heard linked to them to varying degrees in Buffalo that appear like realistic targets likely to be available when they are slated to pick.

This is far from an exhaustive list, but we shouldn’t be surprised if the Canadiens call at least one of these names on draft night.

Carter Bear’s recovery from an Achilles injury prevented him from any physical testing in Buffalo at the scouting combine. (Jonathan Kozub / Getty Images)

Carter Bear, LW, Everett Silvertips

Under normal circumstances, Bear would not last until the No. 16 pick. However, Bear is recovering from an Achilles injury, which prevented him from participating in any physical testing in Buffalo and has no predictable path forward, at least according to Bear.

Bear is back on skates, but when asked how close he feels to being healthy, he wasn’t all that reassuring.

“Yeah, it’s pretty hard to say,” he said. “It’s a hard injury to still manage and to see it in the future. So yeah, it’s really hard to say. I’m sorry.”

The Canadiens kept tabs on Bear in Everett at various points over the season, but he didn’t make it sound like it was any more frequent than any other team. He is a high-compete scorer and playmaker with physicality and grit that would probably never make it to No. 16 were it not for this injury, and he still might not make it this far.

However, if he did, the injury risk would be the reason, and it is a risk the Canadiens should be willing to take, because Bear is the kind of player they covet.

When asked what has become the Canadiens’ trademark combine question — what kind of animal he is on and off the ice — Bear provided a great answer.

“On the ice, I took a wolf, always on the hunt,” he said. “And then I took a bear off the ice because I’m on the hunt in season, hibernation off season.”

Bear, choosing a bear just needed to be noted on the record. He was proud of himself.

Logan Hensler, RHD, Wisconsin Badgers

This one is less about hearing him being linked to the Canadiens and more about being a safe pick that could compensate for a riskier one.

Hensler has size (6 foot 2 1/2 and 198 pounds), shoots from the right and has puck-moving projectability with a sound defensive game. He is the definition of a safe, high-floor pick at a position the Canadiens could need down the road.

Hensler said he was questioned a lot about his productivity (he had 12 points in 32 games at Wisconsin) and his physicality by most of the 25 teams he spoke to.

“Especially at my size and frame, I think I can utilize that a lot more than I did this year,” Hensler said.

Hensler said he met only once with the Canadiens throughout the season and met with them again at the combine. He chose a pit bull as his on-ice animal, known for being good with people, but it can become nasty and deadly in an instant.

He also shared his answer to one of the Canadiens’ notorious psychological analysis questions, this one giving the player a choice between saving 10 or 20 of his fellow soldiers drowning in the water or downing a rival submarine, which could save many more lives in the process.

Hensler chose to save his fellow soldiers. It’s hard to determine precisely what the Canadiens are hoping for as an answer.

Lynden Lakovic, LW, Moose Jaw Warriors

Lakovic is 6 foot 4, 200 pounds and a strong, fluid skater with a plus-shot and playmaking abilities. He is not a player who should be available at this point in the draft.

However, the wavering compete level he showed this season is a reason why he might be, as Lakovic was asked about that frequently during his 25 interviews at the combine. Notably, Lakovic agreed with the assessment he consistently heard from the teams he spoke with.

“You’ve been hearing it for a while now, so it’s not like it’s news to me or a surprise to me,” Lakovic said. “Hearing the same criticism over and over, it does get a little annoying. But if it keeps on getting brought up, it’s an issue. I know I need to clean it up. I think I handled it well. I owned it because it’s not like I disagreed with them. But I think I stood up for myself well.”

Lakovic is someone the Canadiens saw a lot. He estimates that he had 8-10 meetings with various team representatives throughout the season, most of which were lunch meetings with amateur scout Ben Shutron. However, he noted that toward the end of the season, the Canadiens sent others to watch him practice.

“Maybe one other team watched me practice this year,” Lukovic said. “And nobody comes into Moose Jaw just to watch practice. It’s a hard spot to get to.”

His meeting with Montreal in Buffalo was a difficult one. It sounds like he was challenged significantly on that one fault, that wavering, inconsistent compete level that is a crucial component of how the Canadiens evaluate players.

“I think Montreal they were really hard on me this week,” Lakovic said. “A lot of criticism, but also a lot of positivity. I think they’re happy with my game and how far I’ve come along. I think they do like me, but you never know when draft day comes.”

The Canadiens have a type. They like tall, lanky forwards because, eventually, the lanky part will go away as the player fills out. Lakovic fits the type and has all the physical tools they are looking for. However, competing is non-negotiable to them as well, and the Canadiens will need to be convinced that it is something Lakovic can improve.

The fact that Lakovic is already working to do that should be an encouraging sign.

“I know that’s something I need to improve,” he said. “I watch my games back and I see parts of the game I need to clean up. I’m working with a sport psych right now to help me clean that up so I can stay consistent through that. I think competing is a choice, and right now I’m picking my spots to do it. I just need to make it an all-the-time thing.”

Cameron Reid, LHD, Kitchener Rangers

If Reid were two inches taller, he probably would not be an option for the Canadiens. But he’s not.

He measured in at 6 foot, 183 pounds, which makes Reid undersized by NHL standards. However, his coach in Kitchener, Jussi Ahokas, had coached Miro Heiskanen on the Finnish national junior team. As soon as Reid arrived in Kitchener last season, Ahokas made that comparison for Reid.

Aside from being a bit shorter than the 6-foot-2 Heiskanen, Reid feels the comparison fits.

“I’m not as tall as him, but I like to think that I skate like him,” Reid said. “I think the game in a way that he does. Yeah, I love it.”

The Canadiens were not a constant presence in Reid’s orbit this season, with him estimating they spoke to him no more often than any other team.

However, Reid’s dynamic puck-moving ability, strong skating, and defensive closing skills make him an attractive fit for what the Canadiens look for on the back end.

And to Reid’s eye, the Canadiens appear very interested in him because of their eyes.

“Everyone says they’re a little more pressure in interviews, and it’s going to be harder, but I think it was just their interest. I think they seemed very interested, asked me a lot of questions, and everyone in the room was dialed in; there wasn’t anyone distracted.

“It was a good, solid interview where they seemed very interested,” Reid said. “I think it was just the eyes. Everyone had eyes on me. I think that was the big thing. I didn’t see anyone look at their phone. It was just everyone in the room trying to get to know me better. And I think that was pretty cool.”

This is likely not a one-way feeling. We are hearing that the Canadiens also think Reid is cool.

(Top photo of Logan Hensler: Michael Miller / ISI Photos / Getty Images)

This news was originally published on this post .

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