The Montreal Canadiens have only won three of their last 14 games, but they sit ahead of the bottom five in the NHL standings. Are they better off with a top-five pick instead of winning games in the homestretch?
The Montreal Canadiens continue to rebuild and finished last in the Atlantic Division in the last two seasons.
They have some recent draft picks showing promise, including forward Juraj Slafkovsky finding some scoring streaks in the NHL, defenseman David Reinbacher joining AHL Laval and Lane Hutson leading NCAA blueliners in points.
The Canadiens have five players who made the top 100 prospects list in The Hockey News Future Watch 2024 issue: Reinbacher, Hutson, center Owen Beck, right wing Joshua Roy and right wing Filip Mesar. But overall, their prospect pool only ranks 17th in the NHL.
With 15 games left in the 2023-24 season, they're second-last in the division, with one point ahead of the Ottawa Senators, and they're 26th in the NHL. Is that still too high in the standings for them to get some more top-end talent at the NHL draft?
Michael Traikos and Ryan Kennedy discussed which team could tank its tanking odds by winning games in the homestretch despite the playoffs being out of reach in The Hockey News Pre-Game Show:
Check out the full episode below.