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5th choice: “Tij Iginla wouldn’t be in the running”.

MONCTON, CANADA - JANUARY 23: Tij Iginla #17 of Team White stick handle the puck during practice session of 2024 Kabota Top Prospects game at Avenir Centre on January 23, 2024 in Moncton, Canada. (Photo by Dale Preston/Getty Images)

Less than ten days remain before the NHL Entry Draft. Teams are in the final sprint to prepare their rosters for the colorful auction.

With aton of big first-round picks on the market, there’s no telling what to expect.

The question now is what Kent Hughes will do with the fifth pick. We know that Macklin Celebrini will no longer be available, and it’s safe to assume that Artyom Levshunov won’t be either.

Two others will be gone, but who? Who knows?

But according to Marc-Olivier Beaudoin(who posted a mock draft with Tony Patoine on the DLC website this morning), the Habs are starting to get an idea of who they’re going to draft in the fifth spot. Obviously, Ivan Demidov and Cayden Lindstrom (with Demidov named ahead of Lindstrom)… then Zeev Buium and Beckett Sennecke in the third spot.

So, Tij Iginla isn’t there… and Beaudoin confirms that, at the moment, Iginla “wouldn’t be in the running”.

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Demidov and Lindstrom are names that have come up since the beginning of the process, and Sennecke’s name has been circulating for a few weeks. Some feel that the fifth rank is a bit hasty in his case, but obviously, he seems to be in consideration.

In Buium’s case, it’s a little more recent… but we know the Habs like him. If the club takes a defenseman, I have a feeling it’ll be him.

My impression is that right now, the Habs are hoping to select Demidov or Lindstrom (probably in that order). If they don’t, the club will have to assess whether Sennecke is worth it… or whether they’d rather draft defenseman Buium.

The club undoubtedly prefers a forward, but if the talent is no longer there, it could opt for a defenseman… and that’s where Buium comes in.

So we’ll see how it all evolves, but I have a feeling that the “worst-case” scenario is really one where Demidov and Lindstrom are both drafted in the top-4. If that happens, though, the Habs seem to have their targets… but Iginla doesn’t seem to be one of them.

Overtime

– Chris Peters sees Demidov coming to Montreal.

– Happy listening.

– This is one to watch. I see Linus Ullmark landing in Ottawa or Detroit for 2024-25, personally.