Major trade proposed to the Canadiens: a daring strategy to get hold of Connor Bedard

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MarcO
January 6, 2023 (10:25 PM)

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It's safe to say that all hockey fans are falling in love with Connor Bedard.

Team Canada's number 16 junior is making everyone's eyes glaze over and has even become the leading scorer in Team Canada's history at the World Junior Championship with a staggering record.

But the question on the minds of Canadiens fans right now is what are the chances that the young phenom's name will be called by Kent Hughes in the next NHL draft.

Even though the Habs are currently 27th overall, some experts say that the team just can't pass up the chance to draft a player of this caliber. We're probably talking about the best player available in the draft since Connor McDavid in 2015.

In order to move down in the overall rankings and improve the Habs' chances of getting their hands on Bedard, one analyst has come up with a suggestion that may not be universally accepted by Habs fans.

As reported by Jean-Christophe Matte of Fanadiens.com, TSN analyst Eric Macramalla mentioned that if the Habs want to get their hands on Connor Bedard, Kent Hughes will have to start sacrificing veterans like Jake Allen and Joel Edmundson.

We can even add to that the name of forward Josh Anderson.

Basically, Macramalla suggested to Hughes to clear his team in order to have a better chance to draft Connnor Bedard, a strategy already used by the Quebec Nordiques in 1990-1991. In this way, the team secured the last overall NHL roster spot in order to draft the man Bedard surpassed as the best scorer in Canadian team history, the now famous Eric Lindros.

However, at the time, the team that finished last had the automatic first pick in the draft, the same principle as in the National Football League.

And since this is no longer the case in the NHL since 1996, this strategy proposed by the TSN analyst seems a bit crazy to me, since the players suggested for possible trades are respected veterans in the locker room. Moreover, for the Habs' youngest players, it is important to have leaders in the team's entourage.

It is agreed that there are other players on the Habs that most fans would like to see go instead of Edmundson, Anderson and Allen, but they are probably the three players that have some value on the market right now. There is also Sean Monahan, currently on the injured list.

At least with these three players, Hughes might be able to add something interesting for the future of the team. However, from there to get rid of them in order to improve his chances in the next draft, we agree that the first overall pick is not given, it will only help the Canadiens increase their chances.