Aquisition of the Montreal Canadiens which is a real steal: many first-round picks from the 2019 draft are not as good as Harvey-Pinard

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Elias Edmonson
October 16, 2023 (9:09)

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The 2019 NHL draft was an exceptional one. Many of the players selected that year are currently having a significant impact on their respective teams. Jack Hughes (1st overall pick), Trevor Zegras (9th overall pick), and Dylan Cozen (7th overall pick), for instance, are all now important players and even stars in the league.

What's interesting here is that the Montreal Canadiens currently not only have three players drafted in the top 20 of that draft but also three of the top nine scorers from that class to date. These players are Kirby Dach (3rd overall pick, 5th top scorer from the draft class), Cole Caufield (15th overall pick, 8th top scorer from the draft class), and Alex Newhook (16th overall pick, 9th top scorer from the draft class).

And there's even more. In a recent article, journalist Mathias Brunet from "La Pesse" pointed out that the Quebecois Rafaël Harvey-Pinard ranks 21st among scorers from this draft class. The one who was drafted by the Canadiens at the 201st spot already has more points than 16 players selected in the first round in 2019.

Here's the breakdown:

Alex Turcotte - Kings (5th overall): 0 points in 12 games
Philip Broberg - Oilers (8th overall): 11 points in 70 games
Victor Soderstrom - Coyotes (11th overall): 11 points in 50 games
Thomas Harley - Stars (18th overall): 6 points in 40 games
Lassi Thomson - Senators (19th overall): 5 points in 18 games
Ville Heinola - Jets (20th overall): 11 points in 35 games
Samuel Poulin - Penguins (21st overall): 11 points in 35 games
Tobias Bjornfot - Kings (22nd overall): 15 points in 117 games
Simon Holmstrom - Islanders (23rd overall): 9 points in 50 games
Connor McMichael - Capitals (25th overall): 18 points in 75 games
Jakob Pelletier - Flames (26th overall): 7 points in 24 games
Nolan Foote - Lightning (27th overall): 7 points in 19 games
Ryan Suzuki - Hurricanes (28th overall): 0 points in 0 games
Brayden Tracey - Ducks (29th overall): 0 points in 1 game
John Beecher - Bruins (30th overall): 0 points in 1 game
Ryan Johnson - Sabres (31st overall): 0 points in 0 games
[...]
Rafaël-Harvey-Pinard - Canadiens (201st overall): 23 points in 40 games

Brunet also reports that if one calculated the average points per game, Harvey-Pinard would break into the top 10 of the draft class. Wow!

However, he has played far fewer games than the big names of the draft, having only 40 games under his belt. The sample size is still small, but it's quite revealing.

It goes to show that the draft position is just a number, and one must work hard afterward to secure a spot with the main team. Harvey-Pinard understands this and is silencing his critics.