Ivan Demidov or Macklin Celebrini: the Habs got their final answer

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Elias Edmonson
April 18, 2024 (10:25)

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As the 2023-2024 season of the Montreal Canadiens has ended, Kent Hughes and his colleagues will be monitoring the next NHL lottery.

As we mentioned yesterday, there was an important game for the Habs Wednesday night, a game between the Arizona Coyotes and the Edmonton Oilers.

A regulation time loss by the Coyotes against the Oilers would have moved the CH out of the top-5 for the lottery. That would have been a shame.

However, a point earned by the Coyotes against the Oilers secured the 5th position (overall) in the NHL's reverse standings for Kent Hughes' men.

The verdict has just been delivered!

Kent Hughes and the CH will have the 5th best lottery ticket thanks to the Coyotes' victory!

André Tourigny and the Yotes indeed won by a score of 5 to 2 against Edmonton, in their last game in Arizona.

On behalf of the Canadiens and the fans, thank you to the Coyotes!

See then the final verdict for the Tricolore, ahead of the 2024 NHL lottery:

«With the Coyotes' win yesterday, they have surpassed the Canadiens in the overall standings. The Canadiens officially finish in 28th place and improve their fate for the June draft with 8.5% chances of winning the lottery.» - Renaud Lavoie, TVA Sports

«The Habs now have a :

� 8.5% chance of winning 1OA (1st overall pick)

� 8.6% chance of winning 2OA (2nd overall pick)

� 24.5% chance of picking 5OA (5th overall pick)

� 44.0% chance of picking 6OA (6th overall pick)

� 14.2% chance of picking 7OA (7th overall pick)

At worst, we will choose 7th overall, and realistically, we will choose 5th-6th

Now, we start praying that several defensemen enter the top 5. The possibility that Lindstrom or Demidov slip to our pick is high. Believe it!» - The Habitant

This will really be interesting to monitor! We're obviously talking a lot about Macklin Celebrini (#1), but Ivan Demidov (#2) would also be an extremely interesting option!

That's still a 17.1% chance of choosing in the top-2!

As for Demidov, he is described as a Matvei Michkov with a superb attitude and no worries about his KHL contract.

Case to follow in the coming days.