Cowan: Panthers raise the stakes for Canadiens GM Kent Hughes
The Canadiens didn’t have a first-round pick at last year’s NHL Draft after trading the 16th and 17th overall picks to the New York Islanders — along with forward Emil Heineman — in exchange for defenceman Noah Dobson.
The Islanders used the 16th pick to select right-winger Victor Eklund and the 17th pick to take defenceman Kashawn Aitcheson.
Eklund, who is 5-foot-11 and 161 pounds, had 6-18-24 totals in 43 games last season with Djurgardens IF in the Swedish Hockey League and also played nine games in the AHL with the Bridgeport Islanders, posting 3-7-10 totals. The 19-year-old made his NHL debut with the Islanders in their final regular-season game, picking up an assist.
Aitcheson, who is 6-foot-2 and 203 pounds, had 28-42-70 totals in 56 games with the OHL’s Barrie Colts to go along with a plus-46 differential and was named the league’s top defenceman. The 19-year-old, who shoots left, added 8-19-27 totals in 19 playoff games.
Dobson, 26, showed this season why the Canadiens were willing to give up so much to get him as a much-needed right-shot defenceman with experience, posting 12-35-47 totals while averaging 22:29 of ice time per game.
Last year marked the first time since 2008 that the Canadiens didn’t have a first-round pick. That year, former general manager Bob Gainey traded the 25th overall pick and a second-round pick to the Calgary Flames in exchange for forward Alex Tanguay. The Flames used that first-round pick to select forward Greg Nemisz, who would only play 15 games in the NHL.
Since 2008, the Canadiens’ first-round picks have been Louis Leblanc (18th overall in 2009), Jarred Tinordi (22nd, 2010), Nathan Beaulieu (17th, 2011), Alex Galchenyuk (third, 2012), Michael McCarron (25th, 2013), Nikita Scherbak (26th, 2014), Noah Juulsen (26th, 2015), Mikhail Sergachev (ninth, 2016), Ryan Poehling (25th, 2017), Jesperi Kotkaniemi (third, 2018), Cole Caufield (15th, 2019), Kaiden Guhle (16th, 2020), Logan Mailloux (31st, 2021), Juraj Slafkovsky (first, 2022), Filip Mesar (26th, 2022), David Reinbacher (fifth, 2023), Ivan Demidov (fifth, 2024) and Michael Hage (21st, 2024).
Don’t be surprised if the Canadiens trade their first-round pick for a second straight year (28th overall) ahead of Friday’s NHL Draft in Buffalo (7 p.m., Sportsnet, TVA Sports).
The Florida Panthers haven’t had a first-round pick since 2021 — when they selected forward Mackie Samoskevich 24th overall — and they won back-to-back Stanley Cup championships in 2024 and ’25.
Panthers GM Bill Zito traded his first-round pick in 2022 to the Buffalo Sabres for Sam Reinhart. Zito traded his 2023 first-round pick to the Canadiens for Ben Chiarot. The Panthers’ first-round pick in 2024 was traded to the Philadelphia Flyers for Claude Giroux. Last year’s first-round pick was traded to the Calgary Flames for Matthew Tkachuk, and two first-round picks this year were traded last Sunday to the Ottawa Senators for Brady Tkachuk. Zito also traded the Panthers’ first-round pick in 2027 to the Chicago Blackhawks for Seth Jones, his 2028 first-round pick to the Boston Bruins for Brad Marchand, and his 2029 first-round pick to the Senators as part of the deal for Brady Tkachuk.
The NHL has a reputation for being a copycat league and Zito might have other GMs second-guessing the value of first-round picks (especially late ones) over proven players. Especially GMs who are in the window of opportunity to win a Stanley Cup, like the Canadiens are after advancing to the Eastern Conference final this season.
The Canadiens had 13 former first-round picks on their roster this season, but they only drafted four of them — Caufield, Demidov, Slafkovsky and Guhle. The others — Dobson, Nick Suzuki, Mike Matheson, Alex Newhook, Kirby Dach, Phillip Danault, Zachary Bolduc, Joe Veleno and Patrik Laine — were all acquired through (mostly) trades or free agency.
The Panthers have an advantage with warm weather and no state taxes when it comes to attracting players. Hughes has mentioned in the past that during his career as a player agent his clients wanted to go somewhere with a chance to win as much as anything else. Florida wasn’t such an attractive destination when the Panthers weren’t winning.
Canadiens president of hockey operations Jeff Gorton and Hughes have said one of their big goals during the rebuilding process was to make Montreal an attractive destination for players. They have accomplished that with Suzuki, Caufield, Slafkovsky, Dobson, Matheson, Guhle and Lane Hutson all signed to long-term contracts, with Demidov expected to join that group. It will be interesting to see what Hughes can accomplish at the draft and when the free-agent market opens on July 1.
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Zito has set a high bar.
“We want to win; that’s our job, that’s our mission,” Zito told reporters in Florida after acquiring Brady Tkachuk in exchange for two first-round picks this year (ninth and 25th overall), a second-round pick in 2027 and a first-round pick (top-10 protected) in 2029. “Winning is paramount, and the manner in which we’ve been empowered to do it is to pursue excellence. (Owner Vincent Viola and family) allow us to spend to the cap, to do everything we can to be as good as we can be. And when a player of Brady’s stature, ability and, most important, character becomes available, you do what you can to try to acquire players like that and fit them into the group.”
