The Montreal Canadiens went into the 2017 NEFHL draft with 10 picks, and after a few trades during the draft they walked away with 12 picks. With 7 of them in the top 100, it was critical that they drafted well to continue to replenish the farm stystem.

Out of the 12 picks, the Canadiens picked up 1 goalie, 5 defensemen, 1 winger and 5 Centers. All but 3 of the 12 picks were drafted in the NHL and most of them went within a few spots in the NHL draft compared to where they went in the NEFHL draft. Here are some of the highs and lows of the draft.

Both of the 1st rounders from their NEFHL draft went in the 1st in the NHL, along with their second rounder. Henri Jokiharju was a pleasent surprise going 11 spots earlier and landing in Chicago while Klim Kostin went 11 spots lower and landing in St Louis. Kostin ended up in a great spot though and should be able to learn a lot from Tarasenko. He has an outside shot at playing in the NHL as early as this year. Jokiharju is the 4th Canadiens D taken in the 2nd round and ending up in the 1st over the last decade. Another positive pick was Fedor Gordeev who went almost 2 rounds earlier to Toronto in the NHL draft. He started shooting up the rankings the second half of the year and made it all the way into the 5th round.

Not all was good though in Montreal though. All 3 of the 6th round picks failed to be drafted. Luckily, Alexis Binner is going to college and that gives him 4 years to make an impression on a team before he needs to be signed in the NEFHL. The other big slide was Pavel Koltygin who went 2.5 rounds later in the NHL draft, most likely due to the fact he refuses to play defense. If he can start showing some effort on that side of the ice, he could end up being a steal for Nashville.

Overall, Montreal did a great job of restocking the top part of their prospect pool in this draft with 3 of these picks finding their way into the top 10 of their prospect rankings.

Here are the results at the conclusion of the NHL draft

11. Canadiens, Michael Rasmussen - 9 Red Wings
20. Canadiens, Klim Kostin - 31 Blues
40. Canadiens, Henri Jokiharju - 29 Blackhawks
70. Canadiens, MacKenzie Entwistle - 69 Coyotes
74. Canadiens, Dmitri Samorukov - 84 Oilers
93. Canadiens, Stuart Skinner - 78 Oilers
99. Canadiens, Pavel Koltygin - 176 Predators
130. Canadiens, Tyler Inamoto - 133 Panthers
153. Canadiens, Greg Meireles - Undrafted
160. Canadiens, Kevin Hancock - Undrafted
162. Canadiens, Alexis Binner - Undrafted
190. Canadiens, Fedor Gordeev - 141 Maple Leafs