The Montreal Canadiens went into the 2019 looking for forward help. The prospect list was cluttered with defenseman with very few top notch forwards. The past couple of years have seen the likes of Noah Dobson, Henrik Jokiharju, Jared McIsaac and Martin Fehervary drafted while Caleb Jones, Christian Jaros and Vladislav Gavrikov have made their NHL debuts.

Luckily the 2019 NHL draft was loaded with forwards at the top, so picking 8th assured us of getting one of the best forwards in the class. Dylan Cozens fell to us at 8 and was an obvious pick. He has tremendous skating ability, skill and plays a 200 foot game which is a staple of the Canadiens organization. While he is currently listed as a C, we see him as a top line RW eventually and he should make his NHL debut in 2020.

The next two picks we had also went to the forward side of the ice in Philip Tomasino and Simon Holmstrom at 20 and 38 respectively. Both ended up in the first round of the NHL draft and both have some offensive skill that this franchise lacks. Tomasino also plays a 200 foot game but is currently known more for his offense. Still just 17 he already has a ppg season in the OHL under his belt. Once he puts on some weight, big things will be expected from this kid. Holmstrom is kind of a wild card due to injury concerns. If he wasn't injured, he would have went 20 picks higher in the NEFHL draft, so he definitely has the talent to be a top notch player in the NEFHL. If healthy, he should move up to the SHL this season which will go a long way for his development.

Five other forwards were drafted this year for a total of 8 in the draft. That is exactly what the plan was and none of them seemed to be a reach outside of maybe Rhett Pitlick who went almost 2 rounds later in the NL draft. Greg Meireles was drafted finally in his third and final chance after putting up a 97 point season in the OHL.

The Canadiens did draft two defensemen as well, Kaedan Korczak in the 3rd and Martin Hugo Has in the 5th. Korczak was available in the early part of day 2 and while forwards were the objective, we couldn't let him slip any further. He ended up going early in round 2 in the NHL draft due to his solid defensive game and potential for offense. He was a safe pick, but if you can get a NHL regular in round 3 of the NEFHL draft, you have to jump at it. Has had a disappointing year after being highly rated when the season started. He is a big man and should get a shot to play in Liiga this season which will show us if he has a shot at one day being in the NEFHL.

Only one goalie was drafted in Trent Miner. He put up a stellar 1.98 GAA in the WHL this season, but fell to the 7th round in the NHL draft due to this size. The NHL is going more towards the giant goalies and since Miner is barely over 6 feet tall, he slipped in the NHL draft. There is still good potential there.

All in all, the Canadiens had 10 of the 11 NEFHL picks go in the NHL draft which is very good to see. This is 3 solid drafts in the row for the franchise which should start seeing some of these kids in the NHL this year and start moving them back into playoff contention in the near future.