Free washer | The Bruins at the service of the Canadiens!

The Boston Bruins would do the Canadiens a nice favor by eliminating the Florida Panthers. Even without Patrice Bergeron and now David Krejci, they took a 3-1 lead in their series by winning again on Sunday.

If the Panthers lose in the first or second round of the playoffs, the first-round pick obtained from the Panthers for Ben Chiarot will remain at 17^e rank.

If Florida manages to make a comeback against Boston, and then go through the next round, this choice will drop twelve places, to be in 29^e spot, as the four teams in the playoff semi-finals get the final picks in each round of the draft.

The Canadian, for example, had to fish in 16^e rank in 2021, by virtue of its place in the general classification. But he got the 31^e and the second-to-last pick of the first round and the next six because of his appearance in the Stanley Cup Finals.

Montreal chose defender Logan Mailloux at this rank.

There was a moment during the winter when Canadiens fans dreamed of seeing the Panthers’ choice give them a chance to win the lottery. At one point in the season, that pick was in the top ten.

But the CH will not spit on a choice located at 17^e rank, especially for a rental player like Chiarot, who was no longer in the plans of the Canadian, now in reconstruction, and whose experience in Florida was short-lived.

Higher success rate

There is obviously always a way to find pearls at the end of the first round. But the success rate is significantly higher in the top twenty.

Let’s take four recent drafts at random, between 2017 and 2014, and look at the picks between the 17^e and the 20^e rank, then between the 28^e and the 31^e rank.

2017

• 17- Timothy Liljegren, defenseman, Toronto
• 18- Urho Vaakanainen, defenseman, Boston
• 19- Josh Norris, center, San Jose
• 20- Robert Thomas, center, St. Louis
• 28- Shane Bowers, center, Ottawa
• 29- Henri Jokiharju, defender, Buffalo
• 30- Eeli Tolvanen, forward, Nashville
• 31- Kim Kostin, forward, St. Louis

2016

• 17- Dante Fabbro, defenseman, Nashville
• 18- Logan Stanley, defenseman, Winnipeg
• 19-Kieffer Bellows, forward, NY Islanders
• 20- Dennis Cholowski, defenseman, Detroit
• 27- Brett Howden, forward, Tampa
• 28- Lucas Johansen, defenseman, Washington
• 29- Trent Frederic, center, Boston
• 30- Sam Steel, center, Anaheim

2015

• 17- Kyle Connor, forward, Winnipeg
• 18- Thomas Chabot, defenseman, Ottawa
• 19- Evgeny Svechnikov, center, Detroit
• 20- Joel Eriksson-Ek, center, Minnesota
• 27- Jacob Larsson, defenseman, Anaheim
• 28- Anthony Beauvillier, forward, NY Islanders
• 29- Gabriel Carlsson, defender, Columbus
• 30- Nick Merkley, forward, Arizona

2014

• 17- Travis Sanheim, defender, Philadelphia
• 18- Alex Tuch, forward, Minnesota
• 19- Tony DeAngelo, defenseman, Tampa
• 20- Nick Schmaltz, center, Chicago
• 27- Nikolay Goldobin, striker, San Jose
• 28- Josh Ho-Sang, forward, NY Islanders
• 29- Adrian Kempe, striker, Los Angeles
• 30- John Quenneville, center, New Jersey

Out of sixteen players drafted between 17^e and the 20^ethere were nine attacking trio players or top four in defense, for a success rate of 56%, against only two, Adrian Kempe and Henri Jokiharju for the choices between the 27^e and the 30^e rank, for a rate of only 12.5%.

We didn’t list Anthony Beauvillier in the offensive line forward category since he hasn’t had a career season of more than 40 points, but he could become one if he continues on such a path since his acquisition. by the Canucks (20 points in 33 games).

Eeli Tolvanen is doing well on a third line in Seattle after being off waivers over the winter (27 points, including 16 goals, in 48 games), but he will need to keep up the pace for a few seasons before be considered a top striker.

So there is a way to find dominant players between the 17^e and the 20^e rank. Robert Thomas is a number one center in St. Louis. He’s been producing at a rate of 80 points per season over a full year for the past two years.

Josh Norris was Ottawa’s No. 1 center at the start of the season before being injured, producing 55 points in 66 games at just 22 years old the previous year.

Joel Eriksson-Ek was slow to blossom in Minnesota, but he finally achieved the same status at 26. He is coming off a 61-point season and has been his club’s most-used center.

Alex Tuch also developed late. He even changed teams twice. He has just amassed 79 points, including 36 goals, in just 74 games in Buffalo.

Kyle Connor has been one of the NHL’s leading scorers for several years and Thomas Chabot has been established for several seasons as the Senators’ number one defenseman.

For a Brady Skjei (28^e) in 2012, there is also Tomas Hertl (17^e), Teuvo Teravainen (18^e) and Andrei Vasilevskiy (19^e).

If he makes a wise choice, the Canadian could get his hands on an interesting player at 17^e rank. The Bruins must now finish the job.

The impact of Ryan O’Reilly

The series between the Maple Leafs and the Lightning is still young, Toronto leads only 2-1, after all, but the acquisition of Ryan O’Reilly is already worth its weight in gold, regardless of the conclusion of this series.

The Blues captain, secured with Noel Acciari for a late 2023 first-round pick, and second-, third-, and fourth-round picks, had a direct impact on the Leafs’ win on Sunday, and possibly their comeback with panache after an embarrassing loss at the start of the series.

The experience and composure of O’Reilly, winner of the Conn-Smythe Trophy in the Blues’ 2019 Cup win, arguably had an impact after the first game.

On Saturday, not only did O’Reilly tie the game with a minute left in the third period by grabbing a return shot in the slot, he blocked a shot in the final moments of the period and then won clearly an important face-off in front of Brayden Point with 47 seconds left in the first period of overtime to provoke the winning goal from defender Morgan Reilly. He also got an assist on Acciari’s goal in the first half.

O’Reilly has five points in three games so far and a 61% save percentage in face-offs. His presence offers no guarantee of success, but to at least give himself a chance to make it past the first round for the first time since 2004, the Leafs had to rely on a player of this caliber.