By recently signing a two-year contract extension with the Pittsburgh Penguins, Jeff Carter remains at the height of the fight in the race for the 2003 player longevity title, one of the strongest in franchise history. the NHL.
Posted at 12:00 p.m.
They are not very numerous anymore: Carter, Patrice Bergeron, Marc-André Fleury, Brent Burns, Dustin Brown, Ryan Suter, Ryan Getzlaf, Corey Perry, Joe Pavelski, Loui Eriksson, Brian Boyle, Nate Thompson, Jaroslav Halak.
Three Quebecers drafted that year, Maxime Lapierre, Bruno Gervais and Alexandre Picard, have already been on our screens as analysts for a few years.
For many Canadian fans, Jeff Carter always brings back a painful memory. Trevor Timmins was in his first draft with the CH. André Savard had just been knocked out in favor of Bob Gainey. Timmins only had eyes for Andrei Kostitsyn. Savard preferred Carter. When you have just been knocked down, you hit a little less hard with your fist. He let Timmins operate.
Kostitsyn wasn’t off to a bad start, though. In his first full season, at age 22, he scored 26 goals and amassed 53 points on the first line with Tomas Plekanec and Alexei Kovalev, the same number of points as Carter, and three goals less.
The young man lost his passion, his talent and his work ethic in the crazy nights of Montreal and after a second season of 23 goals, his performance would drop sharply. Despite 84 goals in 292 games in Montreal between 2007 and 2011, an average of 28 goals per year over a full season, he was to be kicked out of the NHL at age 27.
This same André Savard had been mandated to spy on the Montreal Rocket playoffs that spring. He had fallen very badly. Corey Urquhart had a fantastic first round there with 15 points, including 9 goals, in just 7 games.
As he had to fulfill his mandate as GM the previous winter, he had obviously not had the leisure to see a certain Patrice Bergeron at work, in Acadie-Bathurst, in the heart of New Brunswick, and drafted five ranks after Urquhart.
Montreal will have at least one good support player late in the second round, Urquhart’s teammate Maxime Lapierre, 614 games in the National Hockey League — 614 more than Urquhart — and even a 15-goal season for CH.
Finally, in the ninth round, after Ryan O’Byrne, Corey Locke, Danny Stewart and the friendly tough guy Jimmy Bonneau, who has since become an assistant coach in the Sharks organization, the Canadian got his hands on a goalkeeper with modest talent. in appearance, Jaroslav Halak, who, in the end, ranks second for games played among all the goalkeepers of this vintage behind the first overall choice, Marc-André Fleury.
Excluding all the mitigating factors mentioned above, this draft will have been a disaster for the Canadian. There is not much possible consolation. Nevertheless, let’s have fun drawing up a kind of family tree to see what remains of it today, almost 20 years later.
Lapierre was traded for Brett Festerling who didn’t earn anything afterwards. Ditto for O’Byrne, transferred to Colorado for Michael Bournival, who later became an unrestricted free agent.
In June 2010, the CEO at the time, Pierre Gauthier, had to decide between Carey Price and Halak. He traded Halak to the St. Louis Blues for Lars Eller and Ian Schultz. This one went out in the ECHL. After six seasons in a defensive role in Montreal, Eller was traded to the Washington Capitals in June 2016 for two second-round picks, in 2017 and 2018.
The first of these choices gave Joni Ikonen. This young man showed great promise, but repeated injuries sabotaged his development and the CH organization did not retain him.
The second-round pick in 2018, the last of the second round, was traded to the Edmonton Oilers, who were keen on goaltender Olivier Rodrigue at this rank, the 62and.
Edmonton traded back their third-round pick, 71and overall, and a fifth-round pick, 133and in total, for the 62and.
Montreal drafted forward Samuel Houde in the fifth round, but did not offer him a contract two years later. Houde agreed to an American League contract last summer with the Wilkes-Barre Penguins.
In the third round, for those who would not have guessed it yet, the CH drafted Jordan Harris, one of the best hopes of the organization in defense.
Harris turned down a contract offer from the former administration last year to play a final season at Northeastern University.
He would be entitled to full autonomy in August if he does not agree with the Canadiens by then. But if the ties between general manager Kent Hughes and Harris, whom he coached in the minors, are as strong as believed, the odds of Harris joining the Canadiens are better today than they might seem. were two months ago. This is to be desired for Montreal.
Danault again!
Phillip Danault scored twice on Wednesday night as the Kings beat the Detroit Red Wings to come within two points of the Golden Knights and first in the Pacific Division with a 24-16 record -7. Danault, 28, at the center of the second line with Trevor Moore and Viktor Arvidsson, now has 12 goals (in 45 games), one less than his personal high achieved with the Canadian in 2017.
Not to miss !
1- The Canadians crushed the Swiss, at the Olympic ice hockey tournament, but lost one of their best, Melodie Daoust, injured following a violent check. A text by Alexander Pratt.
2-In China, as in Quebec or Austria, Mikaël Kingsbury is dominant. Simon Drouin summarizes his day.
3- Who wants to go coach hockey in China for a very good salary?