It is always fun to look back at the draft in past years, and see how your favourite team succeeded (or not). Over the years, the draft has been friendly to some teams, and just downright mean to others. The Montreal Canadiens are an interesting team to analyze, as in some years, they were very successful in the draft, while in others, terrible is a word that comes to mind. In this article, we’ll do exactly this, breaking down the drafts from 1990-1998. We stop at 1998, as it is too early to break down drafts after this, as some players have not yet reached their full potential. This article signals the beginning of Habsworld.net’s extensive draft coverage that will last until the draft has come and gone.

The breakdown will consist of the following: First, a list of the picks, followed by the number of NHL’ers, marginal players, and an international breakdown. In order to be a ‘NHL’er’, the player must have made a fairly significant impact in the NHL, while a marginal player has some big league experience, but was pretty much a minor leaguer. (Current Hab prospects do not fall in either category (i.e.: Beauchemin)). The success rate is calculated by dividing the number of NHL’ers by the number of total picks. Now, let’s begin the analysis, starting with 1990.

1. Turner Stevenson – 1st round, 12th overall (Seattle Thunderbirds)
2. Ryan Kuwabara – 2nd round, 39th overall (Ottawa 67’s)
3. Charles Poulin – 3rd round, 58th overall (St. Hyacinthe Lasers)
4. Robert Guillet – 3rd round, 60th overall (Collège Français de Longueuil)
5. Gilbert Dionne – 4th round, 81st overall (Kitchener Rangers)
6. Paul DiPietro – 5th round, 102nd overall (Sudbury Wolves)
7. Craig Conroy – 6th round, 123rd overall (Northwood Prep High School)
8. Stephen Rohr – 7th round, 144th overall (Culver Military Academy High School)
9. Brent Fleetwood – 8th round, 165th overall (Portland Winter Hawks)
10. Derek Maguire Jr. – 9th round, 186th overall (Delbarton High School)
11. Mark Kettelhut – 10th round, 207th overall (Duluth East High School)
12. John Uniac – 11th round, 228th overall (Kitchener Rangers)
13. Sergei Martyniuk – 12th round, 249th overall (Torpedo Jaroslavl, USSR)

Total Picks: 13
NHL’ers: 4 (Stevenson, Dionne, DiPietro, Conroy)
Marginal players: None
Success rate: 31%
North Americans: 12/13 (92%)
Overseas players: 1/13 (8%)

The picks (1991):

1. Brent Bilodeau – 1st round, 17th overall (Seattle Thunderbirds)
2. Jim Campbell – 2nd round, 28th overall (Northwood Prep High School)
3. Craig Darby – 2nd round, 43rd overall (Albany Academy High School)
4. Yves Sarault – 3rd round, 61st overall (St. Jean Lynx)
5. Vladimir Vujtek – 4th round, 73rd overall (Tri_City Americans)
6. Sylvain Lapointe – 4th round, 83rd overall (Clarkson University Knights)
7. Brad Layzell – 5th round, 100th overall (R.P.I.)
8. Tony Prpic – 5th round, 105th overall (Culver Military Academy High School)
9. Oleg Petrov – 6th round, 127th overall (CSKA, USSR)
10. Brady Kramer – 7th round, 149th overall (Haverford High School)
11. Brian Savage – 8th round, 171st overall (University of Miami_Ohio)
12. Scott Fraser – 9th round, 193rd overall (Dartmouth University Green)
13. Greg MacEachern – 10th round. 215th overall (Laval Titans)
14. Paul Lepler – 11th round, 237th overall (Rochester Junior A)
15. Dale Hooper – 12th round, 259th overall (Springfield Junior B)

Total Picks: 15
NHL’ers: 2 (Petrov, Savage)
Marginal players: 3 (Campbell, Darby, Vujtek)
Success rate: 13%
North Americans: 14/15 (93%)
Overseas players: 1/15 (7%)

1. David Wilkie – 1st round, 20th overall (Kamloops Blazers)
2. Valeri Bure – 2nd round, 33rd overall (Spokane Chiefs)
3. Keli Corpse – 2nd round, 44th overall (Kingston Frontenacs)
4. Craig Rivet – 3rd round, 68th overall (Kingston Frontenacs)
5. Louis Bernard – 4th round, 82nd overall (Voltigeurs de Drummondville)
6. Marc Lamothe – 4th round. 92nd overall (Kingston Frontenacs)
7. Don Chase – 5th round, 116th overall (Springfield Junior B, USJ)
8. Martin Sychra – 6th round, 140th overall (Zetor Brno, CSFR)
9. Christian Proulx – 7th round, 164th overall (St. Jean Lynx)
10. Michael Burman – 8th round, 188th overall (North Bay Centennials)
11. Earl Cronan – 9th round, 212th overall (St. Mark’s, US High School)
12. Trent Cavicchi – 10th round, 236th overall (Dartmouth, Midget Nova Scotia)
13. Hiroyuki Miura – 11th round, 260th overall (Kushiro High School, Japan)

Total Picks: 13
NHL’ers: 4 (Wilkie, Bure, Rivet, Proulx)
Marginal players: 1 (Lamothe)
Success rate: 31%
North Americans: 11/13 (85%)
Overseas players: 2/13 (15%)

1. Saku Koivu – 1st round, 21st overall (TPS_Turku, Finland)
2. Rory Fitzpatrick – 2nd round, 47th overall (Sudbury Wolves)
3. Sebastien Bordeleau – 3rd round, 73rd overall (Hull Olympiques)
4. Adam Wiesel – 4th round, 85th overall (Springfield Junior B, USJR)
5. Jean_Francois Houle – 4th round, 99th overall (Northwood Prep High School)
6. Jeff Lank – 5th round, 113th overall (Prince Albert Raiders)
7. Dion Darling – 5th round, 125th overall (Spokane Chiefs)
8. Darcy Tucker – 6th round, 151st overall (Kamloops Blazers)
9. David Ruhly – 7th round, 177th overall (Culver Military Academy High School)
10. Alan Letang – 8th round, 203rd overall (Newmarket Royals)
11. Alexandre Duchesne – 9th round, 229th overall (Voltigeurs de Drummondville)
12. Brian Larochelle – 10th round, 255th overall (Philips_Exeter High School)
13. Russell Guzior – 11th round, 281st overall (Culver Military Academy)

Total Picks: 13
NHL’ers: 4 (Koivu, Fitzpatrick, Bordeleau, Tucker)
Marginal players: 1 (Letang)
Success rate: 31%
North Americans: 13/13 (100%)
Overseas players: 0/13 (0%)

1. Brad Brown – 1st round, 18th overall (North Bay Centennials)
2. Jose Theodore – 2nd round, 44th overall (St. Jean Lynx)
3. Chris Murray – 3rd round, 54th overall (Kamloops Blazers)
4. Marko Kiprusoff – 3rd round, 70th overall (TPS_Turku, Finland)
5. Martin Belanger – 3rd round, 74th overall (Granby Bisons)
6. Arto Kuki – 4th round, 96th overall (Kiekko_Espoo, Finland)
7. Jimmy Drolet – 5th round, 122nd overall (St. Hyacinthe Lasers)
8. Joel Irving – 6th round, 148th overall (Regina Midgets)
9. Jessie Rezansoff – 7th round, 174th overall (Regina Pats)
10. Peter Strom – 8th round, 200th overall (Frolunda, Sweden)}
11.Tomas Vokoun – 9th round, 226th overall (Poldi Kladno, Czech)
12. Christopher Aldous – 10th round, 252nd overall (Northwood Prep High School)
13. Ross Parsons – 11th round, 278th overall (Regina Pats)

Total Picks: 13
NHL’ers: 3 (Brown, Theodore, Vokoun)
Marginal players: 2 (Murray, Kiprusoff)
Success rate: 23%
North Americans: 9/13 (69%)
Overseas players: 4/13 (31%)

The picks (1995):

1. Terry Ryan – 1st round, 8th overall (Tri_City Americans)
2. Miloslav Guren – 3rd round, 60th overall (ZPS Zlin, Czech.)
3. Martin Hohenberger – 3rd round, 74th overall (Prince George Cougars)
4. Jonathan Delisle – 4th round, 86th overall (Hull Olympiques)
5. Niklas Anger – 5th round, 112th overall (Djurgarden Junior, Sweden)
6. Boyd Olson – 6th round, 138th overall (Tri_City Americans)
7. Stephane Robidas – 7th round, 164th overall (Cataractes de Shawinigan)
8. Greg Hart – 8th round, 190th overall (Kamloops Blazers)
9. Eric Houde – 9th round, 216th overall (Halifax Mooseheads)

Total Picks: 9
NHL’ers: 1 (Robidas)
Marginal players: 2 (Ryan, Guren)
Success rate: 11%
North Americans: 7/9 (78%)
Overseas players: 2/9 (22%)

1. Matt Higgins – 1st round, 18th overall (Moose Jaw Warriors)
2. Mathieu Garon – 2nd round, 44th overall (Victoriaville Tigers)
3. Arron Asham – 3rd round, 71st overall (Red Deer Rebels)
4. Kim Staal – 4th round, 92nd overall (Malmo, Sweden)
5. Etienne Drapeau – 4th round, 99th overall (Harfangs de Beauport)
6. Daniel Archambault – 5th round, 127th overall (Foreurs de Val D’or)
7. Brett Clark – 6th round, 154th overall (University of Maine)
8. Timo Vertala – 7th round, 181st overall (JYP HT Jyvaskyla, Finland)
9. Mattia Baldi – 8th round, 207th overall (Ambri, Switzerland)
10. Michel Tremblay – 9th round, 233rd overall (Cataractes de Shawinigan)

Total Picks: 10
NHL’ers: 3 (Garon, Asham, Clark)
Marginal players: 1 (Higgins)
Success rate: 30%
North Americans: 7/10 (70%)
Overseas players: 3/10 (30%)

1. Jason Ward – 1st round, 11th overall (Erie Otters)
2. Gregor Baumgartner – 2nd round, 37th overall (Laval Titans)
3. Ilkka Mikkola – 3rd round, 65th overall (Karpat, Finland)
4. Daniel Tetrault – 4th round, 91st overall (Brandon Wheat Kings)
5. Konstantin Sidulov – 5th round, 118th overall (Chelyabinsk, Russia)
6. Gennady Razin – 5th round, 122nd overall (Kamloops Blazers)
7. Jonathan Desroches – 6th round, 145th overall (Granby Predators)
8. Ben Guite – 7th round, 172nd overall (University of Maine)
9. Petr Kubos – 8th round, 197th overall (Vsetin, Czech Republic)
10. Andrei Sidyakin – 8th round, 202nd overall (Salavat Yulayev, Russia)
11. Jarl_Espen Ygranes – 9th round, 228th overall (Furuset, Norway)

Total Picks: 11
NHL’ers: 1 (Ward)
Marginal players: None
Success rate: 9%
North Americans: 6/11 (55%)
Overseas players: 5/11 (45%)

1. Eric Chouinard – 1st round, 16th overall (Quebec Remparts)
2. Mike Ribeiro – 2nd round, 45th overall (Rouyn_Noranda Huskies)
3. Francois Beauchemin – 3rd round, 75th overall (Laval CF Titans)
4. Andrei Bashkirov – 5th round, 132nd overall (Fort Wayne, IHL)
5. Gordie Dwyer – 6th round, 152nd overall (Quebec Remparts)
6. Andrei Markov – 6th round, 162nd overall (Khimik Vosk., Russia)
7. Andrei Kruchinin – 7th round, 189th overall (Lada Togliatti, Russia)
8. Craig Murray – 8th round, 201st overall (Penticton High School)
9. Michael Ryder – 8th round, 216th overall (Hull Olympiques)
10. Darcy Harris – 9th round, 247th overall (Kitchener Rangers)

Total Picks: 10
NHL’ers: 5 (Chouinard, Ribeiro, Dwyer, Markov, Ryder)
Marginal players: 1 (Bashkirov)
Success rate: 50%
North Americans: 8/10 (80%)
Overseas players: 2/10 (20%)

So, there you have it, a “look” at the drafts from 1990-1998. Overall, the Habs were reasonably successful, with a total of 29 “NHL-ers” being drafted, with another 11 “marginal” players being selected. Here is a final breakdown, that summarizes the above in a nut-shell.

Total Picks: 107
NHL’ers: 29 (refer to above for lists)
Marginal players: 11 (refer to above for lists)
Success rate: 27%
North Americans: 87/107 (81%)
Overseas players: 20/107 (19%)

Overall, the Canadiens have a “success rate” of 27%, or roughly 1 out of every 4 selections becoming NHL players. To put it into perspective, roughly 6 players off the Canadiens roster at any given time should be draft picks of the organization. The current roster (at playoff’s end) consisted of 10 draft picks out of 25 players, but keep in mind that some of these players do not appear above, as they were drafted before or after this time period. To sum it up, the Canadiens organization has relied on the draft to be a significant contributor to their player roster, which puts a lot of pressure on the draft day staff of Bob Gainey, Andre Savard, Trevor Timmins, and Pierre Dorion. And with the draft being just 4 weeks away, it’s crunch time.

And now, as a final stat, here are the draft tendencies of recent years, as taken from HW Daily:

Canadiens Recent Draft History

In recent years, the Canadiens have selected more than a couple Europeans, and this year was no exception.  Here is a breakdown of picks since 2000:

2000: 3 Eur., 8 N.A.
2001: 4 Eur., 4 N.A.
2002: 2 Eur., 4 N.A.
2003: 4 Eur., 7 N.A.
2004: 3 Eur., 6 N.A.

Be sure to continue to check Habsworld regularly for more draft previews, and coming soon, a segment where you get to be the GM, and a draft pool where you can predict who goes where.

Questions/comments? E-mail me at [email protected].