Best fit or best overall result

The balls have spoken in the NHL draft lottery and the Montreal Canadiens will have the honor of selecting the fifth player for the second year in a row and eighth time overall. Last year, Kent Hughes selected the big, late-rising defenseman from Austria, David Reinbacher, who made his AHL debut late this season and even scored a goal in his first game.

The Canadiens are a team on the rise after nearly suffering a historic fall following their fantastic run to the 2021 Finals. The management team has quickly built a very respectable pool of talent in a short amount of time, and everyone will be looking to see the Habs take a step up this year. And while the 5th overall pick likely won't have an immediate impact at the NHL level, whoever Hughes selects will be a key building block for the team going forward.

So the question is, who will be the lucky player? Will the Canadiens sign a talented Russian forward after missing out on Matvei Michkov last year? Will they go for the late-riser and pedigree of Tij Iginla? Or will they ignore the latest reports and go for Cayden Lindstrom? Or could the Habs target one of the many top defensemen like Zeev Buium, Artyom Levshunov or Zayne Parekh?

It really depends on what philosophy the Montreal Canadiens scouts and decision makers have when drafting. Will they look beyond the position and just select the best player available, or will the position win and potentially leave more quality on the table?

But first we have to check the cabinets.