On Monday, RDS pointed out what had happened in the past when the Montreal Canadiens selected twice in the first round. While the Habs have sometimes struck gold, they’ve also had their fair share of “swing and a miss”. Let’s take a walk down memory lane…

 Canadiens: The Grades Are In – Arber Xhekaj
Canadiens: The Grades Are In – Lane Hutson
Canadiens: The Grades Are In – Goaltending Edition

2024: Ivan Demidov (fifth) and Michael Hage (21st)

It’s much too early to know how this double selection will pan out, but so far, so good. Demidov has made an impact since he joined the Canadiens at the tail end of the season, and Hage has had a great rookie season in the NCAA with Michigan, and he was named Big 10 Rookie of the Year.

2022: Juraj Slafkovsky (first) and Filip Mesar (16th)

Despite the criticism Slafkovsky has generated this season, 51 points in 79 games as a 21-year-old is pretty good. The young Slovak has already played 200 NHL games, and he’s still maturing. The future looks bright for the power forward. As for Mesar, he has yet to make a real impact in the AHL. After 45 games, he only has 19 points, but just like Slafkovsky, he’s still young.

2007: Ryan McDonagh (12th) and Max Pacioretty (22nd)

McDonagh is the one that got away, an incredibly talented young defenseman. He was sacrificed to obtain forward Scott Gomez and had a great career. 1010 NHL games, 420 points, two Stanley Cups, and he wore the “C” for the New York Rangers, no need to say which team won that trade.

Pacioretty has played 939 NHL games, 681 points, worn the “C” for the Canadiens, and landed them their current captain, Nick Suzuki. Those two picks were a home run. It's a shame that one of the two players never suited up for the Sainte-Flanelle.

2001: Mike Komisarek (seventh) and Alexander Perezhogin (25th)

Komisarek looked very good patrolling the Canadiens’ blueline with Andrei Markov. Still, once he went off on his own, signing with the Toronto Maple Leafs as a free agent, his play dropped dramatically. Did he miss Markov, or did Milan Lucic “break him” in that fight? We’ll never know.

As for Perezhogin, he skated with the Canadiens in parts of two seasons, playing 128 games and picking up 34 points before deciding to head back to Russia.

2000: Ron Hainsey (13th) and Marcel Hossa (16th)

Hainsey played 1132 games in the NHL, putting up 311 points and picking up 443 penalty minutes, but only 32 were played with the Sainte-Flanelle. No, he wasn’t traded…he was lost on waivers on Bob Gainey’s watch when the Columbus Blue Jackets picked him up.

Hossa lacked his brother Marian’s talent, and he was unable to establish himself in the NHL. He skated in 237 games and scored only 61 points.

1985: Jose Charbonneau (12th) and Tom Chorske (16th)

The PQ-born Charbonneau looked good in the LHJMQ and the minors, but he couldn’t jump to the pros, playing 71 games in the NHL, and ended his career in the German league.

Meanwhile, Chorske was packaged with Stephane Richer and sent to the New Jersey Devils for Rolland Melanson and Kirk Muller, who was a key cog in the Canadiens' 1993 championship. Chorske won his own Stanley Cup with the Devils a couple of years later, however, and hung up his skates after 596 NHL games.

1984: Petr Svoboda (fifth) and Shayne Corson (eighth)

Svoboda skated with the Canadiens for eight seasons, winning the Stanley Cup in 1985-86 and playing 1028 games with the Habs, Buffalo Sabres, Philadelphia Flyers, and Tampa Bay Lightning.

Corson missed out on both the 23rd and 24th Stanley Cups. He hadn’t made the team for the former, and he was packaged to the Edmonton Oilers for Vincent Damphousse before the latter. Still, he would be back in Montreal for a second tour of duty when the Habs brought him back in the Pierre Turgeon trade with the St. Louis Blues.

1981: Mark Hunter (seventh), Gilbert Delorme (18th), and Jan Ingman (19th)

Hunter spent four seasons in Montreal but couldn’t make much of an impact. He was traded to the Blues in a big swap of picks and would come out of his shell there before beating the Canadiens in the 1989 Stanley Cup final as a member of the Calgary Flames. He ended his career after 628 NHL games in which he scored 384 points.

A right-shot defenseman, Delorme played for two seasons with the Canadiens before moving to St. Louis with Doug Wickenheiser and Greg Paslawski for Perry Turnbull. These days, Delorm is still a panelist on RDS’s Antichambre.

Ingman was drafted but never came to this side of the pond, electing to stay in the Swedish league, Farjestads BK Karlstad.

It remains to be seen if the Canadiens will use the two picks they currently hold in the first round, but one thing’s for sure: drafting is far from an exact science.

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The Buffalo Sabres have a number of roster dilemmas to address this summer, and the players whose contracts are up pose the biggest problem for GM Kevyn Adams. Defenseman Bowen Byram, who scored a career-high 38 points playing a good chunk of the season with Rasmus Dahlin, is someone with the talent to be a #1 defenseman, but may see his path to that role blocked by Dahlin and Owen Power. 

The Sabres acquired Byram from the Colorado Avalanche last March for center Casey Mittelstadt. That deal was partly made because Mittelstadt was an RFA one year away from hitting the open market, and Buffalo did not want to extend Mittelstadt after signing Tage Thompson and Dylan Cozens to long-term deals. Byram still had a year left on a deal signed with the Avs and two years before qualifying for unrestricted free agency. 

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The 23-year-old has encountered injuries throughout his young career, but played a full 82 games last season, which was important for him going into a contract year. Byram’s situation in Buffalo is up in the air, because he never fully realize his full potential playing behind or with a pair of top overall picks signed to long term deals. 

Excited to welcome Bowen Byram to the #QuartexxFamily ❗️🤝 pic.twitter.com/LY3XcCpEyF

— Quartexx Hockey (@QuartexxHockey) May 9, 2025

"I've been lucky enough to come in and get a really good opportunity and play important minutes and meaningful minutes, and I've really enjoyed that. I've taken some strides in my game, and I'll continue to try to improve and turn it to be the best version of myself as possible." Byram said at locker cleanout last month. "I'll talk to my camp (about a new contract)  and talk to Kevin, and we'll figure out what the next step is. I'm excited for that process."

Byram recently switched to Darren Ferris, the same agent as Toronto’s Mitch Marner. Ferris is a tough negotiator who usually recommends players to go to unrestricted free agency, as Marner is likely to go this summer. The blueliner is eligible for salary arbitration this summer, and could choose to slow walk the Sabres and sign another bridge deal, but with Adams and Buffalo looking to make a move to end their long playoff drought, there has been increasing speculation that the Vancouver native could be moved in a trade before next season.  

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Vegas Golden Knights captain Mark Stone will be a game-time decision after suffering an upper-body injury in Game 3, and defenseman Brayden McNabb should be good to play after receiving a maintenance day.

Stone did not play the final two periods of Game 3, which saw the Golden Knights miraculously score with 0.4 seconds remaining. He likely suffered the injury in the first period when he fell to the ice and collided with Edmonton Oilers' Corey Perry's leg. In this morning's practice, the 32-year-old skated in his usual spot on the top line and the first power play unit.

Stone's participation is an indicator that whatever he is hampered by will not keep him out of the lineup, despite his listing as day-to-day.

McNabb was a surprise addition to the lineup for Game 3. The 33-year-old was the victim of a gruesome-looking fall after he was tripped by Viktor Arvidsson in overtime. He did not practice beforehand, and all signs pointed towards his absence. It was a major shock when he appeared on the ice for warmups. 

The Golden Knights are once again in need of a win, and retaining these two veterans should help them feel more secure defensively. With the series lead cut in half, the Golden Knights aren't in a do-or-die situation or must-win territory, but falling behind three games to one is never the situation a team wants to be in. Finding any way to secure a win should help shift the momentum back into the hands of the Golden Knights. 

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