The unfortunate phrase “Draft Schmaft” became part of the Cliff Fletcher legacy from his first go-round as general manager of the Toronto Maple Leafs. His point, at the time, was that the Toronto Maple Leafs (of the mid-1990’s) need to win “now” and not worry about the future as much. Draft picks would be sacrificed for help that would pay immediate dividends. Fletcher actually didn’t give up so much of the future, though the one trade to bring Wendel Clark back to the Leaf fold included an existing first-round pick in Kenny Jonsson and a future first-round pick (that would be used to select Roberto Luongo) heading to the New York Islanders.
Two decades later, Leafs fans have watched first-round picks like Brad Boyes, Carlo Colaiacovo, Alex Steen, Jiri Tlusty, Tuuka Rask, Steve Bernier, Tyler Seguin and Dougie Hamilton thrive on other NHL teams with the Leafs having very little to show for it other than Phil Kessel. The price of Toronto’s position on the draft.
Compounding the frustration of Toronto fans is the success of other teams with different draft strategies. Depending on how you choose to look at it, the Montreal Canadiens stand one game away from elimination from the Eastern Conference Final or two wins away from a trip to the Stanley Cup Final.
The secret of their success? Quite simple: excellent drafting. Go back—way back—to 1998 and a sixth-round pick by the name of Andrei Markov. Through many injury battles he has remained an underrated anchor on the Habs’ blue line. The likes of James Wisniewski, Sheldon Souray and Mike Komisarek were all able to cash in on their time in Montreal to strike it rich with big contracts as free agents. All were partnered with and elevated by Markov. Only Wisniewski has come anywhere close to living up to expectations since leaving the Habs.
Goaltending is often a difficult position to draft. Goaltenders selected in the Top 10 since 2000 include Rick DiPietro (1st by NY Islanders in 2000), Brent Krahn (9th by Calgary in 2000), Pascal Leclaire (8th by Columbus in 2001), Kari Lehtonen (2nd by Atlanta in 2002) and Al Montoya (6th overall by NY Rangers in 2004). In every other year of the past decade and a half, not a single goaltender was selected in the Top 10. Likely because these aforementioned selections didn’t meet the lofty expectations.
The one exception? Again with the Montreal Canadiens, who somewhat shocked the post-lockout 2005 Draft (with all eyes on Sidney Crosby) by selecting Carey Price fifth overall. Just after Jack Johnson and Benoit Pouliot and just before Gilbert Brule, Jake Skille, Devin Setoguchi and Brian Lee.
Two years later they followed that up with a draft as good as any this decade. They selected Ryan McDonagh and Max Pacioretty in the first round and P.K. Subban in the second.
The benchmark for the best draft ever remains the Detroit Red Wings in 1989, when they selected Nicklas Lidstrom in the third round, Sergei Federov in the fourth round and Vladimir Konstantinov in the tenth round. To be fair, the Red Wings were one of the few teams then paying serious attention to the scouting European players. The 2007 Draft by the Canadiens was in a climate more when all 30 teams were on an equal footing.
They of course made a serious mistake in growing their team when they went for the present (Scott Gomez) and sacrificed the future (Ryan McDonagh—ouch!) in a trade with the New York Rangers.
What began with a late-round pick in Andrei Markov in 1998 came full circle with a comparable selection in Brendan Gallagher (5th round in 2010) who has been the Canadiens’ best player this playoff run. Factor in being fortunate to grab Alex Galchenyuk at third overall in 2012 and you have that team that is making the Bell Centre rock.
It has been anything but “Draft Schmaft” for the Montreal Canadiens’ success. Give credit behind the scenes to their front office including the likes of Larry Carriere and Trevor Timmonds who oversaw their scouting in the pre-Marc Bergevin years. Maybe—just maybe—they’ll get their reward with a Cup in the near future.