It will come between Lindstrom or Catton

Team: 2024-25 Montreal Canadiens

Initial Creation Date: Apr. 17, 2024

Published: Apr. 17, 2024

Salary Cap Mode: Basic

The decision might be made for them if one is picked beforehand, but I believe at least one, maybe both, will be available by the time MTL pick at 5-6th overall.

Based on The Athletics most recent draft rankings, the player comps for Catton is Logan Cooley, and for Lindstrom it's Chris Kreider.... two very different players. As a Habs fan, you can make extremely well-reasoned arguments to prefer either player. MTL desperately needs more high-end offensive skill, and adding a creative forward with magic hands in Catton is exactly what the doctor ordered for MTL. For Lindstrom, even he doesn't end being a center in the NHL, a Chris Krieder-esq player on the wing would really make MTLs top 6 better suited for "playoff hockey" adding a crash-and-bang element, and even more size next to Slafkovsky and Dach.

There are obviously other forwards MTL could pick:
- Demidov (I think for the same reasons MTL didn't pick Michkov, they will pass on Demidov...),
- Helenius and Sennecke (both appear to be late risers in the draft, you never know but I don't think either is a better option than Catton or Lindstrom), and finally:
- Eiserman (the guy that keeps falling lower and lower in almost every mock draft, starting to remind me of Kaliyev a few years back, was a lock for the top 5-10 for a long time, is a pure goal scorer, that had way too many red flags for scouts).


My personal pick would be Lindstrom, maybe not as offensively gifted as Catton, but playoff hockey is how you win a cup, not to mention with Gorton and his Rangers background, kind of hard to turn away from a player similar to Kreider.