Here’s what a fifth choice in total might look like

If nothing changes, the Canadiens will draft fifth overall.

From what we understand, the Habs’ wish would be for Ivan Demidov or Cayden Lindstrom to be available at No. 5, just to keep Habs management happy.

But in reality, the club would be confident of being able to get their hands on a forward by drafting so high, and considering that the next crop will be a draft of defensemen.

But if we look historically, what could be the result?

The HabsOnReddit Twitter account has posted a chart of recent #5 picks in history. It’s an interesting exercise that helps put things into perspective.

NHL draft 5th overall picks since 2005.

pic.twitter.com/1i8d3Fvwnq

– /r/Habs (@HabsOnReddit) May 12, 2024

If we focus on forwards (that’s what the Habs are likely to draft), we see that there are still opportunities to draft an impact forward.

You knew that because it’s a good pick, but still.

While it’s too early to comment on the picks over the past five years, we can see that Barrett Hayton has the potential to become a good forward and that Elias Pettersson is an excellent selection.

This makes up for Michael Dal Colle, who is here to remind us that it’s possible to make mistakes.

Elias Lindholm has over 500 NHL points, and guys like Ryan Strome, Nino Niederreiter and Brayden Schenn haven’t had bad careers so far.

But would the Habs be happy with a Brayden Schenn, who has surpassed the 60-point mark just once in his career? Would it take a talent like Phil Kessel to be happy?

(Credit: Hockey DB)

That said, it’s also worth mentioning that, if we go back in time, several forwards have played at least 1,000 games in the show: Phil Kessel, Blake Wheeler, Thomas Vanek, Daymond Langkow, Rob Nidermaier, Jaromir Jagr and Bill Guerin.

But at the same time, Daniel Doré (Nordiques) is here to remind us that even if there are some good successes at the fifth pick, it’s really possible to go wrong there.