Habs Daily: Learning From Leafs Failures, Draft Picks, Slafkovsky

Here are the Montreal Canadiens news, highlights, and stories you may have missed during the weekend.

Montreal Canadiens News

• In the most recent Montreal Canadiens Mailbag, we discuss some of the lessons the Habss can learn from the Toronto Maple Leafs, 2024 Draft targets, potential trades, officiating in the NHL, and much more. [Habs Mailbag: Learning From The Leafs, Draft Targets, Trades]

• The Canadiens have 12 picks going into the 2024 NHL Draft, but not all of them have had their rank confirmed…yet. [Updated Ranks of Canadiens 2024 NHL Draft Picks]

• Juraj Slafkovsky is a popular player in Montreal, but his popularity among Slovak fans is yet to be matched in Canada. The young forward attracts throngs of national fans whenever he plays in Europe.

• If you missed Slafkovsky in action at the World Championship versus Kazakhstan, make sure to check out this thread by the Habs Reddit account on Twitter, which isolated some of his plays, not to mention a rather funny reaction to complaints from opposing players.  [Habs Reddit]

National Hockey Now Network

• The Boston Bruins made no secret they wanted to run the Florida Panthers in Game 4 of their second-round series on Sunday night. But it was the Panthers running out of town with complete control of this series. After the initial nastiness calmed down, the Panthers rallied from a multi-goal deficit and won 3-2. The Panthers hold a 3-1 series lead and can win this best-of-7 series Tuesday at home in Game 5. [Florida Panthers]
• It was right there for the Colorado Avalanche. Right there. But like many of the passes they made on the evening, something was just a little…off. Colorado had plenty of opportunities to take a stranglehold of Game Three on Saturday night. Three powerplays in the first 22 minutes, outshooting the Stars 23-13 through two periods, and facing a Dallas team that for 40 minutes, looked pretty fatigued. They managed to take advantage of almost none of those opportunities. [Colorado Avalanche]
• It’s the offseason. The Pittsburgh Penguins were not invited to the Stanley Cup Playoffs, and there will be changes. Exactly how the president of hockey operations/GM Kyle Dubas manages to escape his straitjacket and locked trunk in the form of players’ no-movement clauses and player no-trade values is part of the magic trick everyone is waiting to see. [Pittsburgh Penguins]

By Marc Dumont

Marc has been covering the Habs for over a decade. He previously worked for Journal Metro, The Athletic, The ... More about Marc Dumont