Toronto Maple Leafs: Canadiens Look to Time Their Rebuild Perfectly

The Toronto Maple Leafs couldn’t have timed their rebuild better.

Lost in all the talk about how unlucky the Toronto Maple Leafs have been over the last couple of seasons is how lucky they had to get in the first place in order to be in a position to then be so unlucky.

Teams can struggle for years and never pick first overall in the right year.

The Leafs, however, were bad only long enough to get just 2 top-five picks, and they hit on both of them with a Hart Trophy worthy player.   Ask Phoenix or Buffalo how easy it is to do that.

The Montreal Canadiens are hoping for similar luck, and may have timed their rebuild perfectly.

The Toronto Maple Leafs Greatest Rival Doing Things Right

The Montreal Canadiens are living the best of both worlds.  They recently went to the Stanley Cup Final, which I imagine was very fun for their fans.  But then when it became clear that Carey Price was the only thing standing between them and 32nd overall, the smartly leaned into the rebuilding process right when Price became unavailable.

The Habs picked first overall this summer, adding Juraj Slavkovsky to their prospect pool that already includes Nick Suzuki and Cole Caulfield.

That is three solid players to build around, and if the Habs can stay bad for just one more season they might be able to add the most important part of the recipe to their roster: the Generational Talent.

Connor Bedard is highly likely to be a first overall NHL draf tpick next summer and he is the kind of player who only needs to stay healthy to become an  allstar, superstar, scoring title winning, cup winning, hall of famer.

Connor McDavid, Auston Matthews, Sidney Crosby, Eric Lindros, Wayne Gretzky.

Those are the types of names mentioned with Bedard, a player who could probably play in the NHL today, even though he won’t be drafted for another year.

The Coyotes, Blackhawks and Canadiens are all tanking with the hopes of drafting Bedard.

The Canadiens might be too good to finish last overall, because Suzuki and Caulfield are going to be great players and the team probably isn’t as bad as it looked last year.

Then again, I recently looked up who is on their blue line, and I already forget everyone they have – essentially, they are bad everyone but up-front, where they are only well below average.

In other words, they are a good candidate for finishing last.  After that, they just have win their second-straight lottery.  Unlike Buffalo and Arizona over the last several years, the Habs might have timed things perfectly.

We’ve already previewed the Panthers and Senators, two teams who may or may not compete for the playoffs this season.  The Toronto Maple Leafs are unlikely to have any trouble with Ottawa or Florida next season, but those teams will at least challange them, and have the potential to surprise.

Not Montreal. They are bad by design and they are going to stink this year.   It’s the right play, and even if they don’t get Bedard, it should still be  a strong draft.