Without warning, aside from a heads-up an hour before it dropped, the Montreal Canadiens released their behind-the-scenes at the draft video on Tuesday night. With the rookie camp set to kick off the following morning and the anticipation building in town, the timing couldn’t have been better.
The team has long mastered the art of compiling thrilling videos that take the fans not only behind the scenes at the actual draft, but in the run-up to the yearly event. In other words, the video also features the scouting combine in Buffalo, and we get an extended look at the interview the team conducted with Hayden Paupanekis. The center not only came prepared, but he said all the right things.
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After he compared himself to a polar bear or a grizzly bear because they’re vicious, Dr. David Scott, a consultant in sports psychology, challenged him, asking how he could be vicious and only have 29 penalty minutes in 39 games. The youngster calmly replied that you don’t need to get penalties to be vicious and play hard, there’s no need to two-hand people in the face. When asked if he only saw his future at center, he answered that he would play wherever he was asked to by the coach. At the end of the interview, Dr. Scott congratulated him for handling himself well.
Unsurprisingly, the Canadiens drafted the power forward in the third round, as their amateur scout for Canada, Ben Shutron, was quite high on him. It will be interesting to see how he performs with the Memorial Cup hosting Kelowna Rockets under the watchful eye of new assistant coach and former Canadiens blueliner, Josh Gorges. As for the co-director of amateur scouting, Nick Bobrov, he was sold on Bryce Pickford, but Montreal was able to pick him later with the 81st pick.
Clearly, the Canadiens approached the draft with the mentality that they would move; they wouldn’t just pick at 16 and 17. In addition to trying to pull off the trade with the New York Islanders, the team was also evaluating players in case they were able to move up. In the end, the trade materialized, and Montreal didn’t get to pick in the first one. Still, it didn’t matter as they were very high on their second-round pick, Alexander Zharovsky, but they weren’t alone, which is why they had to trade up to get the 34th overall pick to avoid seeing another team snatch him from under…