Montreal Canadiens’ History with the No. 5 Draft Pick

The following year at the 1966 Draft, Pollock opted for goaltender Phil Myre, who only played parts of three seasons with the Canadiens posting a record of 49 wins, 19 losses, and six ties. In the 1970-1971 season, Myre saw more action as Rogatien Vachon was injured, but in the playoffs they decided to use Ken Dryden and the rookie would go on to write quite a chapter In the Canadiens’ history. The Habs won the Stanley Cup that year and Myre got a ring, but his name wasn’t engraved on the Cup.

As for Myre, he failed to get a spot with the team since Dryden and Vachon were impossible to unseat. Unprotected at the 1972 Expansion Draft, Myre was picked up by the Atlanta Flames. Little did the Canadiens know that Ken Dryden would take a year off to become a lawyer and then retire In 1978-1979, five years before Myre. During his 15-year career, he played for six NHL teams. His greatest accomplishment was to backstop the Flyers, alongside rookie Pete Peeters, to a record 35 games undefeated. The feat was a record not only in the NHL but in all professional sports.

The Fifth-Overall Pick in the 1970s

Fast forward to 1970 and Pollock, still in charge, once again went for a goaltender; Ray Martynuik. This is without any hesitation, the worst fifth-overall pick in Canadiens history. He couldn’t make the team as Dryden and Vachon were still mainstays in the Habs’ net. Martynuik became a minor leaguer journeyman and never lived up to the expectations, retiring in 1978-1979.

The next Canadiens’ fifth overall pick came in 1974 and Pollock wasn’t lucky with that pick either. He drafted Cam Connor, but the right winger was also drafted fourth overall in the World Hockey Association’s draft by the Phoenix Roadrunners who offered him a huge contract. Montreal’s head coach Scotty Bowman told him he could match the offer, but it was too late; Connor had already given his word.  

After a stay with the Roadrunners, Connor moved on to the Houston Aeros where he played with Gordie, Mark, and Marty Howe. Once the Aeros folded, Connor finally joined the Canadiens, better late than never. Unfortunately for Connor, he was plagued by injuries and food poisoning that he didn’t play enough games for his name to be on the Cup; the players said if his name wasn’t there, theirs wouldn’t be either. The League agreed to have his name engraved on the Cup and Connor never played for the Canadiens again. He spent a single season with Montreal in 1978-1979 only playing 23 games in which he got a single goal and added three assists for only four points.

As a result, he was left unprotected at the next Expansion Draft and was picked by the Edmonton Oilers, where he played with Wayne Gretzky to become one of only two two people to have played with both Gordie Howe and Gretzky. In the end, he only played 89 games in the NHL and 274 in the WHA.

The Fifth-Overall Pick in the 1980s

The next Canadiens’ fifth overall pick is one for the ages. It was at the 1984 NHL Draft and the Canadiens picked Petr Svoboda, who had freshly defected from Czechoslovakia. Serge Savard, who was Canadiens’ GM back then, sent members of the organization to pick him up from the airport and bring him to the Ritz Carlton discreetly. The next day, Claude Mouton, the public relations officer brought him inside the Forum to an administrative part of the building. When it came time for the Canadiens to pick, the Czechoslovak entered the draft floor to everyone’s astonishment.

Svoboda spent eight seasons in Montreal, playing 534 games and gathering 229 points (39 goals and 190 assists) a cumulative plus-162 plus/minus and 761 penalty minutes. Svoboda won his only Stanley Cup with the Canadiens and was traded to the Buffalo Sabres in 1992 for Kevin Haller, who spent parts of three seasons with the Canadiens. In the end, Svoboda played 17 seasons in the NHL, playing 1028 games gathering 399 points and 1605 penalty minutes. It was an excellent pick from Savard, but the same can’t be said of the trade that sent him to Buffalo.

Canadiens’ Fifth-Overall Picks Since 2005

Montreal had to wait until 2005 to get another fifth-overall pick and this is probably the best of them all. Because of the ongoing lockout, the Draft was held at the Westin Hotel in Ottawa. Since the season had been canceled because of the lockout, a special lottery was held to determine the draft order. The Pittsburgh Penguins won the first pick and privilege to choose Sidney Crosby, but Montreal had nothing to complain about as many fantastic players were available.

Bob Gainey, who had been the GM since 2003, picked a young goaltender from the Western Hockey League, Carey Price. Who would have thought the lanky teenager would turn out become the storied franchise’s all-time wins leader?

Unfortunately for Price, for years the Canadiens relied on him to take them to the playoffs , but he was never given proper offensive support. As a result, when he stopped playing because of recurrent knee issues, he had never won a Stanley Cup. However, he had an amazing season in 2014-2015 in which he captured four trophies: the Hart Memorial Trophy, the Vezina Trophy, the Ted Lindsey Award, and the William M. Jennings Trophy.

He took the Canadiens to the Eastern Conference Final in 2014, but in Game 1, the New York Rangers’ Chris Kreider crashed into him and took him out of the series. We’ll never know if the Canadiens would have won the Cup that year, but nobody in Montreal forgot what Chris Kreider did.

Then, in 2021 in what many called the “COVID playoffs,” the Canadiens reached the Stanley Cup Final motivated by the fact both captain Shea Weber and Price were not getting any younger and they still hadn’t won the ultimate prize. To everyone’s surprise, the Canadiens eliminated the Toronto Maple Leafs, swept the Winnipeg Jets, and slayed the Vegas Golden Knights to face the final test. The Tampa Bay Lightning were just too strong, however, and won the Cup in five games. Little did we know, that Cup run would effectively mark the end of three careers: Paul Byron’s, Weber’s, and Price’s.

At the end of his career, Price had played in 712 games in the NHL, all with the Canadiens. He had 361 wins, 261 losses, and 79 ties, 49 shutouts, a 2.51 goal against average, and a .917 save percentage.

When Price held a press conference to announce his knees wouldn’t allow him to play anymore, he put it down to the goalie position and wear and tear. Even when asked point blank if it was caused by Kreider back in 2014, he refused to go down that route. For some, this “retirement” was a surprise. For those who had seen him wave to his kids in the stand during the 10-2 routing of the Florida Panthers, it was just the confirmation they had feared for so long.

Finally, at the 2023 NHL Entry Draft, the Canadiens chose fifth once again and even though the draft was said to be full of offensive players, general manager Kent Hughes chose to pick David Reinbacher, a right-shot defenseman from Austria who had played the 2023 season in Switzerland. He also spent the last season in Switzerland and briefly played with the Laval Rocket as they were battling for a playoff spot. The Austrian made a good impression, but he has has work cut out for him to become the Canadiens’ best fifth-overall pick ever.