However, the uncertainty surrounding Matvei Michkov's case could be one of the main reasons why the Canadiens' General Manager wants to move ahead, but in the cases where the organization keeps its fifth pick it would be highly unexpected for the Russian prospect to be chosen by Montreal.
This is at least according to Stéphane Leroux, RDS hockey junior expert. He believes that it is not in the plans of Canadiens to select Matvei Michkov in a few days. Furthermore, he strongly believes that if Will Smith has already been drafted, Ryan Leonard or Dalibor Dvorsky will be the players targeted by Montreal.
Even though Leroux placed Michkov as the second-best prospect of the 2023 draft class in his final projection, the uncertainty surrounding him is cooling off the organization for the moment. Could we see a reversal of situation in just a few days ahead of the draft?
It's hard to say at this point, but we should know more in the upcoming days about Jeff Gorton and Kent Hughes' real intentions regarding their first pick of the first round and hopefully Canadiens fans won't be disappointed by whoever they end up selecting.
