In the last five years, the CH has selected no less than 49 players in the draft. If this strategy of selecting in quantity increases the chances of finding good players, it also has a negative side.
Indeed, the organization only has a certain amount of time to come to an agreement with the players it has drafted and must make decisions, sometimes hastily, as to whether or not it will keep the rights of its players by giving them an NHL entry contract. The problem is that teams cannot have more than 50 NHL contracts in its organization.
Last summer, the CH somehow got around this problem by giving AHL contracts to Xavier Simoneau and Joe Vrbetic. These contracts do not count towards the 50-man limit. It would be surprising though, as Marco D'Amico reminds us, if they agreed to that next year, especially for Simoneau who is currently playing very well (18 points in 23 games with the Rocket). Knowing that they could sign an NHL entry-level contract with any other team in the league will play a big part in their decision.