This year, the stars aligned for the Montreal Canadiens.  Hosting the NHL Entry Draft, and having the first overall pick.

The Montreal Canadiens haven’t held the first overall pick since 1980.  In 1980, the Canadiens selected Doug Wickenheiser.  Although Wickenheiser was favored by many teams to go first, he did not have a Hall of Fame career like third overall pick Denis Savard did, Savard was selected by the Chicago Blackhawks.

The quest for any player selected first overall in the NHL Draft is to bring the coveted Stanley Cup Trophy to that team.  As former first pick overall Nathan Mackinnon and the Colorado Avalanche did this year.  And already according to Betway, the Avalanche are favored to win the Cup 2022-23 season.

Denis Savard eventually did play for his boyhood idle Montreal Canadiens, capturing a Stanley Cup with the Canadiens back in 1993.  That marked the last time the Montreal Canadiens won a Cup.

Recently Savard spoke of that thrilling moment.

“When I talk about it now, I still have goosebumps,” he says. “It’s an amazing feeling. Especially being a kid that grew up in Montreal.

“Just to lift it – and it’s heavy, believe me. It’s the ultimate goal for any player to get to the final buzzer and to raise it up. It’s something that can never be taken away from you and something that as I watch the playoffs right now, it brings back a lot of great memories.

“That whole time, that whole summer was just incredible, just crazy. There were a lot of parties, I won’t lie to you, but rightly so. You can’t duplicate that; you can’t make that up.”

There are many similarities between this year’s NHL draft and that of 1980.  There was no consensus number one pick in both drafts.  Leading into this 2022 NHL draft, most pundits had Shane Wright going first overall.  However, on Draft night, the Montreal Canadiens selected Juraj Slafkovsky, while Shane Wright dropped to fourth picked by Seattle Kraken.

The Canadiens are re-building, after 30 years of mediocrity.  The 30-year drought is the longest in franchise history.  It also marks the last time a Canadian team won the cherished Cup.

Denis Savard too is surprised it’s been that long.  He comments “It’s pretty incredible that it’s been so long,” he says. “That just tells you the depth of our league.

“You’ve got franchises now that came in a few years back and have made it to the Finals. It’s very tough to build a winner. It’s as simple as that.”

Savard does mention what many people think, and that playing in Canada does not have the same appeal as it did before.

“Players get a choice now,” he explains. “Being a free agent, they could go to Florida, play for the Panthers or for Tampa, you could go and play for Dallas.

“When Canadian teams get really close to getting there, and they need that free agent, in a lot of cases they don’t get them.

“They go with cities that are a little warmer for their families. Part of that has something to do with it, I think, free agent players choosing to go to other cities.”

Just maybe, if you build a winning culture and a winning attitude, players would sign here.  Just look what the Toronto Maple Leafs are trying to do.

“I’ll give you an example, Toronto with [John] Tavares. He went and signed there thinking he could win a Cup,” he explains.

“With the Canadian teams, the closer they get to winning a Cup, free agents will go there. There is no question because the ultimate goal is to raise the Cup. It’s not a question of it just being Florida or Dallas.

“Toronto is not far off, they possibly could do it next year, or in the next two, three years. They have a great leader and a great player in Matthews, and a bunch of other stars.

“The best player in the world, Connor McDavid, is with the Edmonton Oilers and, sooner or later, if they surround him, they get him more help, there’s a chance that they could go on and win a few Cups in a row. That’s how good he is.”

Savard doesn’t think the drought will hurt the future of the sport in Canada.  Canada’s the game. Hockey is our game,” he says. “I don’t think it’s ever going away. Ever. Sooner or later, it’s going to happen.

“You look at all the Canadian teams right now, Edmonton is close, Calgary’s close, Toronto is very, very capable of winning it in the next two or three years. I think they’ve learned a lot over the last two years. It’s a learning process.

“I don’t think [the drought] is going to hurt our game at all. As long as the teams stay competitive, which they will, we’re going to be fine.”