The Canadiens got a lot right in the 2007 NHL Entry Draft. Max Pacioretty became a six-time 30-goal scorer, including five seasons doing it in Montreal, and P.K.
Subban grew into a future Norris Trophy winner. But the first player they took that year never got the chance to wear a Canadiens sweater in a game, and that call still looks painful.
With the 12th overall pick, Montreal selected defenceman Ryan McDonagh. Nearly two decades later, he has piled up more than 1000 NHL games and remains a key piece on the Tampa Bay Lightning blue line, where he has won two Stanley Cup trophies. He has built the kind of career every team wants from a steady, dependable two-way defenceman - which is exactly why the Canadiens’ decision in 2009 stands out.
That summer, Montreal was coming off a rough 2008-09 season that ended with a four-game first-round loss to the Boston Bruins. The roster was changing fast.
Saku Koivu and Alexei Kovalev both left in free agency, and instead of tearing everything down, the Canadiens chose a retool. They replaced Kovalev by signing Michael Cammalleri to a five-year, $30 million deal, then looked for a new top centre and landed on Scott Gomez, a former Calder Trophy winner and two-time Stanley Cup champion.
To get him, Montreal sent McDonagh, Doug Janik, Chris Higgins and Pavel Valentenko to the New York Rangers for Gomez, Michael Busto and Tom Pyatt. The idea was clear: Gomez would slide in as the Canadiens’ number one centre and form a top duo with Tomas Plekanec.
Montreal even doubled down the next day by signing Brian Gionta, Gomez’s close friend and former teammate, to a five-year, $25 million contract. On paper, it was a major reset.
In practice, it never really worked.
Gomez’s first season in Montreal produced 12 goals and 47 assists in 78 games, a solid enough opening to suggest the fit might hold. It didn’t.
His production fell to 38 points the following year in 80 games, and his time with the Canadiens became defined by a brutal scoreless stretch that lasted more than a calendar year. He scored his last goal in February of 2011 and didn’t find the net again until February of the next year.
Montreal eventually bought out the rest of his contract in January of 2013.
McDonagh, meanwhile, took a very different path in New York. He made his NHL debut in January of 2011 and settled in as a regular right away.
By the 2013-14 season, he had broken out with a career-high 43 points and helped the Rangers reach the Stanley Cup Final. Even in defeat against the Los Angeles Kings, he led the Rangers in points across the entire playoff run.
Before the next season began, he was named the 27th captain in Rangers history, a role he held until 2018, when he was traded to Tampa Bay.
He went on to win two Stanley Cups with the Lightning, later signed with the Nashville Predators in free agency, spent two seasons there, and then was traded back to Tampa Bay, where he still plays.
For Montreal, the frustrating part is easy to see. The Canadiens needed a centre, but the cost was a defenceman who would have fit beautifully with what they already had.
Andrei Markov, Josh Gorges, Roman Hamrlik and an emerging Subban were already in place. Add McDonagh to that mix, and the blue line starts to look elite.
It also would have taken some pressure off Carey Price, who spent much of the 2010s carrying a team that often had to win with structure and goaltending rather than firepower.
Gomez was eventually replaced in the top six by David Desharnais, and that move likely still would have happened even if Montreal had kept McDonagh. But the bigger picture is hard to ignore.
Holding onto McDonagh could have given the Canadiens more freedom in the draft, more stability on defence and maybe even a different long-term shape to the roster. Would it have turned them into perennial Stanley Cup contenders?
Probably not. But it’s not hard to imagine a version of the Canadiens where McDonagh became captain, stayed in the organization and helped define the team for years.
In Other News...
Canadiens Just Added A Young Defenseman Fans Will Want To Track
The Canadiens have quietly added another name to their defensive pipeline, with Kent Hughes signing Konyushkov and keeping the young blueliner on loan in the KHL for another year before he makes the jump to North America. It is the kind of move Montreal has leaned into as it tries to stock the blue line with players who can grow into NHL roles without being rushed, and this one comes with a profile that has already started to draw attention.
Konyushkovs game and offensive touch have drawn comparisons to Alexandre Carrier, which gives Canadiens fans a pretty clear idea of the type of defender Montreal thinks it may be getting down the road. If he develops the way the organization hopes, he could eventually fit into a similar role on the right side of the blue line, giving the team another mobile, puck-moving option to track closely over the next year. [Read more 🡒]
Canadiens May Have Already Drawn A Hard Line With Kirby Dach
Peyton Krebs new four-year, $18 million deal in Buffalo has quickly become a useful marker in the Kirby Dach negotiations, and it gives Montreal a pretty clear reference point as the sides head toward arbitration. Krebs had the healthier, fuller season, playing all 82 games with 39 points and a plus-13 rating, while Dachs year was interrupted by injuries and produced 15 points in 37 games with a minus-2 mark.
The Canadiens have already put down a $4 million qualifying offer, and the July 30 arbitration hearing is now looming as the next real checkpoint. For Montreal, the hard part is balancing Dachs upside against what he has actually been able to deliver lately, and the comparable on Krebs suggests the club may not be inclined to budge much from its current line. [Read more 🡒]