I was looking at the Habs' draft picks who are on the present team:

We have 3 first picks on the team consisting of Saks, Komi, and Higgins. We have 3 second picks: Ribs, Perez, Theo.

This is where it gets really interesting...The Habs picked up 2 very valuable players as fourth picks: Rivet and Pleks. The most surprising is a 6th pick by the name of Markov and get this one, Ryder was an 8th pick and 216th overall.

Drafting players is just like trading for players. It's a gamble and you just never know. GM's and Scouts not only have to have a sixth sense for talent but they also have to have a good sense of a player's hunger to achieve. When we look at hockey players throughout the world (after seeing the Olympics), we realize that there is an incredible amount of talent out there. There's obviously not enough room for all these players in the NHL. Is drafting and trading players based on experienced decisions or just a calculated gamble? A bit of both maybe.

Rivet, Pleks, Markov, Ryder are all 4th picks or more. Not bad.

Regarding trades, who ever would believe Bégin and Huet would be so valuable to the team.

It would be nice to get a first pick or second pick overall...Hopefully the Habs would only acquire that possibility through a trade...even at that, slim/none!