Will Canadiens draft and trade gambles pay off?

Say this for the current Montreal Canadiens front office: They are not afraid to be bold with little regard to what the outside hockey world might think of their moves.

When it came time to make a head coaching change during the 2021-22 season they went with Hall of Fame player Martin St. Louis, even though he had no major coaching experience of any kind and had no prior connection to the Canadiens. In a league that recycles the same 30-or-so people for top positions, it was definitely a surprising hire.

Their bold moves continued this week at the NHL draft with the selection of Slovakian winger Juraj Slafkovský with the No. 1 overall pick, and the three-team trade that saw them send out defenseman Alexander Romanov and bring in Kirby Dach.

After being the projected top pick in the draft all season, the Canadiens decided to pass on talented center Shane Wright to select Slafkovský with the first of their two first-round picks. They followed that by taking another Slovakian player, Filip Mešár, with the No. 26 overall pick.

While Mešár definitely has potential, a late first-round pick is always at best a 50-50 gamble to turn into an NHL regular. The top overall pick in the draft will always make-or-break a team’s draft, and that means Slafkovský will be the storyline going forward.

[Related: 2022 First Round NHL Draft Tracker]

This was the rare draft year where there was some actual intrigue going into the First Round where the No. 1 overall pick was not considered a lock. While the top prospects (Slafkovský, Wright, Logan Cooley) are all fine prospects, there was not a can’t-miss Sidney Crosby or Connor McDavid at the top of this class. Despite that, Wright was still viewed as the likely top pick for almost the entire 2021-22 regular season and in the weeks leading up to the draft.

It wasn’t until the draft got closer that there started to be some momentum toward Slafkovský being the pick.

He has all of the physical tools that you could hope for in terms…