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QMJHL: Jonathan Huberdeau-to-Montreal Canadiens idea is tasty food for thought

Neate Sager

The Rocket, Le Gros Bill, the Roadrunner, the Flower, King Patrick and Jonathan Hab-erdeau?! That's just wild enough to send the mind to warp speed late on a Friday afternoon.

In Quebec, the archetype of the Montreal Canadiens being led by a Québécois superstar burns brightly, even though it's been nearing two decades since Patrick Roy last played for les glorieux. With the Habs at or near their nadir and this year's draft class not exactly deep in talent out of La Belle Province, RDS' Stéphane Leroux took the opportunity to float this concept. If the Canadiens, currently third-last in the NHL, finish there and land in the NHL draft lottery, how about trading for reigning MasterCard Memorial Cup MVP and Montreal-area native Jonathan Huberdeau, last spring's No. 3 pick, instead of drafting a European such as Nail Yakupov, Mikhail Grigorenko or Filip Forsberg. Here's a rough translation:

Who knows how these young hopefuls will develop over the next few years? Although all three [Yakupov, Grigorenko, Forsberg] appear to be of sound value​, two are Russians and one is Swedish. I launched the idea like that, after a good discussion a few days ago with colleague Tony Marinaro, why should the Canadiens not try everything possible to get the rights to Quebec forward Jonathan Huberdeau from the Florida Panthers? The Saint John Sea Dogs star strike also seems like a safe bet, like the three names mentioned above.

... I cannot say if the Panthers are willing to compromise Huberdeau, MVP of the Memorial Cup tournament in 2011, but it seems to me that Canadiens should at least try. Let us assume one step further by assuming that the Canadiens won the lottery and end up with the first overall pick. The equation becomes even simpler: Yakupov against Huberdeau (one for one). (RDS.ca)

It is relatively unheard of for a team to trade away a high pick for a player selected one season prior. However, as Leroux notes, it's not as if the age gap between the two is that great. Huberdeau is actually only four months older than Yakupov. If they were in the same draft group, with the same age difference, they might be 1A and 1B in terms of potential. Both were limited this season by injuries, but Huberdeau is scoring at a higher rate, with 27 goals and 63 points in 31 games for Saint John compared to Yakupov (30 goals and 65 points in 38 games for Sarnia).

Yakupov had the more impressive world junior tournament for silver medal-winning Russia than Huberdeau did for the bronze-medal-winning Canadians. The former might have had better talent around him, since Yakupov skated with tournament MVP Evgeny Kuznetsov.

Of course, the comparison is not even necessarily between Yakupov and Huberdeau. It might weill be Huberdeau vs. either Grigorenko, Forsberg or a defenceman such as the Everett Silvertips' Ryan Murray. Surely, NHL teams go for the best player available and don't pay much attention to nationality or who's more marketable, but it's different with the Montreal Canadiens. French representation is very important, as the foofaraw over interim coach Randy Cunneyworth's unilingualism showed earlier this season.

Who knows how good a NHLer Huberdeau will be, but recent history suggests he could handle the media glare that comes with being a young player in Montreal. He has far and away had the most media requests of any Sea Dogs player for close two seasons and handled all of it well, even thought much it involved his second language. If nothing else, the notion of the Canadiens making a play for him is food for thought.

Neate Sager is a writer for Yahoo! Canada Sports. Contact him at neatesager@yahoo.ca and follow him on Twitter @neatebuzzthenet (photo: The Canadian Press).