The Montreal Canadiens entered the 2018 NHL Draft with the third overall pick. A little lottery luck had moved them up from fourth overall to the top three and they appeared poised to land a player that would help the team for a long time.
It was widely assumed that the top two picks in the draft would be Rasmus Dahlin followed by Andrei Svechnikov. That is exactly how it played out with the Buffalo Sabres adding a franchise defenseman and the Carolina Hurricanes landing a power forward on their wing.
We all know now that the Canadiens chose Jeseri Kotkaniemi with the third overall pick.