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During that interminable Friday evening NHL draft, we were still getting used to pronouncing “Mikhail Sergachev” when a Sportsnet analyst (I didn’t get the licence plate but apparently it was Damien Cox) declared that the Canadiens could now trade P.K. Subban because they had Sergachev waiting in the wings.

The ninth pick in the first round has yet to attend his first NHL training camp and he’s ready to replace a Norris Trophy winner? Holy flying crumpets.

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Unfortunately, that brand of wretched excess is the norm on draft night. To hear the TV analysts, every player in the first round is either the next Bobby Orr or the next Wayne Gretzky or the next Mark Messier. Never mind that some, like Nail Yakupov, are a waste of a draft pick while others (Stefan Matteau comes to mind) are a waste, period.

The current NHL draft format, broadcasting the first round in prime time Friday evening while consigning the rest to that bleary Saturday-morning slot, plays into the myth that the first rounders are a breed apart. Try telling that to Brendan Gallagher (drafted in the fifth round, 147th overall in 2010) or Johnny Gaudreau (fourth round, 104th overall, 2011) or Andrei Markov (sixth round, 162nd, 1998).