Everything you need to know for the NHL draft

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When the Colorado Avalanche won the Stanley Cup last month, their 2017 No. 4 pick Cale Makar took home the Conn Smythe Trophy, 2011 No. 2 pick Gabriel Landeskog served as captain and 2013 top pick Nathan MacKinnon led the team in playoff goals.

That trio, aided by some shrewd trade additions, form as good an argument as any for the importance of the NHL draft.

As such, they also provide hope for the league's 31 other teams as the 2022 draft begins on Thursday with Round 1. Rounds two through seven take place on Friday. Here's everything you need to know:

The draft is in Montreal, and the Habs are picking first. Just one year after reaching the Stanley Cup final, the Canadiens slumped to the worst record in the league en route to earning the first overall pick for the sixth time in franchise history — more than any other club. Their results in that slot are a mixed bag: 1971 yielded the late, great Guy Lafleur, but the Habs also whiffed on Doug Wickenheiser in 1980, passing on fellow defencemen Larry Murphy and Paul Coffey as well as Quebec native Denis Savard in the process. Réjean Houle, the top pick in 1969, won five titles in Montreal across a respectable 11-year playing career, but he may be best known today as the general manager who traded Patrick Roy in 1995.

The No. 1 pick, barring surprise, is down to Shane Wright vs. Juraj Slafkovsky. Wright, of Burlington, Ont., stood as the consensus top pick until the Olympics, when Slafkovsky stormed onto the scene with seven goals in seven games to earn tournament MVP and help Slovakia win bronze for its first-ever Olympic