The Montreal Canadiens will have the opportunity to add a top prospect in the upcoming draft, as the organization's first-round pick may very well be in the top-10. While the Tricolore has a legitimate chance in the lottery, the odds of the club drafting in the top two spots of the auction are not very high. If the CH is not lucky enough to get Connor Bedard or Adam Fantilli, there is one other prospect in the draft that has a leg up on everyone else when it comes time for the team to pick. For those who don't know, Habs GM Kent Hughes has a strong connection to a 2023 youngster who is sure to hear his name in the top-10. That player is Will Smith, a 6-foot, 175-pound center who plays for the U.S. development program. To give you an idea of his caliber, he has 69 points, including 28 goals in just 37 games. He is six points shy of Logan Cooley's total from last year, who was the third overall pick in 2022, and all this with 14 fewer games played. By the end of the season, if he keeps up this pace, he should compile a record that rivals 2019's Jack Hughes, Cole Caufield, and Trevor Zegras with a 100+ point total. Going back to the very strong connection between him and Hughes, in addition to possessing many qualities that the Canadiens currently lack on offense, Smith was coached for several years by the CH GM with the Boston Jr. Eagles. <q>He coached me for about two or three years, but I knew Kent even before that when he was in free agency. I also knew his kids because we all went to the same school, St. Sebastian. - Will Smith</q> The young man, who will celebrate his 18th birthday on March 17, also adds this: <q>We knew his family, then he became our coach and from there he was great. A great hockey mind. You see it now, he's a general manager who coached our team, so that's really cool. - Will Smith</q> Of course, as a respectable hockey man, Hughes is likely to take his scouting team's assessments into consideration. However, knowing full well that he knows Smith more than anyone else in this draft, it's a safe bet that if Smith is still available at the club rank, he'll become a member of the Montreal Canadiens, and that would be a very good move for the future of the franchise. <div align='center'><blockquote class='twitter-tweet' data-lang='en'><a href='https://twitter.com/HabsOnReddit/status/1622665030167678976'> </a></blockquote></div>