Earlier today, we mentioned that Kent Hughes might well back out of the draft if the coveted players were no longer available at No. 5. After all, if he's going to select a player ranked 10th, he might as well go for an extra asset. According to Eric Engels, this strategy and that of trading up are directly linked to Dubois' arrival in Montreal. <q>We could see the Habs more aggressively trying to acquire Pierre-Luc Dubois if they aren't able to move up in the draft to get their hands on Leo Carlsson or Will Smith. - Engels</q> Indeed, the Habs are said to have Leo Carlsson and Will Smith in their sights at the draft. If both players are taken, trading for Pierre-Luvc Dubois would make sense, because Carlsson and Smith are both center players. <blockquote class=twitter-tweet><p lang=en dir=ltr>It looks like the Habs likelihood of trading for Pierre-Luc Dubois might depend on whether they can move up in the draft to select either Leo Carlsson or Will Smith.<br><br>👇👇👇 <a href=https://t.co/I92vjjQXQg>pic.twitter.com/I92vjjQXQg</a>- /r/Habs (@HabsOnReddit) <a href=https://twitter.com/HabsOnReddit/status/1670873755042607107?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>June 19, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src=https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js charset=utf-8>