15. Montreal Canadiens
This is the worst-case scenario. While Montreal isn’t good, they’re better than Ottawa right now as they managed to grab the last play-in spot this season. Their future outlook may even be better too, as The Athletic’s Scott Wheeler ranked their prospect pool second in the league, while Ottawa was down at seventh. They also have 14 picks in the upcoming draft, compared to Ottawa’s 13. While Ottawa’s rebuild seems to be going well, Montreal’s seems to be going even better, adding Lafrenière to the mix would leave Ottawa with a lot of work to do to keep pace.
The Sens and Habs rivalry would make this a particularly painful result, and unlike Toronto I don’t see Montreal struggling with Lafrenière as a particularly hilarious experience. Montreal getting the first overall pick would give Ottawa a division rival who would at the very least be their equal, and while that could make for some fun series down the line, I don’t particularly like Ottawa’s outlook in those.