BUFFALO, N.Y. - The Montreal Canadiens selected centre Will Bitten with their third round pick on Saturday at the NHL draft.
Montreal, which dealt its two second round picks on Friday in a trade with the Chicago Blackhawks to acquire forward Andrew Shaw, selected Bitten 70th overall.
The Flint Firebirds product from the Ontario Hockey League was the first of five players picked by the Canadiens on Saturday.
Bitten is from Gloucester, Ont., near Ottawa, and the French-speaking forward has also been a longtime fan of Montreal.
"It's a great feeling. My family lives in Montreal and the Canadiens have been my favourite team since I was little," said Bitten.
"I will remember this my whole life."
Bitten scored 30 goals and 35 assists in 67 games for a struggling Firebirds franchise last season while posting a minus-29 rating.
"We (Flint) faced a lot of distractions," said Bitten. "But it helped us get closer as a team."
Bitten draws similarities to current Canadiens forward Brendan Gallagher, especially in size at five foot 10, 164 pounds.
Trevor Timmins, Montreal's director of amateur scouting, also made a few comparisons between Bitten and Gallagher.
"He's a warrior, he's talented and posses some good skills," said Timmins. "His passion is similar to that of Gallagher's."
The Canadiens added more defenceman on the second day of the draft after picking Mikhail Sergachev ninth overall on Friday.
Victor Mete of the OHL's London Knights was selected in the fourth round, Casey Staum from Hill-Murray high school in Minnesota in the fifth round and Swedish blue-liner Arvid Henrikson in the seventh round.
Montreal also picked centre Michael Pezzetta from the OHL's Sudbury Wolves with its sixth round choice.
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