Montreal Canadiens draft Waterloo’s Tyler Deakos in seventh round
Montreal Canadiens made Tyler Deakos the 224th and final selection of the 2026 NHL Draft, putting a seventh-round stamp on a Waterloo Black Hawks season that rewarded a player who did not arrive until November 13, 2025. The 18-year-old Canmore, Alberta native, listed at 6-foot-1, about 174 to 175 pounds and a right shot, joined the Black Hawks from the Drumheller Dragons of the Alberta Junior Hockey League and quickly turned a late roster addition into draft value.
Deakos announced himself the next night in Des Moines. In his Waterloo debut on November 14, he piled up a goal and two assists in the first period alone, helping jump-start a game the Black Hawks ultimately lost 6-4. The start fit the kind of immediate impact junior scouts prize in late-round picks: speed into the lineup, production right away and the ability to adjust from one league to another without much runway.
That first night was not a one-off. Waterloo said Deakos had points in each of his first two USHL games, then had seven points, three goals and four assists, in his first six games before a suspension interrupted the run. He later earned the club’s Offensive Player of the Week honor, another sign that his production was more than a brief burst. Across 19 appearances for Waterloo, Deakos finished with 17 points, seven goals and 10 assists, good for 11th on the team in scoring despite arriving well after the season began.
The Draft Day pick also fit Waterloo’s recent pattern of turning short-term help into long-term NHL attention. Montreal had already selected former Black Hawks goaltender Emmett Croteau in 2022 and previously took Waterloo forward Brady Vail in 2012. Former Waterloo forward Rem Pitlick later reached the NHL with Montreal as well, extending the connection between the organizations. Deakos’ path, from rookie recognition in the AJHL to a productive USHL stop and then a seventh-round call, gave the Canadiens another example of what they are buying late in the draft: projection, competitiveness and upside that can still surface after the season is already moving.