Canadiens draft pick William Bitten draws similarities to Brendan Gallagher

The Montreal Canadiens selected centre WillBitten with their third round pick on Saturday at the NHL draft.

• Andrew Shaw excited about fresh start with Montreal Canadiens
• Montreal Canadiens trade Lars Eller to Capitals

Montreal, which dealt its two second round picks on Friday in atrade with the Chicago Blackhawks to acquire forward Andrew Shaw,selected Bitten 70th overall.

'It's a great feeling'

The Flint Firebirds product from the Ontario Hockey League wasthe first of five players picked by the Canadiens on Saturday.

Bitten is from Gloucester, Ont., near Ottawa, and theFrench-speaking forward has also been a longtime fan of Montreal.

"It's a great feeling. My family lives in Montreal and theCanadiens 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 astruggling Firebirds franchise last season while posting a minus-29rating.

"We (Flint) faced a lot of distractions," said Bitten. "But ithelped us get closer as a team."

Passionate and skilled

Bitten draws similarities to current Canadiens forward BrendanGallagher, especially in size at five-foot-10, 164 pounds.

Trevor Timmins, Montreal's director of amateur scouting, alsomade 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 thedraft after picking Mikhail Sergachev ninth overall on Friday.

Victor Mete of the OHL's London Knights was selected in thefourth round, Casey Staum from Hill-Murray high school in Minnesotain the fifth round and Swedish blue-liner Arvid Henrikson in theseventh round.

Montreal also picked centre Michael Pezzetta from the OHL'sSudbury Wolves with its sixth round choice.