BROSSARD, Que. — The Montreal Canadiens have created an expectation among their fans.Yes, they will use the NHL Draft to add a young player to the organizational pipeline, and they did that Friday night by trading up two spots to select Russian winger Gleb Pugachyov with the No. 26 pick.Pugachyov could very well have been the Canadiens’ best player available, as general manager Kent Hughes insisted after the completion of the first round. But the added reality is that Pugachyov fills a need, and while he will not be playing for the Canadiens anytime soon, the marriage of best-player-available and need was perfect for them.Pugachyov is a battering ram of a player with enough offensive upside to think he might — might — one day be able to play higher up the lineup in the NHL. Hughes noted Pugachyov is eager to come over to North America as soon as possible, that he plays as if he is 250 pounds, and that the Canadiens tried trading up multiple times to get him before finally convincing the Vegas Golden Knights to accept an extra third-round pick in 2027 to move back two spots, allowing the Canadiens to get their guy.The Habs take physical Russian winger Gleb Pugachyov The Athletic Hockey ShowBut in the grander scheme of things, the Canadiens did not get their guy. Or any guy.Because the expectation they have created is that they will come out of the draft with not only a series of promising young prospects, but also more immediate help through a trade. And with the Canadiens coming off a trip to the Eastern Conference final, the appetite among their fans for a tangible, needle-moving trade was far more intense than for a somewhat abstract prospect, as promising as Pugachyov might be.That expectation went unrealized on Friday, and the Canadiens remain status quo entering Day 2 of the draft. Last year, they acquired Noah Dobson ahead of the draft. Alex Newhook and Kirby Dach were also acquired at the draft. There was a pattern.But the NHL reality has changed. There are very few rebuilding teams. The salary cap is rising at an unprecedented rate as opposed to remaining flat. The free-agent market is essentially a wasteland; every team sees the trade market as a way to improve.But the most important change for the Canadiens is that they are no longer indiscriminately adding talent. They have talent. Their needs are more specific, and specificity makes trades more complicated to execute.It is no longer enough for the Canadiens to look across the NHL landscape and tell themselves they need to find a talented forward. Instead, they need to look across that landscape and attempt to identify, for example, a player who would mesh well with budding star Ivan Demidov because there is a hole next to him on their depth chart.And despite coming away from the first day of the draft unable to find that specific player, it was not for a lack of looking.