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Draft Spotlight : Canadiens |
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Let me preface this by saying that the Sabres spotlight is coming and that it is only slightly delayed because they have two firsts and I want to go into more detail considering there will be a lot of crossovers for them from the previous spotlights. Montreal due to their later position allows for more names to be dropped and more original content. So my apologies Sabres fans, merde le tabarnak et tout ça.
The Canadiens “dream” season ended on a sour note as they limped into the playoffs and were beat up by the Senators. It has left a lot of questions with fans about whether this was simply everything going right to start the year under a new coach and new GM’s vision which is a sign of things to come, or if they’re one of the anomalies that a shortened season produces. I think there is a little column A and a little column B in there to tell you the truth, one thing I do know however is that there are several things to be excited about in Montreal…and not the fact that you can’t drink your tap water anymore.
Montreal has a decent prospect system, though it’s more of one with high risk and high reward, it’s the kind of drafting I love since you might as well go for broke with the 2nd rounder up. Gallagher is the example of this, along with others like Charles Hudon, Tim Bozon, Sebastian Collberg and Danny Kristo to name a few. So going into this draft they have a large amount of high skill players who may have a chance to become NHLer’s and they have a strong defense pool with various levels of upside from Jared Tinordi, Nathan Beaulieu, Dalton Thrower, Morgan Ellis, Darren Dietz and Greg “blue chip” Peteryn. With Carey Price locked up going forward as their starter and Dustin Tokarski being a solid prospect still in net, they don’t have a glaring issue there.
What do they need? Simply put, they need grit...and not simply grit from a 20 year old 5’8 rookie. Montreal is desperate for a centre with size that uses it or a top-6 forward that can bring physicality. Two things most teams are looking for sadly, but there are several interesting options in this draft that might fit the bill with the 27th (as it stands) overall pick.
Frédérik Gauthier : Depending on one’s infatuation with size you’ll likely find Gauthier all over the place in the draft. I’ve seen people say he’ll never pass the top-10 as well as those saying he’ll slip out of the first round. What he brings is safety. At 6’5 210 and a very detailed defense first approach to the game, it’s easy for any team to see NHL potential here. The issues are of course, what is his upside? He was absolutely ice cold to end the season getting only 8 points in the final 18 games and proved to be ineffectual offensively in the playoffs. It took all the way until the Medal rounds of the U18 for Gauthier to actually show some of that offense when he added 2 assists against Finland and a goal against the USA. His strengths are his skating which is very good for a guy that is 6’5 and his strength along the boards and willingness to get to the front of the net. For his size you want to see more physicality, but he isn’t afraid to give or take a hit. What we have is a guy that will almost certainly have an NHL career…the thing is, is this David Steckel, or Martin Hanzal (With less hitting)?
JT Compher : The slick scoring centre is flying a bit under the radar after an injury kept him out of play for the majority of the USHL season. Compher has dominated every international tournament he’s played in, including both U18’s (this and last) and the U17’s for the USA. He’s a pretty speedy two-way centre who excels at face-offs and is fearless around the scoring areas. He’s got good passing and scoring abilities like most offensively gifted players, but it’s the determination to get into the slot and into the crease that sets him apart from some of the more perimeter/one-shot scoring players. At 6’0 165 he has a lot of room to grow and will need a few years of development starting with a stint at the University of Michigan. He has some pest qualities to his game as well, more in that his style of play can get into players heads and less in the yapping kind you see in others. If he makes it to 27 you snatch him up as he’s the best player coming out of the American system this year by far and without that injury to start, he might be in the 10-15 range.
Ryan Hartman : At 5’11 he’s a bit on the smaller side for a Canadiens team looking to get bigger, but I’d rather have a small guy that plays big than a big guy that plays small. Hartman is all…heart…ugg, sorry about that. He’s a power forward in all the aspects other than being a behemoth. He hits hard and hits as often as he can, while providing above-average defensive zone coverage and ferocious backchecking. His versatility and physical never quit brand of hockey got him a place on the U20 USA squad where he was excellent in my opinion. Like Gauthier before this is a player you can expect to have an NHL career if only due to his play style, the question is the upside. I think he has it in him to be a 25g 20a power forward in the mold of Dustin Brown and Ryan Callahan. He’s just got that drive you that is infectious. At 27 it might be a stretch that he is still on the board, but weirder things have happened.
Curtis Lazar : I’ll start out by stating my skepticism about Lazar and the pre-hype he had from last year where people pencilled him in the top-5…well they did that to Tyler Biggs the year before his draft too and look where he eventually got picked. Lazar is a bit of an undersized (A generous 5'11) two-way centre that brings determination and work ethic to modest skills. He’s a goal scorer on offense pure and simple; he has a great shot and can fire wristers off the rush fairly well. His passing from what I have seen is pretty sloppy and lacks the anticipation of plays that makes for a playmaker. He is a good defensive centre though and is good on the draw while also good at forcing turnovers with his aggressive style. The issues are his upside as his character and “intangibles” are off the chart. On a stacked Oil Kings team he failed to take the next step that many expected him to despite leading them in goals with 38. To take the next step he needs to keep getting bigger and work on his passing. Why do I keep seeing him as being Pascal Dupuis…am I crazy or…ok don’t answer that.
Steve Santini : Now the Habs have potentially strong dcore going forward in a few years’ time, but outside of Tinordi they lack a true shutdown defenseman. Santini is one of the fastest risers in the draft based on his unbelievably smart and mature style of play. He’s positionally perfect, he anticipates plays and movements perfectly and he disrupts things with simple efficiency. The winner of the U18 Best Defenseman award stifles players and frustrates them to no end. At 6’2 210 he’s a fluid skater with a deceptively quick acceleration and he brings strength and physical play in his own end. His offensive upside is fairly limited and all he has going for him there is a very hard slow windup wild slap shot and excellent first passes to break out of the zone. He has the look of being a top-pairing defenseman in the sense that he would make the perfect partner for a high risk taker *cough* Subban *cough*. He’s committed to Boston College next season.
Other options are: Jacob de la Rose (LW) of Leksand in the Allsvenskan, Kerby Rychel (LW) of the Windsor Spitfires, Mirco Müller (D) of the Everett Silvertips, William Carrier (LW) of the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles or Ian McCoshen (D) of the Waterloo Black Hawks.
Thanks for reading. Next up the Sabres.
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