The Canadiens’ rookie camp gets underway next week. After the massive influx of first-year players last season, the Habs are expected to have very few rookies on their roster this season. The players that we will see in action over the next few days are therefore unlikely to be seen at the Bell Center once the preparatory calendar is over.
In short, where will CH’s hopes play in 2023-2024? La Presse attempts a review of the club’s prospects aged 23 and under, excluding those who spent the last season with the Habs. Players expected in the NCAA, in Europe and in the junior ranks are practically guaranteed to spend the year there. Those we have listed in Laval can, however, be found in Montreal or Trois-Rivières, depending on whether they cause a surprise or constitute a disappointment.
Last year, five American League rookies played more than 40 games for the Rocket. This year, there are at least eight recruits who could spend a good part of the season in Laval: forwards Jared Davidson, Sean Farrell, Filip Mesar and Joshua Roy, defenders Logan Mailloux, Jayden Struble and Miguël Tourigny, as did goalkeeper Jakub Dobes. That’s without forgetting Riley Kidney, ordinary in his first two camps with the CH, but who has nevertheless just had two consecutive 100-point seasons in the QMJHL.
In front of the net, Dobes could become the first rookie goalkeeper to play a full season with the CH farm club since Cayden Primeau, four years ago. Kent Hughes still needs to sort out his surplus of goalkeepers, otherwise everyone’s playing time will be diluted.
On this subject, Rocket coach Jean-François Houle will have to be creative to find optimal minutes for the young people, while offering important roles to Gabriel Bourque, Lias Andersson, Philippe Maillet, Nicolas Beaudin and other more experienced players.
Players listed here will not participate in the Rookie Tournament, so as not to lose their NCAA eligibility. If some of these players end up in Montreal or Laval this season, it will be at the end of the campaign.
Lane Hutson should be talked about during the winter. With 48 points in 39 games, he had the best season in Hockey East division history for a first-year defenseman. While some will follow the points column, another number will be more talked about: its weight. At development camp, the young biped tipped the scales at 158 lbs. Last season in the NHL, Jared Spurgeon (166lbs) was the only defenseman under 170lbs. It’s been said all the time that the small number of games in the college ranks allows athletes to lift more cast iron; it remains to be seen whether Hutson will take advantage of this to add muscle.
His Boston University teammate Luke Tuch (6’3″, 209 lbs) won’t have the same problem. This winger, second round pick in 2020, however, arrives at a crucial moment in his career. He has until August 2024 to sign a contract with CH, otherwise he will become a free agent. Ditto for Blake Biondi (fourth round, 2020, Minnesota-Duluth), but he will have to forget a difficult 2022-2023 season to obtain a contract.
The other hopes are long-term projects.
Unless he experiences a stunning camp, David Reinbacher will spend the season in Klöten, Switzerland. Since the start of the new millennium, only 4 18-year-old defensemen have played 40 or more games in a season in the NHL. Two of them – Rasmus Dahlin and Aaron Ekblad – were talents then considered exceptional, drafted first overall. Regardless, Reinbacher will participate in the camp and the Habs management will be able to measure the gap that separates it from the NHL.
Still in Switzerland, Vinzenz Rohrer, compatriot of Reinbacher, arrives at the pros. The forward has worn the colors of the Ottawa 67s for the last two seasons.
We will also have to follow what is happening in Sweden, where Adam Engstrom, a 20-year-old defender claimed in the third round in 2022, who established himself in the first division last season, will play. Engstrom, however, was Rögle’s least-used guard last year (14:15 per game); it will therefore be necessary to see if he will obtain more responsibilities.
Four CH hopefuls will skate in Russia this season. Among them, only one is currently listed in the KHL: Bogdan Konyushkov, a 20-year-old selected in the fourth round last June. This right-handed defender plays in Nizhny Novgorod.
CH player development officials will not have to travel across Canada “from one Atlantic to the other” this year. Montreal will have only five prospects in the Canadian junior circuits: four in the Ontario Junior League (OHL) and one in the QMJHL.
Of the lot, Owen Beck is the closest to the NHL. He tasted it last season, time for an emergency recall. He indicated last week that he dreams of causing an upset in camp, even if, at 19, his chances are slim.
Closer to here, goalie Quentin Miller will have the chance to accumulate mileage, he who only has 20 games of experience in the QMJHL. This Montrealer should be busy since the Remparts return at the start of the cycle, after winning the Memorial Cup with a mature team last spring.
Emil Heineman made his first impression in North America, scoring 7 goals in 11 games for the Rocket late in the season. He will be 22 in November and had excelled at camp last year, before being injured and returning to Sweden. If a winger is injured, if Juraj Slafkovsky is judged to be slow to find his rhythm, or if Jesse Ylönen is struggling to stand out, here is one who could invite himself into the fourth line.
Rumors of a return to Europe for Mattias Norlinder circulated this summer. This defender, whom many saw in their soup a few years ago, did not break anything in his first season in the American League last year. His 19 points in 67 games isn’t exactly what’s expected of a defender who we’ve been touted as adept at generating offense. Whether he plays in Laval or in Sweden, he will need a complete turnaround to move up in the long hierarchy of CH defenders.
Finally, striker Ty Smilanic has just been added to this list of uncertain cases, he who quietly left the University of Wisconsin. His status for the upcoming season is uncertain, but he is expected at the CH rookie camp this week.
