Will THIS Rookie Make The Montreal Canadiens…This Year?

Will THIS Rookie Make The Montreal Canadiens…This Year?

The Montreal Canadians remain one of the youngest teams in the NHL. How young are they going to be this year in the National Hockey League? Let’s talk about Habs rookies and realistically for a team that made the playoffs a year ago. How much leeway are they going to give some of the younger players to win jobs? Jeff Gordon and Kent Hughes have been very consistent, Marco, with their messaging. They don’t want to take on players with contracts, inherit contracts, give out long-term deals that perhaps block the pathway to young players having a look at the roster saying, “Oh, wow. There’s a slot to be won there.” versus the opposite of that. Canadians bring in or inherit acquire a player with term left and saying, “Well, what am I going to do? That guy’s got my job for the next four or five seasons.” So, where are the Canadians with their rookies and how NHL ready they may be as we get closer to NHL training camp for a new season? I think you have different tiers of players that could you could potentially like say are knocking on the door, right? To me, in terms of players that are knocking on the door, players that are going to legitimately challenge for a roster spot, right? I think you have to throw in a guy like Joshua Ha in there. I know a lot of people are going to be like, Well, it’s now or never in his case. So, he’s basically at that point where you’re an elite AHL player and then you have the NHL and you got to knock on the door. So, he’s a guy that I could see knocking on the door. Um, you aren’t necessarily married to the idea of having either Joe Valeno or Samuel Ble on the roster on day one, right? It’s not you’re not married to the idea. And in fact, the Canadians can go with 14 forwards uh and and six defenseman if they really wanted to. Uh they’re not going far on the road uh in their first couple of games and then they have a home stand to start the season. So I don’t necessarily see that as an impediment to them starting with six defenseman um and 14 forwards if they don’t want to play the waiverss game. Yeah. Um so Joshua was definitely in there. I think Owen Beck is someone to watch as well. I think he’s impressed at a couple of camps now. uh you’re starting to get to that age 21, next year 22 where you kind of kind of expect him to start getting consistent NHL games. Um still some things to work in terms of his offensive game, but the details are just phenomenal. So I could see him being a guy that that Marty’s going to like a lot. Um Sean Frell had potentially the best uh turnaround story in the AHL. Uh, I talk about Adam Angstrom’s turnaround, but Sean Farrell, I don’t think had a goal in the first 20 games of the season, right? And then was just an outright point per game player from end of November all the way to the end of the playoffs and just consistently good. Obviously, a lot of people are going to say the same thing, small, and I understand that. But when you’re borderline NHL player who is waiver eligible, something to keep in mind because it’s al it would also, you know, not be cool for the Montreal Canadians to lose a guy who’s knocking on the door for free uh just because of that. So that may play into camp decisions as well. May they try to wave him early to to to you know kind of hide him before teams start like looking at the waiver wire to figure out their rosters. That’s a possibility. but if not and if he continues to stay on the roster uh throughout training camp, a guy to watch for in terms of being able to crack the roster. Um and then Oliver Kappa at forward as well. Like you can’t obviously played some serious NHL games, but at the same time, this is kind of where I have the problem with it is do you are you going to play him on your fourth line? No. Well, that’s I wanted to talk to about those two names. I’m curious about Beck because I have a feeling if he’s gonna be a full-timer, he’s gonna be a full-timer on the wing. You saw him, again, I don’t want to read too much, but he, you know, he’s he struggled filling that role last year when he was given a look. He looked better on the wing where life is a little bit easier at the NHL level. We’ll see where the development path takes him, but the other is is yes, that the Oliver Kain to me is is a massive talking point. Again, go back to our video earlier this week where Marco and I talked about the non-existent second line. What’s it going to look like for this upcoming season? Yeah. Let’s start with Oliver Kappa over Owen Beck on the wing. What percentage of a chance would you give Ka of winning the second line center role at any point from game one through 82 this season? Winning it versus being placed in it or two very good. No, no, there’s no placing here. You earn the right to take that job. I don’t think he’ll earn it. You don’t. So 0%. No. No. Obviously I don’t think. Doesn’t mean it’s never going to happen. Um I’d say about 25% chance that he because I mean there are some people there are some that are I saw I’ll drop a name. Um love him or hate him, whatever. Uh Grant McKG. I saw Grant McG part of the sick podcast family. He’s a big fan. He’s a big fan. He’s a big buyer of Oliver Kapan. No doubt about it. I I appreciated his insight on it. Yeah, I totally respect and honestly, you know, if if if he projects if if Oliver Kain projects the way that Grant sees him, uh, you know, going, that’s why I leave 25%. I don’t necessarily agree with Grant’s viewpoint, but I there is a the game is played on the ice. There is a way that Audrey Kaan could develop that could be, you know, I personally see him as like a third line center if he hits, but like if he’s a stop gap second line center for the time being, when you have an elite piece like Ivan Deidovv that’s going to be driving that line, all you need is a guy that can follow really. So, I could understand the conversation, but I just like I watched every single one of his games in Laval live and I just was not wowed in in that sense, right? Like I I think I liked him as it went on. He got a little bit more used to it and he took on. But I just found like his NHL games just not um not distinguishable enough for me to say top six kind of player. Now bottom six center. Yes. Bottom six center. I could see him really pushing a guy like Joe Valeno for that fourth line spot. Yeah. or a third line spot if they feel like keeping Evans with uh Anderson and Gallagher and then just having like a young guys, you know, like like a line a um captain in Bulzuk line, which honestly probably wouldn’t be that terrible. I like it. Like the sound of it, I’m not going to lie. Yeah. And and again, right shot center, left shot winger that could take the face off. So like I could see that combination making sense as well, right? Um but again, you’d have three shooters on the same line. don’t know if that would necessarily work out. They’re, you know, they’re three shoot first players. Um, but again, like something to try. But he’s a guy that I can legitimately see having the um having an inn because of the NHL experience, because of the pro experience, because he’s a year older than Beck. Yeah. In this season of playing center, what I will say is that I think it would be a waste to put Owen Beck on the wing long term. Okay. uh simply because his prowess in the faceoff circle is just outright scary at times. Like he was just dominant in that department and he was taking draws even when we was playing we forced to play wing with Florian Jackie in the playoffs. Um I don’t think that’s going to happen again. I think they’re going to you’re going to have him and and Jackie occupy two of the top nine roles for Laval next season. And when it comes to Beck, I just feel like there’s so much more offensive potential in his game. I’ve always defensive acumen, his defensive acumen is already prolevel. His physicality in the playoffs was surprisingly aggressive. Yeah. Um but I just feel like his he’s a puck distributor. He follows the play with such ease. His hockey IQ is quite high. This is a center all day, every day. And to play him on the wing, you would need a better center. And I think that’s the key, right? The only reason that they that they didn’t shift Jackey to the wing in the playoffs is because they wanted Jackie. They wanted Jackie to this was at the time like you are a center. We want to develop you into a bottom six center that could be physical and impactful. Whereas they were just trying to get Owen Beck on a line that they knew was going to jive. Why did they give Jake Evans all the term then? Like if Owen Beck is supposed to be Jake Evans with better scoring. They gave Evans the contract and Owen Beck is still I don’t know that Owen Beck I don’t know that Owen Beck is going to be ready necessarily for this season for that role but would definitely start challenging for it next season and then that’s a good problem to have because as we saw centers even even fourth line centers it falls back to something you mentioned earlier. There’s no such thing as leaving a guy too long in the American Hockey League. No one ever says and he’s overseed you know that doesn’t exist. I think and and I think the key is like a guy like Jake Evans at 2.8 $.8 million is always going to be like I know a lot of people are going to go, “Oh, you know, he didn’t have a good end to the season.” It’s always going to be a value deal because he’s still one of the top penalty kill centers in the NHL. And so that kind of value that you can bring on your fourth line at $2.8 million when the cap is going up by 10%. Like when the cap goes up to like 113 million in two years, you think anybody’s going to care about paying their fourth line center 2.8 million? No. I mean, obviously not with the cap going up, but what about like what about Florian Jackie? a a as a as a legitimate threat to break camp as a Canadian, as a rookie. 24-25 goals, never saw the power play. Go read Marco’s latest with Logan Mayu in RG’s exclusive with the now St. Louis Blues prospect defenseman. Um that watch out for this guy. And I’m always I’m always, you know, careful to crush a guy like Florian because again, I I don’t want to be disrespectful, but I think he can come in with a very simplified game plan, be hard to play against, you know, show a touch around the net, and maybe there’s a job to be won there. I mean, yeah, there’s defin Marco, there’s definitely potential for him to to make the roster. I just feel like the Canadians like you don’t want to I call this the and the emmy trap. You don’t want to fall into a trap where a player looks good in in the preseason. Yeah. But it’s probably not the best option for them long term. And I feel like that’s the case with Florian. Do I think Florian could be an effective fourthline player right now? I think there’s a, you know, above 50% chance the answer is yes. Yeah. What I would say is would you be doing him any favors if he did that? Like, yeah, he could maybe kind of like kind of help your team right now, but I feel like then you’d be kind of pigeonholing him in terms of the reps that he would need in other situations to be more valuable player for you down the line, right? You just said it. He didn’t get any power play time. Well, uh, if you develop a guy like Florian Jack guy to play, you want him to play in all situations. So, you would want an all situation guy playing in a top six, nine role, depending on what happens with the Canad uh the Canadians training camp and then ultimately being able to sustain that offense and sustain that two-way play over the course of a full season with those added responsibilities. At that point, if you see him checking off all those check marks, then you know you have a player that’s going to be able to hold his own in all situations in the NHL level and he’d be better prepared for that on a regular basis. But he can come in right now and just be a bash brother and crash and bang and and take the puck to the net and I think he’d be effective. And to me, I think he would be one of the first calls for the Montreal Canadiens. All I’m saying is all I’m saying is when it come like it’s best to not rush certain players. The Canadians have made a habit of that in previous regimes where they pitch and hold players or they they they they stuck players in roles that they were projected for well before they were ready for it and those players floundered. And I just feel like that would be the case with a guy like Florian who in my opinion deserves NHL games this season. Absolutely. But at the end of the like at the end of the day, if the goal is you want this guy to be a dominant player in all situations that you could play on your bottom six, you know, I look at the situation for example with a Jake Evans. Jake Evans was a point per game all situational center for uh I believe at the time. I think they were still the Laval Rocket back then. I think they had just moved, but he was an all-around point- per game center and then he was called up and it still took him time to get his mojo offensively. Michael Pizzetta, who is not an offensive player whatsoever in the NHL, was a point per game player in the in the AHL before he was called up. You just want to see guys reach that level before you just throw them into the NHL. And with the veterans that they have on the bottom six and the the lack of spots, do you really want to play him 10 minutes a game or do you want to play him 16 to 18 minutes a game in Lavalo? And I think at that point the Canadians would go that route. Whereas a guy like Oliver Kain, I think they may be comfortable playing him 10 to 12 minutes a game with like second wave of power play time because then it opens things up and he’s a center. He’s a center that could play and that has played pro that has more maturity in terms of his on ice play than a guy like Jack Eye. Shame on us. Really? Shame on us. Uh 10 lashings each for not talking about this promising Canadians rookie. We’re talking about Had rookies here. I don’t know. I mean, I’m going to ask Marco, does he think he’s going to make the team? Ivon Deidov, um vaunted vaunted rookie. It’s going to be tough. It’s going to be tough. Um fighting for jobs with Sammy Blle. Can he can he beat out Sammy Blle for a job? Uh, seriously, seriously though. I mean, is it too much pressure to say he’s the odds on favorite to win rookie of the year? Let’s round out Rahab’s rookie talk with some Calder talk for 2026. I mean, is it too much pressure? Is it are we too ahead of uh of where we’re at in terms of it’s his trophy to lose? I mean, there’s there’s a lot of ways that this can go, right? Um, Demidov obviously being in a good situation, especially if he plays on power play one. Um, I think that would definitely help his chances. Uh, you have, you know, like we can list down the potential contenders for the Calder right now. Like what type of Mishkov have uh he have a better season than Mishkov? What did he do? He did Oh, sheesh. 63 points in 80 games, brother. That’s pretty good. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I think I think that’s going to be hard to beat. If Deid does 60 points, that’ll be good. Um, but you know, the thing that I’ll say, and I think this is the key, right, and this is no disrespect to to Dishkov, but Philly did not play meaningful hockey down the stretch. I know. I know. Habs, Habs were all about that meaningful hockey. Yeah. And and everyone remembers Alex Galchenyuk scoring 30 goals, right? Everyone remembers that 2015, 2016, right? When you have nothing to play for and you’re not being asked to play much of a defensive two-way game, it’s I wouldn’t say it’s easier to score those goals, but there’s less pressure on you to score those goals where I feel like Denid is going to have the pressure because he’s going to be in a playoff race. I don’t expect the Flyers to be in the race come March or April, right? I feel like they’re one of the teams that are probably going to try to sell off and go after Gavin McKenna because they don’t outside of Mishkov, they don’t really have that star power uh on their roster. No disrespect to guys like Nesbbit and and and the such. They just or Luchenko, they just he’s the only one, right? You can’t possibly hope to win with him by himself. So, I think they’re going to slide down and that’ll impact Mitchkov or not. When it when it comes to Demidov, I mean, it all depends on on utilization, but you look at other rookies coming in like Zou with the Minnesota Wild, right? If he’s going to get first power play wave with the Wild, he’s definitely going to be a contender for that for for, you know, in terms of that offense. I mean, anybody who plays with Capri off basically gets the rub, right? We saw with Marco Rossi, uh you’ll probably be able to see it with him, too. Um there’s Ike Howard who has just traded over to uh the Edmonton Oilers. I mean, if he gets consistent time with Conor McDavid, uh there’s a serious chance that he could he could crack some a good amount of points uh this season because he is a talented winger nonetheless. Um so someone to watch out for definitely and then you know you can go down the list of other prospects that have kind of come in and surprised and done really well. I mean, you know, we remains to be seen which of Michael Misa and and and Matthew Schaefer crack the NHL rosters uh with the with the the Islanders and the Sharks. So, those are going to be guys to watch as well because if Misa shifts to the wing and plays with a sophomore Mlin Celibbrini, that could be really interesting. Brother Carell Capriov, I mean, fifth round pick. His first season, 55 games, 51 points. His first full year, 81 games in 2021, 47 goals, 108 points, baby. I’ll add that uh I’ll add that that was a full season when he came in. It was just the the shortened season. Exactly. You know what I you know what I meant, though. Yeah. Damn that co. But yeah, I mean Capriovv took his time to develop soap. 96 points in 75 games. Oh my gosh. Yeah. But Capriov, you see, Capriov was a guy that at the time no one really kind of expected to take that leap. Yeah. When he was necessarily drafted, like it was a sharp progression curve. Uh I believe he was playing with Cesca. Um and then, you know, just sharp progression curve and really kind of took his time. I believe he only came over at the age of 22 uh to the NHL. Yeah. Um and so like was more of a finished product for example and then so hit the ground running but elite elite player. One of in my opinion one of the top potential top five top 10 potential players in the NHL. Probably top 10. Um and so to me like I look very forward to seeing what that contract looks like. Good luck Billy Garrett. Amen. Amen. Uh that’s Marco Demo. You could follow him at MN Demiko with RG Media. Marco, thanks brother. We’ll uh talk again next week. Sounds like a plan.

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Shaun Starr and Marco D’Amico talk about the Montreal Canadiens rookie talent pool and how many, if any, can we expect to make the Montreal Canadiens out of training camp?

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