Greetings Habs Nation,
With the NHL pre-season finally under way, fans have been getting the opportunity to see the Montreal Canadiens' prospects in action. While anybody with the Internet and more specifically, Twitter, has been able to read what analysts, scouts and teenagers in their parents' basements have to say about each and every Hab hopeful, now is their chance to see for themselves.
I'll be honest with you, I missed last night's 3-2 exhibition match against the hated Boston Bruins as I had a game of my own. I did however, get a chance to attend the Canadiens intra-squad scrimmage at the Bell Center the night before. There are quite a few rookies as well as roster players I was looking forward to seeing and so I'll be sharing my thoughts on them with you here.
Prospects
- Nikita Scherbak: May as well start with the Habs' first overall pick in the 2014 draft. Scherbak played on a line alongside Alex Galchenyuk and Brendan Gallagher. While it's clear that the 18-year -old Scherbak won't be cracking the line-up for the upcoming season, he was very impressive and meshed very well with fellow countryman Galchenyuk. The two Russians... well the one Russian and the one kind of Russian (mostly raised in U.S., but he still has a super Russian name), seemed to have found chemistry right away and had a nice give-and-go play which Galchenyuk finished off with a beauty of a goal on Zachary Fucaly.
I feel I should also point out that the Scherbak earned the fans votes as the game's MVP. I was impressed by his play, but if I had a say (which apparently I did, I just didn't do it) I would've gone with someone else which I'll get to later. Spoiler alert: It's Jiri Sekac.
Again, Scherbak is still only 18 and can use some time to fill out, but it seems as though the Canadiens scouting staff may have picked quite a special player in Nikita Scherbak.
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Jiri Sekac: As mentioned above, Sekac would've earned my vote as the game's MVP. This was the player I was most eager to see as he is said to be the early favourite to crack the Habs roster this season. What I liked most about his play was how obvious it was that he wants the puck. Too many times I find that players try to make fancy plays and are afraid to be labelled as "selfish players" and so they'll look for the pass, no matter the situation. This isn't to say that Cakes (his nickname due to it being the spelling of his name backwards, a name I would've loved to come up with myself but alas... I didn't) doesn't share the puck, but he's confident enough to dangle around the opposition rather than throw the puck away at the first sight of a defender.
He's got size standing at 6"2' 195 lbs and seeing as he's still only 22 years old, he'll be filling out in the coming years. Just as Scherbak had noticeable chemistry with his kind of fellow countryman Galchenyuk, Sekac was playing on the same page as his Czech line-mate (and one quarter captain) Tomas Plekanec.
With all this said, I can't help but agree with fellow Habs Addict writer, Fred Poulin, in saying that
Jiri Sekac is the early favourite to crack the roster.
- Michael McCarron: Anybody else worried about the Canadiens' first round pick in the 2013 NHL Entry Draft here? I'm hoping he had a strong showing against the Bruins last night because I wasn't overly impressed with him in the Red vs. White scrimmage. He threw a few hits and was a good 19 inches taller than most of the other skaters, but other than that he did very little, if anything, to stand out.
There's no question that McCarron will be sent back to the London Knights of the OHL, though it isn't necessarily a bad thing. With the plethora of talent the Canadiens have in the system, there is no need to rush those who aren't ready. McCarron seems to lack the confidence necessary to be successful in the highest of levels and so playing another year or two in the minors might just be what he needs. Fingers crossed that it's just one year as it would be great to have a hulking 6"6' 238 lbs winger on the ice in games against the Bruins, Flyers and Leafs.
- Greg Pateryn: The much talked about blue-liner had a pretty solid showing. He seemed to have a better "game" than Nathan Beaulieu and Jarred Tinordi, both of whom he's competing with for a spot in the Habs back end. That's not to say he has shot above them in the depth chart, just that he made fewer mistake and his presence was more noticeable. Beaulieu will no doubt remain ahead of him in the race to the NHL, but it's beginning to look as if he may give Tinordi a run for his money. Tinordi does have the size the Habs need at 6"6 and 227 lbs, but he'll need to start throwing his weight around more and making other teams fear him before he becomes a staple on this team.
Veterans
Alex Galchenyuk: Galchenyuk is getting a crack at center to start off this year and the line of him between Gallagher and Scherbak was the most exciting. Galchenyuk seemed comfortable at both ends of the ice playing down the middle and while there will be a bit of learning curve I'm hoping that coach Michel Therrien sticks with it to see it through. The vision and hands on this kid are unbelievable and with the opportunity to play his natural position, this could be his breakout season.
Brendan Gallagher: In the first period it seemed as though Gally had smoked a pack of cigarettes in the locker room as he didn't have much hustle. In the second, he was buzzing around like the Gallagher we love and the rest of the league hates. I can't say too much about him as this was a scrimmage and he seems to play his best when getting under the opposition's skin by crashing the net and smiling that smile that most people want to just smack off of his face.
Max Pacioretty-David Desharnais-P.A. Parenteau: I'm just going to go ahead and bunch these guys together seeing as how I wasn't much interested in seeing any of them individually so much as I was eager to see the line as a whole. Parenteau seems to have instantly jumped on to the same page as Desharnais and Pacioretty who are already known to play well together. Parenteau can help Desharnais in dishing out the puck to Patches (who by the way, sniped a beauty of a goal on Mike Condon, but it really doesn't matter, my point is Patches is a natural sniper) and can also direct the puck towards the net which Desharnais is all too often hesitant to do.
Etc...
Aside from who I've mentioned, nobody really stood out.
Sven Andrighetto and
Jacob De La Rose both played well, but after hearing all of the hype surrounding them I was expecting them to be closer to the level of play that Jiri "Cakes" Sekac brought to the ice.
Jeremy Gregoire surprised me with a solid game. The Montreal Canadiens' 6th round pick in the 2013 draft generated a few scoring chances using his speed and willingness to go to the net.
Goaltending
It's hard to get much out of the goalies when they play 25 minutes in an intra-squad game. I will say this though, my gut tells me that this Carey Price character will get the spot as the number one goalie. Other than that I'll shy away from saying too much about the netminders for fear of a classic Montreal goaltending controversy.
In seriousness though, Fucale looked good and Condon made a huge pad stop in close at one point ,but they are both years away (Fucale sooner than later) and the Habs have enough issues with the Budaj-Tokarski situation to focus on either goaltender to closely right now.
And now for your thoughts...
-With Tinordi-Beaulieu-Pateryn vying for the final spot on D, who do you see playing the most games in the 2014-15 season?
-Is Sekac making the team as clear cut as Habs Addict writers seem to think or will another player take the spot?
-Do you think Galchenyuk will last at centre or will Therrien move him back to the wing?
