Rookie Watch Part 1: Bruins vs Habs

Last night in Montreal took place the first pre-season game of our Habs. They were playing against the Boston Bruins. The Canadiens decided to go with line-up mostly made up of rookies, with only Tomas Plekanec, Andrei Markov, Rene Bourque and Tom Gilbert as NHL veterans (note : you can also add goalie Joey MacDonald, even though he has only played 133 games in the NHL and former Hurricanes forward Drayson Bowman).

One thing I wanted to look at was the performance of our young players, but mostly Jarred Tinordi, Michael McCarron, Christian Thomas and Nick Sorkin.

Here are my thoughts on how they played:

Let’s start with Jarred Tinordi. He was one of the few Habs who had played some NHL games last year. Physically speaking, he was on-par with the Bruins. He was able to deliver some good body checks throughout the entire game. However, his defensive skills were lacking a bit. He has not improved his speed at all this summer. In fact, he looked slower than last year. Maybe it is because he spent almost 24 minutes on the ice ? Him and Pateryn looked exhausted in the third period and definitely were Montreal's worst defensive pairing.

Michael McCarron played a great game, for the small amount of time he spent on the ice. He delivered spectacular body checks, managed to put some pressure on B’s defense, took a couple great shots on the net. However, in early second period, he got injured. The latest news are that he suffered a day-to-day upper body injury and that his timetable is still unknown. The only thing he was missing last night was speed. He really does need to work on that aspect of the game this year in London under Dale Hunter. If he can improve at least just a bit, then I would not be surprised to see him in the Canadiens' line-up in a couple of years.

Christian Thomas definitely impressed me. Great speed, good hockey sense, great passing skills and always backchecking hard to prevent scoring chances; he was probably one of the best players on the ice last night. He scored an awesome goal by putting in some effort during a powerplay, as well as preparing Bowman’s game-winning goal with a very accurate pass. He deserved to be named the game's First Star in my opinion. However, I doubt he’ll stay in the big league since he’s a pretty small guy. Who knows, maybe if many injuries happen during the season, he will be called-up…

To be honest, I did not know what to expect from Nick Sorkin. I did not even know the guy up until he showed some promising things during the rookies’ training camp. Well, I must say he has been pretty impressive last night. In fact, if a single rookie could cause a surprise this year, I would put an old $2 bill on him. The problem for Sorkin is that he signed to an AHL-only contract. He is not a giant, but he definitely has a pretty good size. He can be physical, he has a reliable speed and he would definitely have everything it takes to be a power forward in the NHL once he's polished and more mature. I would like to see him perform against a faster team such as the Colorado Avalanche.

That about sums it up for my last night observation on those four guys. The only one who really needs to step up his game in order to even be recalled if something happens is Tinordi because at this rate, he’s going to spend the entire year in Hamilton, while Nathan Beaulieu and Francis Bouillon stay with the big club. 

Written by Dan Beaulieu @Azgarde54                         

Posted in: Christian Thomas,habs,jarred tinordi,michael mccarron,NHL,Nick Sorkin,preseason,training camp