In Hainsight: Rookie Camp Over and Kent Hughes Strikes Again

The Canadiens’ prospects finished the Prospects Challenge with two wins and a loss, but that means very little. The only challenging team the Habs played against was Buffalo on Friday night and there were a lot of first-game jitters there as it was a big moment for many of them. If we can’t make too much of that early loss, the same applies to the two wins which were over sides that barely included any drafted players, so it was expected that Montreal would dominate them.

Speaking to the press this morning, Rob Ramage, the Director of Player Development, said he was impressed by how close the players were already, going as far as describing them as a band of brothers who enjoyed each other’s company. It was probably an excellent idea from the organization to take the prospects to the Bills’ games on their day off on Sunday, what young man doesn’t enjoy a Sunday afternoon football game?

In his post-camp presser, Player Development Coach Francis Bouillon said that he liked what he saw from the defence corps during the tournament. He noted that there was a bit of rust and a lack of coordination during the first game, but that everything came into place as the games went on. Asked if he liked the fact that his defensemen did bring a certain offensive support, he said that he was indeed since in today’s game, the teams that win championships are supported by creative defensemen who aren’t afraid to join in the play. Bouillon added that back in the day, when you had a defenseman like that you were glad to have him, but that nowadays, defensemen are involved in every drill, meaning that those young defensemen learn way more and have much more skills than blue liners did when he was in the NHL.

According to Bouillon, the prospects are well aware of the situation they find themselves in. They know that there are guys ahead of them who have signed NHL contracts and that getting a spot in the NHL is no easy task. Of course, they still want to go pro as quickly as possible, especially with the examples they saw last year (Xhekaj, Harris, Ghule and Slafkovsky all made the roster out of camp last season), but those who say they want to make it put a certain pressure on themselves and they then have to deliver.

While you can’t draw too many conclusions from such a rookie tournament, some players still stood out as impressive for me starting with William Trudeau. The left-shot blue liner is just about to start his second professional season and his experience showed greatly. He was calm and collected, acting like a leader fully deserving of the letter which was stitched on his jersey. Bouillon praised the young man with whom he’s been working for three years, saying that he grew up and learnt a lot in that time span. He’s able to understand what is asked of him and make the right decisions on the ice.

Logan Mailloux had a rough game on Friday night, but it was his first game wearing the Sainte-Flanelle which showed. He played all three games of the tournament, and he improved significantly over the weekend. When asked about him, Bouillon said that he thinks he’s got great skills but from there on, he’s in charge of his own destiny. However, he also added that when you’re a hockey player, you need some mileage, which he hasn’t gotten in the last few years.

Montreal: In Hainsight: Canadiens Gearing Up For New Season

In his first rookie camp, David Reinbacher did well although he wasn’t spectacular, but that’s not a bad thing considering the kind of hockey he plays, efficient and safe. To me, it’s a given that he’ll soon be heading back to Switzerland to continue his development, but the organization will no doubt keep him around during the main camp so that he gets a little taste of the NHL.

Up front, I think it was obvious that the Canadiens’ prospects cupboard doesn’t really have any forwards that look like guaranteed top-six players right now. For years, they drafted a lot of talent on the blue line, and it’s now a strength for the organization, but now, they’ll have to shift their focus to finding talent up front. Right now, the Canadiens do not have enough top-six players in their line-up; Suzuki, Caufield and Dach belong there, but there is no certainty, yet that Juraj Slafkovsky eventually will. That’s perfectly fine though, he’s still only 19 years old and needs a lot of seasoning.

On the eve of training camp, the Canadiens and general manager Kent Hughes announced that they had traded goaltender Casey DeSmith to the Vancouver Canucks in return for Tanner Pearson and a 3rd round pick at the 2025 draft. Pearson is a 31-year-old forward who could easily be described as injury-prone. The last time he played a complete season was in 2017-2018. His most productive season offensively wasn’t that long ago though as he did gather 45 points back in 2019-2020. Last season he was limited to 14 games after he broke his hand in November and had to undergo multiple surgeries to fix it. If he stays in town, the Canadiens’ already crowded attack becomes that much more crowded meaning the task of piercing the roster becomes even more impossible for rookies.

Later today, the Canadiens should announce which players will make the main camp. Considering the fact that there is a red vs. white scrimmage game scheduled on Sunday, don’t expect too many cuts.