Montréal Canadiens – McKeen's Hockey

NHL: Victor Nuño – Dynasty Stock Watch – Montreal Canadiens Edition

Victor Nuño — Fri, 20 Mar 2026 14:12:45 +0000

MINNEAPOLIS, MN - JANUARY 16: Michigan Wolverines forward Michael Hage (19) skates with the puck during a college hockey game between the Minnesota Golden Gophers and Michigan Wolverines on January 16, 2026, at 3M Arena at Mariucci in Minneapolis, MN. (Photo by Nick Wosika/Icon Sportswire)

McKeen's Hockey: Dynasty Stock Watch

Montreal Canadiens Edition

Team Outlook

After their surprise run to the Stanley Cup Final in the COVID-shortened 2020-21 season, the Canadiens missed the playoffs for three straight years before returning in 2024-25, where they were eliminated in the first round. Now, Montreal appears to be entering its true competitive window, with Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield in their prime years and a new wave of emerging talent led by Ivan Demidov, Lane Hutson, and Jacob Fowler. The prospects in this system will either push their way into that core or develop into important supporting pieces as the Canadiens work toward their 25th Stanley Cup championship.

Buy Candidates

Michael Hage, C

Hage has emerged as the best long-term center prospect in Montreal’s system. His game is driven by strong skating and high-end offensive awareness, allowing him to push pace through the neutral zone while consistently identifying and creating scoring opportunities. He processes the game quickly and uses subtle puck movement to manipulate defenders, traits that have translated into a standout NCAA season where he currently ranks sixth in points per game and has helped lead Michigan to the number one ranking in the country heading into the Frozen Four.

His pNHLe has climbed to around 80, suggesting legitimate top-six offensive potential, even if that level may come in peaks rather than sustained production. The bigger question for Montreal is whether Hage can solidify himself as their long-term second-line center, a role he is currently the best internal candidate to fill. While his development will still require patience, his trajectory, production, and underlying tools point to a player whose value could continue to rise, making him an appealing target in dynasty formats if there is still any skepticism tied to his timeline.

Alexander Zharovsky, LW

Zharovsky brings one of the more exciting offensive skill sets in Montreal’s pipeline, combining high-end puck handling with excellent edgework to create separation in tight areas and generate chances both off the rush and in sustained offensive-zone play. His creativity and ability to manipulate defenders make him a constant offensive threat, though like many skill-driven wingers, his long-term success will depend on continuing to refine his decision-making and consistency against higher levels of competition.

After not appearing in the KHL last season, Zharovsky has broken out in his draft-plus-one year with Salavat Yulaev Ufa, posting 41 points in 58 games, the top point-per-game mark among teenage players in the league. That performance has fueled a dramatic rise in his Hockey Prospecting profile, with his star probability jumping from 18% to 48%, a rare leap that signals legitimate upside. With that kind of trajectory, he is quickly becoming one of the more appealing high-upside targets in dynasty formats and a prospect worth investing in before his value climbs further.

Bryce Pickford, D

Pickford is in the midst of an excellent draft-plus-one season, currently leading WHL defensemen in points-per-game for the Medicine Hat Tigers. His production has been backed by strong underlying metrics, as his Fantasy Hockey Life skater card highlights strengths across play driving, transition, and puck battles, pointing to a well-rounded offensive profile rather than just inflated scoring totals.

He stands out as an offensive-minded defense prospect whose style translates well to fantasy formats. Pickford consistently activates into the play, joins the rush, and looks to create shooting lanes from the blue line, using his mobility to stay involved while maintaining enough defensive structure. If that offensive confidence and versatility carry over to higher levels and he earns power-play deployment, he has the potential to become a fantasy-relevant contributor from the back end.

Sell Candidates

David Reinbacher, D

Reinbacher is still widely viewed as one of Montreal’s safest defense prospects, and for good reason. He plays a composed, efficient two-way game, defends well, moves the puck cleanly, and brings the size and mobility NHL teams want in a top-four blueliner. He should help the Canadiens play more structured, reliable hockey as he matures, which gives him clear real-life value within the organization.

For dynasty managers, though, the concern is his offensive ceiling. Reinbacher’s game is built more on stability and efficiency than high-end creativity, and his pNHLe has trended downward since his draft year. His play-driving metrics in the AHL have also been poor, which adds another layer of concern when projecting his long-term fantasy upside. That does not mean he lacks value, but it does make it less likely that he develops into a strong fantasy asset, especially in formats that do not reward peripheral contributions. If his current dynasty value still reflects expectations of notable power-play production or top-end scoring from the back end, this may be the right time to sell before his profile settles in as a dependable but lower-scoring NHL defenseman.

Owen Beck, C

Beck has built a reputation as one of the more dependable two-way centers in Montreal’s prospect system. His strengths include faceoff ability, responsible defensive play, and strong positioning across all three zones, all traits that tend to earn trust from coaches. He has also been a reasonable producer in the AHL, which supports the view that he can become a useful NHL player. Still, his profile points more toward a reliable, play-driving bottom-six center than an offensive focal point.

For dynasty purposes, that limits the appeal. Hockey Prospecting gives him a zero percent chance of becoming a star, which may be a little harsh, but its NHLer probability has him at nearly a 50% chance of playing 200 games, a mark that feels realistic. Beck should have real-life value if he becomes the type of center who can drive play, handle tough minutes, and stabilize a lower line, but that role does not usually translate into strong fantasy value unless the league is especially deep. If another manager still views him as a potential top-six offensive contributor, this could be a good time to explore moving him.

LJ Mooney, RW

Mooney is one of the more entertaining skill prospects in Montreal’s system, relying on creativity, puckhandling, and offensive flair to generate scoring chances. He is tenacious, competes hard in every situation, and plays with the kind of energy that makes him easy to root for. His Fantasy Hockey Life skater card also highlights how effective he is in several key areas, especially puck battles won and loose-puck recoveries, which are particularly important traits for a smaller player trying to overcome physical disadvantages. Those details help explain why he has become such an intriguing prospect despite his lack of size.

That said, it is still difficult to ignore his stature. At just 5-foot-8, the barrier to entry to the NHL remains immense, and projecting smaller skill forwards into meaningful scoring roles always carries added uncertainty. As the competition gets stronger, faster, and more physical, players who rely on finesse have to consistently prove they can create space and hold up against bigger defenders. I would love to see Mooney succeed, but the odds are still working against him, and if his current dynasty value already reflects a top-six offensive projection, this may be the prudent time to sell while optimism remains high.

Summary

Player	Role	Key Insight
Michael Hage	Buy	Skilled center with strong offensive-driver potential
Alexander Zharovsky	Buy	Creative winger with under-the-radar upside
Bryce Pickford	Buy	Offensive-minded defense prospect worth monitoring
David Reinbacher	Sell	Excellent real-life defender but uncertain fantasy ceiling
Owen Beck	Sell	Reliable center whose role may limit scoring output
LJ Mooney	Sell	High-skill prospect with significant projection risk

MCKEEN’S 2025-26 NHL YEARBOOK – MONTREAL CANADIENS – Team Preview/Player Profiles/Predictions

Fri, 10 Oct 2025 15:00:05 +0000

LOS ANGELES, CA - FEBRUARY 05: Montreal Canadiens right wing Cole Caufield (13) skates in warm ups before a Los Angeles Kings game versus the Montreal Canadiens on February 5th, 2025, at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, CA. (Photo by Rob Curtis/Icon Sportswire)

For the past couple of years, the anticipation that’s built around the Canadiens rebuild and wondering when they’d finally emerge came to fruition. Montreal finished with the second wild card after putting up 91 points, a 15-point improvement from the previous year, and held off Columbus and Detroit for the final playoff spot and their first playoff berth since they went to the Stanley Cup Final in 2021. On paper, the Canadiens numbers weren’t exactly electrifying. At five-on-five they had the fifth lowest CorsiFor and expected goals for percentages. They allowed the eighth most goals at five-on-five and were tied for 18th in goals scored. Their power play was 21st in the league but they had the ninth best penalty kill. A great season from starting goalie Samuel Montembeault (.902 save percentage, four shutouts) was a key reason for their success and backup Jakub Dobes (7-4-3, .909 save percentage) made Cayden Primeau expendable. They were also buoyed by an incredible Calder Trophy-winning season from defenceman Lane Hutson who had 66 points and was third on the team in scoring behind 30-goal scorers Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield.

What’s Changed?

Montreal was able to leverage their cap space and draft assets to make one of the biggest moves of the summer. The Canadiens acquired defenceman Noah Dobson in a sign-and-trade deal from the New York Islanders for Emil Heineman and two 2025 first-round picks. Dobson signed an eight-year, $76 million extension and by adding Dobson, the Canadiens have yet another high-end puck-moving offensive defenceman to go with Hutson. Coach Martin St. Louis likes his team to play high-intensity, fast hockey to get up and down the ice and with Hutson and Dobson they can do that much more often. As big as the Dobson move was, the rest of the summer was quiet. Defenceman Logan Mailloux was sent to St. Louis for promising forward Zack Bolduc and goalie Cayden Primeau was traded to Carolina for a pick. They also added forwards Samuel Blais and Joseph Veleno on one-year deals.

What Would Success Look Like?

If the Canadiens can continue where they left off last season and use their playoff appearance against Washington to spur them forward into perhaps a battle for second or third place in the Atlantic Division, that would show the path they’ve carved out in this rebuild continues to be the right one. While they’ve got aspects of their game to clean up all around, getting high-end performances from Suzuki, Caufield, Hutson, Dobson, Juraj Slafkovský and Patrik Laine again would make a very exciting team infinitely more dangerous to play against. Whether it’s Montembeault or Dobes who take control in net might be worth keeping an eye on, but the balance struck last season worked well. Montreal’s style of play and high-end talent make them exciting and if that can all be honed more, this is a team that can be frustrating for years to come.

What Could Go Wrong?

Montreal seemed to win despite having average-to-below-average shot and expected goal numbers and if the good fortune and goaltending that allowed them to buck those trends fails them, they’ll be in a battle to try and make the postseason in what could be a very crowded field, particularly in the Atlantic. Between Ottawa, Detroit, Buffalo, Boston, Columbus, the New York Rangers and Islanders, Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, things get messy fast in the East. Any slip-ups and losing streaks can dunk a team in the bottom of the standings and make up ground when everyone is so even is extremely difficult. Suzuki and Caufield must lead the pace while Slafkovský continue to press forward in his own development as a power forward. The balance between Dobson and Hutson bears watching too. Chemistry will be tested.

Top Breakout Candidate

With all the young talent in Montreal to watch, the biggest one to keep an eye on this season is Ivan Demidov. The Canadiens first-round pick in 2024, fifth overall, left his team in Russia last season and joined the team late in the regular season and playoffs. In two games he had a goal and an assist and in five playoff games against the Capitals he had two assists. At 6-foot-1, 190 pounds he’s a handful to defend with his moves, speed and skills. Plugging him into Montreal’s top six forward group makes this exciting team even more fascinating to watch. Expect more Calder hype to come for Demidov, he’ll be a blast to watch.

FORWARDS

Nick Suzuki

Predicted Stats
GP	G	A	PTS	PPG
82	33	57	90	1.10

The leader of Montreal’s surge to the playoffs, Nick Suzuki turned a lot of heads last season. After years of debates of whether he can be a 1C on a contending team, he carried Montreal’s offence on his back to get them from a lottery team to a playoff spot. How good was he? His point-pace after the Four Nations break would put him in company with some of the league’s elites. Getting on the scoresheet every night and seeing his responsibility with his ice-time reaching 21 minutes a game by March. Always a workhorse in the defensive zone and in the transition game, Suzuki’s offence reaching the next level was always a work in progress. Something clicked the last two season with him shooting the puck more and playing with more pace off the rush. Areas where he’s improved the most is playing the give-and-go game and creating more sustained offence. Last season was the most shots per 60 minutes he created off the cycle in his career, as most of his offence was primarily off the rush in previous seasons. This is what can make a great playmaker like him turn into an elite one, as it’s tougher to create chances when the game isn’t open and space is hard to come by. Suzuki took a huge step in improving his game here and it bodes well for him long-term. Repeating what he did in the second half will be difficult, but the Habs don’t have any questions of who to build their roster around now.

Cole Caufield

Predicted Stats
GP	G	A	PTS	PPG
82	42	34	76	0.93

While Suzuki was the engine of Montreal’s run to the playoffs, Caufield was the motor all season long. He reaped some of the benefits of Suzuki’s playmaking as a small, pure shooter who gets lost in the weeds of the offensive zone. Doesn’t always need great setups to score, but his own play is enhanced when surrounded by elite playmaking. He led the NHL in shots off high danger passes last season, which was a product of his linemates and Caufield’s own instincts as a goal-scorer. Helped him become a high-20’s goal guy to someone who could push 40 over multiple seasons. The nice thing about Caufield is his game isn’t one-dimensional, and he doesn’t always need to be the shooter. Him, Suzuki and Slafkovksy did a great job of reading off each other and Caufield added another wrinkle to his game by passing from areas that he typically shoots from, giving his linemates tap-in chances for easy goals. He’s also grown as a player who can help drive the play in the neutral zone, gaining more confidence with making plays across the line rather than chipping it in. The only area where his size has set him back is as a defensive player. He’s not a good enough puck-carrier to dodge forecheckers and can have shifts where he’s stuck in his own zone when he’s the one leading the exit. It’s something Monteral can live with if he produces like he did last season. Caufield is one of the league’s young stars and entering his prime.

Juraj Slavkovsky

Predicted Stats
GP	G	A	PTS	PPG
81	27	34	61	0.75

While his point total might not show it, those who watch Montreal will tell you Slafkovsky turned a corner this past season. Moved to the top line, Slafkovsky reaped the benefits of playing with the Habs two best players and finally showed some high-level skill. He was one of the best forwards in the league at setting up high danger passes, using that long reach to win pucks behind the goal line and showing the finesse that got him drafted first overall. He was also a critical piece in the defensive zone, taking some of the heat off Suzuki starting most of the breakouts and giving them a little more stability than Caufield did with getting pucks out. It’s still hard to say if he’s a future star or a third wheel on the top line because most of the skills he is rated best at are better utilized when paired with an elite talent. A good example being how most of his shots came off deflections and one-timers and how most of his setups were from behind the goal line or across the slot. Those are great qualities to have, but not the most repeatable on a year-to-year basis if you’re not going to be with the same linemates. That said, Slafkovsky progressed in the skills that are more repeatable too. His ability to gain the zone with control has improved dramatically since his rookie year. His shot assist rate is also climbing to a first line level after two seasons of bad to mediocre numbers. Slafkovsky is more involved in the play in general and Montreal is hoping that he will keep adding to his toolbox next season. He’s setup nicely to be a contributor on the top line, but taking the next step to becoming someone who can drive his own line is what you want to see from him as he gets older.

Zack Bolduc

Predicted Stats
GP	G	A	PTS	PPG
75	24	18	42	0.56

The Blues moving on from Bolduc was a little surprising even if they weren’t expecting him to sustain a goal scoring pace of 16 percent. He had somewhat of a roller coaster rookie season with 19 goals despite multiple games as a healthy scratch and inconsistent deployment. The St. Louis top six isn’t an easy group to break into, and the deck was stacked against him with Jake Neighbours scoring more and locking down one of those spots. Combine that with the team wanting to put newcomer Jimmy Snuggerud on the top line and Bolduc might have become expendable. He’s an intriguing player, who isn’t big but uses his upper body well to separate himself from defenders to get to pucks first. His wrist shot is hard, deceptive and he’s very good at using his body to “catch” pucks in the slot and settle them down from there. Uses his feet well to chase down pucks and he’s very quick at making passes along the wall, both to set up shots and help exit the zone. The Blues liked him enough to use him in the bumper spot on the power play, where he scored seven of his goals. He has a lot of tools Montreal can use as a deceptive scorer in the middle of the roster. He has the most balanced all-around skillset of the players he’s competing with for a top six spot and his track record of scoring on lower lines should also give him an edge.

Patrik Laine

Predicted Stats
GP	G	A	PTS	PPG
55	20	17	37	0.67

Looking to restart his career, Laine’s season almost began on a disastrous note after taking a brutal knee-on-knee collision in his first preseason game. Thankfully, he didn’t require surgery, and his first year in Montreal was what you would expect from the young Finn. Recording yet another 20-goal season with 15 of them coming on the power play, there wasn’t much that changed with Laine. He’s always going to score at 30+ goal pace but will rarely ever play 82 games and his five-on-five play is always going to be erratic. For as much as he likes to shoot the puck on the power play, he deferred to the point a lot when playing at even strength and only shot unless he could get himself set up for a great chance. The quality over quantity approach isn’t a bad thing, but taking things to an extreme degree has been the problem with Laine over his career. He likes being the first player on the puck in the defensive zone to skate it out but has never been good when having to fight a forechecker for it, getting knocked off the play and turning it over frequently. He’s never been a fast player and knee injuries have made him look like he is skating on concrete at times, which limits his game to that of a one-dimensional power play specialist. He might have a grace period with all the injuries he’s battled, but there is going to be some heat for his roster spot next season with rookie Ivan Demidov and newcomer Zach Bolduc in the fold now.

Kirby Dach

Predicted Stats
GP	G	A	PTS	PPG
70	15	17	32	0.46

The lanky centerman is still an unfinished product and Montreal still doesn’t know what they have in him with Dach spending more time on injured reserve than on the ice. A torn ACL cost him his entire 2023-24 season, and he was limited to only 54 games last season after having surgery on his knee again. He’s a tall player who can skate fluidly and protect the puck well. Using his teammates has been his drawback, has he has tunnel vision in the offensive zone, and the game slows down for him to a troubling degree after he gains the line. He is very deliberate with his decision making both off the rush and on cycles, but he isn’t precise with his passing and a lot of plays die on his stick. He tried to make up for it last season by playing more of a net-front role alongside Alex Newhook and Patrik Laine, which was a fit stylistically with Dach using his big body as a screen. Converting on rebounds was the challenge for him, as it would take him a couple of tries to finally locate the puck when it was loose around the net. Possibly still feeling the effects of a broken wrist that happened early in his career. The stop-start nature to Dach’s career has made it tough to properly evaluate him and the multiple knee surgeries aren’t going to help some of his issues with acceleration and getting away from defenders. He has shown flashes of brilliance with Montreal as recently as two years ago, but it’s hard to say if he can regain that form.

Alex Newhook

Predicted Stats
GP	G	A	PTS	PPG
82	13	15	28	0.34

Taking fliers on former first round picks from other teams has provided the Habs with mixed results. The journey of Alex Newhook best exemplifies that. He shows flashes of being a special player and it’s usually when the table is set for him by his linemates. When he skates downhill from high in the offensive zone, he’s got one of the more dangerous shots on the Habs. The puck snaps right off his stick with a lot of elevation and accuracy. When his linemates drive the lane, he can make beautiful cross-seam passes and change the complexion of the game. Newhook can do enough to carry a third line but struggles when the game gets difficult and he has to make more plays under duress. He usually defers to his linemates at the first sign of pressure and doesn’t like to challenge the defence to risk a turnover. The safe style of play earns you some trust with the coaching staff, but it’s also frustrating to watch when you see glimpses of game-breaking skill from Newhook. He showed some signs of improving that last season, carrying the puck more and posting shot and scoring chance contribution rates that were around the league average. Becoming a threat on the power play has been the other challenge with him scoring only one goal with the man advantage all season despite consistent deployment on the second unit. Now 25, a skilled low-producing depth player might be all Newhook is, but he always shows just enough to make you want more.

Brendan Gallagher

Predicted Stats
GP	G	A	PTS	PPG
75	18	15	33	0.44

A mainstay in the Habs lineup for over a decade, Gallagher has a more important role in the locker room than he does on the ice, but last year was a return to form. While injuries have plagued the back half of his career, he is coming off his first 20-goal season in five years while playing mostly on the lower lines and second power play unit. Gallagher still plays the same, gritty style he always has. A pest by nature, he’s always around the net and taking a few extra pokes at the loose puck after the whistle just to stir the pot. This is part of why he’s had so many injury problems, as he’s eaten a lot of cross-checks in front of the net over the years. This is despite him not being that old at 32 years old, but with more miles logged and harder minutes. He formed an effective line with Josh Anderson for most of the season, the duo playing a straight-head game and doing an excellent job of driving play. They don’t score as much as they should for how many chances they get from close range, but they’re done with more brute force than finesse. Gallagher’s season was somewhat of a saving grace for Montreal with their need for more productive depth players. With how straight-ahead his game is, staying healthy will be key for Gallagher sustaining this level of play.

Josh Anderson

Predicted Stats
GP	G	A	PTS	PPG
79	16	13	29	0.37

Josh Anderson is one of the few players you could describe as a runaway train and have it be considered a backhanded compliment. He is a huge forward who skates like a bullet and makes a beeline for the net regardless of if he has the puck. He’s noticeable with how quick and powerful he skates and how many shots he takes. You also notice how he never looks to pass to teammates, lets chances go to waste by shooting into the goalie’s crest and how often he turns the puck over while trying to bolt out of his own zone. If there is such a thing as a one-way player, Anderson fits the description because his positive traits are all related to shooting and speed. He was one of the Habs best forwards at scoring chances at even strength despite having the lowest shot assist rate on the team. It’s also made him regularly deployed on the penalty kill, where he’s only out there to create shorthanded rushes and keep other power plays honest. Some of his flaws were covered by playing on a line with Brendan Gallagher last season, as the duo were a positive line for the Habs thanks to Gallagher’s knack for generating second chances and creating sustained possessions, so all of Anderson’s rushes weren’t of the one-and-done variety. Montreal values Anderson’s size and speed, so he will continue to be a trusted member of their forward corps.

DEFENCE

Lane Hutson

Predicted Stats
GP	G	A	PTS	PPG
82	11	64	75	0.91

The early part of last season was all about letting Lane Hutson cook. They gave the young blue-liner free reign to do whatever he wanted with the puck, letting him control the cycle from the outside and dissect the coverage from up high. It took a couple months for the results to show, but he was one of the most productive blue-liners in the league during the second half. If there was anything it proved it was that Hutson is a quick study because he learned his teammates' tendencies well and got better at reading off them as the season went on. His footwork makes it difficult to challenge him high in the zone, frequently making defenders miss and if he got any room, he could easily get the puck to the net or find someone open within a second. Leaving him alone is also dangerous because he excels at getting shots through and shooting for deflections. His game in the defensive zone is ahead of his years, handling the bulk of the work on puck retrievals and using his stick to disrupt rush chances well. Hutson doesn’t trust his defensive game to the point where he can aggressively challenge forwards yet, so he makes up for it by playing deeper in the zone and letting the play come to him. We will see if he changes this part of his game now that teams can pick up on his tendencies. His play with the puck, however, is very tough to prepare for and the sky should be the limit as Montreal’s forwards continue to improve.

Noah Dobson

Predicted Stats
GP	G	A	PTS	PPG
80	12	42	54	0.68

After enjoying one season as one of the league’s highest scoring defencemen, Dobson didn’t get the same level of puck luck on assists this past season and saw his point total take a drastic fall. Not that scoring is the only thing Dobson brings to the table. He’s a rangy, mobile defenceman who can get you out of the zone quickly and log heavy minutes. The burden he carried on the Isles defence corps proved to be a little too much last season, as the team got heavily outscored with him on the ice at five-on-five. This made fans notice his flaws more than the things that made him special. The turnovers are pointed out more instead of the subtle plays with the puck. You see him missing the net with the booming slapshot more than you notice how smoothly he plays the fourth forward role with joining the rush. He is a high-risk/high-reward defenceman by nature, so it’s understandable that he can be a lighting rod when things aren’t going well. That pressure likely won’t be going away now that he is Montreal’s undisputed number one defenceman. On paper, he complements young Lane Hutson nicely. They can both skate and split the workload in the defensive zone on puck retrievals. The hope is that they don’t have to spend too much time in their own zone defending because the potential for them to be a high-octane offensive-D pair is really exciting to think about. Players like Dobson don’t come along very often, especially at only 25 years old, so this raises the bar very high for an ascending Habs squad.

Mike Matheson

Predicted Stats
GP	G	A	PTS	PPG
80	6	23	29	0.37

While Hutson was still getting used to the NHL, Matheson played the role of Montreal’s top defenceman by default. He has the physical tools and the endurance to play the minutes, but not the awareness to handle the workload. Spending so much of your shifts in the defensive zone takes its toll on your body after awhile and Matheson felt the effects of it in some games. He’s an explosive, puck-rushing defenceman by nature and was pigeonholed into more of a defensive role with Habs short on proven options. Montreal even tried pairing Hutson with Matheson for a brief spell before forming a shutdown pair with midseason acquisition Alex Carrier. The duo did a good job of keeping the puck out of their net but had to put out a lot of fires in their own zone. Which goes back to Matheson being asked to do too much as the team’s do-it-all defenceman last season. The weight is going to be taken off him next year with Noah Dobson in the fold and Hutson stepping up on the top-pair. It likely spells the end of him getting power play time in Montreal and his role possibly being shifted to more of a defensive specialist with heavy minutes on the penalty kill. Matheson’s skating and ability to be a one-man breakout is always going to keep him in the top four, it’s just a question of if he’ll perform better in a lesser role.

GOAL

Samuel Montembeault

Predicted Stats
GP	W	L	OT	SO	SV%	GAA
58	29	20	7	4	.903	2.85

It could be easy to criticize what the Montreal Canadiens are doing in net at the moment. As they enter the final year of Carey Price's albatross contract, five full years after his last NHL appearance for the club, their options in net are a former mid-tier Florida Panthers prospect, a 24-year old who split last season between the big club and AHL's Laval, and former Minnesota Wild draft pick Kaapo Kahkonen - who served as a backup for the Wild, then the San Jose Sharks, before getting claimed off waivers twice last year and then getting traded. As much as Sam Montembeault, Jakub Dobes, and Kahkonen might seem like a motley crew of cast-off toys, though, they could be the first trio of roster figures Montreal has strung together in net in years that won't cause fans to hold their breath in nervous anticipation. Montembeault's numbers last year looked just barely better than league average, but he managed to maintain those over one of the league's heaviest workloads - and his more situational analytics have slowly been trending upward with each year that he's given more responsibility. Dobes did an admiral job stepping up as well, splitting the net with Montembeault in the postseason to give him both regular season and playoff NHL experience to take into next year. And Kahkonen, while on an admittedly wild ride the last handful of seasons, provides the perfect opportunity for Dobes to start the year getting plenty of reps in the AHL to warm up for the back half of the season; it's not the flashiest trio in the league, but it seems perfectly built to keep Montreal battling for playoff contention for yet another year.

MCKEEN’S 2025-26 NHL YEARBOOK – MONTREAL CANADIENS – Top 15 Prospect Profiles – Organizational Rank #3

Fri, 10 Oct 2025 14:55:59 +0000

MONTREAL, QC - SEPTEMBER 25:Montreal Canadiens defenseman David Reinbacher (64) waits for a face-off during the New Jersey Devils versus the Montreal Canadiens preseason game on September 25, 2023, at Bell Centre in Montreal, QC (Photo by David Kirouac/Icon Sportswire)

Prospect System Ranking – 3rd (May 2025 - 1st)
GM: Kent Hughes Hired: January 2022
COACH: Martin St. Louis Hired: February 2022

The Ivan Demidov era has officially arrived. After posting the most points by a rookie in the KHL, McKeen’s second-ranked prospect made his NHL debut this spring and immediately captured the Bell Centre faithful with a goal and an assist. His arrival, coupled with the established presence of Lane Hutson and young NHLers Cole Caulfield, Nick Suzuki, and Juraj Slafkovský, signals that Kent Hughes’s rebuild is shifting into high gear—backed by one of the NHL’s deepest prospect pools.

David Reinbacher, their top prospect behind Demidov, was limited to just 10 regular-season games in his North American debut before returning for a stronger postseason showing. Still, his upside remains prevalent. Suiting up with him in Laval is a cluster of skilled forwards—Joshua Roy, Owen Beck, Luke Tuch, and Oliver Kapanen—who have all made good progress. Beck’s 44-point rookie campaign ranked ninth among all AHL freshmen, while Roy added 35 of his own. Both have seen NHL time and are close to securing full time spots.

Hughes wasn’t afraid to augment his system with established young NHLers, either. The addition of Noah Dobson gives Montreal a cornerstone defender to go alongside Hutson, even at the expense of back-to-back 2025 firsts. Meanwhile, Zachary Bolduc was acquired from St. Louis in a swap for Logan Mailloux, further deepening the forward group.

In goal, Jacob Fowler continues to emerge as one of the Habs’ biggest steals. The 2023 third rounder captured the Mike Richter Award as the NCAA’s top goaltender before joining Laval, where he carried over his success with a 3-3-0 playoff record. While he’s not guaranteed an NHL role in 2025-26, the battle between Fowler and Jakub Dobes—who emerged as a surprise NHL option—could provide Montreal with stability in net for years to come.

Montreal Canadiens Top-15 Prospects

1 - Ivan Demidov

Despite adversity, Demidov took advantage of every second he was given and proved why he was arguably the best prospect outside of the NHL. He is one of the most dynamic players in the world, dominating at the KHL level as he weaves through opponents with elite handiwork and impressive speed. He showed off his smarts, reading defensive schemes and setting his teammates up with highlight reel passes in situations that look impossible for a goal to be created. Defensively, he will still need to polish some timing and positioning issues, but he is a hardworking, disciplined player who will be able to hold his own against the world’s best. Ivan could have easily played on Montreal’s roster last season and immediately proved his worth, showing some flashy playmaking and even contributing in Montreal's return to the playoffs. Ivan will be a gamechanger in the Canadien’s top six for years to come and will be a perennial MVP challenger in the prime of his career.

2 - David Reinbacher

It’s unfortunate that David Reinbacher missed so much time due to injury this past season, as it may have postponed the expectation that Reinbacher would suit up for the Montreal Canadiens as a full-time defender as early as this coming season. Reinbacher was first sidelined after an awkward collision in an NHL preseason game against the Toronto Maple Leafs, which resulted in early-season knee surgery for the talented young defenceman. Reinbacher did later return to play for the Laval Rocket, and even looked quite good in important playoff minutes, but it looks like he will start this coming season with Laval. As for his game, the tools are still there; he defends very well with his stick, he can skate with the best, and he can break up plays before they happen. It may just take a bit more time, through no fault of his own, until he becomes a full-time top four defender at the NHL level.

3 - Jacob Fowler

Fowler improved greatly upon his already phenomenal freshman season after winning the Mike Richter award as the country’s top goalie in the NCAA. He’s an elite positional goalie who has exceptional footwork, play-reading and has surprisingly great quickness and athleticism. His consistency is incredible and is rarely seen from a 20-year-old goalie, only allowing more than three goals on two occasions this year in 35 games. He can get beat cleanly high, a product of subpar tracking and inactive hands, something to be concerned about but it isn’t detrimental. He plays a very projectable game to the NHL with few gaping faults and a lot of elite strengths. Even though he has chosen to leave Boston College to turn pro, he still shouldn’t be rushed into the NHL like fellow Mike Richter Trophy-winning goalie Devon Levi. He still needs to develop his hands and tracking, he will need time in the AHL or else he will get picked apart by NHL shooters, losing confidence and stunting his growth. If done right, he could turn out to be an elite goalie.

4 - Michael Hage

Michael Hage has adapted greatly to the college game, showcasing high-end speed, awareness, and stickhandling that enable him to drive play through controlled zone entries. His offensive impact is evident in his ability to pursue open space and maintain offensive zone time. He actively engages in loose puck battles and stick checks, leading to extended offensive pressure and aiding in defensive zone breakouts. Hage has also displayed solid defensive coverage and positioning, demonstrating growth towards a complete 200-foot game. While his offensive instincts and play-driving abilities are clear strengths, he can further improve by consistently supporting breakouts in the defensive zone. His deployment on the power play indicates his offensive potential, and his commitment to backchecking and staying engaged in puck play points to a well-rounded development path. As he continues refining his defensive consistency, Hage projects as a skilled forward with the potential to be a top six contributor in all situations at the NHL level.

5 - Owen Beck

Owen Beck was a very good player at both ends of the ice last season with the Laval Rocket, and he did it while being asked to play in all situations. When Beck’s playing his game, he utilizes his skating and physicality to hound opposing players for loose pucks. He’s also extremely trustworthy at both ends of the ice - when you need a goal, or need to prevent a goal, Beck can be counted on. Beck’s compete and battle level was on full display last season with both the Laval Rocket and Montreal Canadiens, albeit for the latter while playing in a bit of a lesser role, but his overall game screams a surefire NHL player. He probably won’t develop into a first-line offensive forward at the NHL level, as he has good but not great offensive skill, but he should enjoy a long career as a trustworthy, two-way middle six forward. Beck should be battling to carve out a full-time fourth-line role this fall with the Canadiens.

6 - Oliver Kapanen

Kapanen made the Canadiens out of camp but couldn’t quite stick it for very long. Rather than go to the AHL, Kapanen went on loan to Timrå of the SHL and absolutely lit it up. He was always a step ahead of the game, reading play near-perfectly and having a well-thought-out plan before touching the puck. His stellar hockey sense and work ethic drive a lot of good results offensively and defensively. However, despite scoring almost a point per game in the SHL, his offensive upside probably won’t be that great in the NHL. He can’t drive a line, but he can work well within space and compliment teammates with more dynamic playmaking qualities. Kapanen already looks like a capable young NHLer who will only look more comfortable as he gets more games under his belt. A player with Kapanen’s toolkit is better suited for a bottom six center role in the NHL but could play higher in the Canadiens line up if need be.

7 - Jakub Dobes

Jakub Dobes has made early headway into the NHL, solidifying himself as a reliable backup for Montreal this past year. Dobes is a very strong positional goalie, often opting for the Hellebuyck style to play deeper, allowing the play to come to him in place of it dictating his movement. However, his skating isn’t amazing or fluid, he often looks clunky, and while it’s passable, his speed and athleticism are on the weaker side for NHL goalies. To offset this, he has to have good play-reading capabilities, which luckily, he possesses. This, paired with his positioning, can hide his lack of physical talents, but it puts a cap on his ceiling. It’s questionable if Dobes could become a true starting level goalie, but he’s already shown to be an NHL capable goalie regardless of role at a young age, something that most have not been able to do. To break through his current ceiling, he will have to improve upon his skating, a very difficult thing to do at this point, but not impossible.

8 - Josh Roy

Josh Roy put together another solid professional season, where he split time in a number of different roles with the Laval Rocket and the Montreal Canadiens in 2024-2025. It was expected that Roy would make the Canadiens full time out of camp at the beginning of last season, but he was a final cut and began the year with the Laval Rocket. While playing in Laval, Roy put his offensive abilities on full display, where he was a constant scoring threat each time he entered the offensive zone. Roy also worked on his defensive game last season and can be counted upon to provide energy in a bottom six role. There’s debate over what kind of player Roy can be at the NHL level, but it’s looking right now that his ceiling appears to be that of a third line forward. He does have to continue to work on his compete level, especially if he hopes to make the Canadiens this fall, but he possesses the offensive abilities of a full-time NHL player.

9 - Adam Engström

Adam Engström was arguably one of the best rookies in the AHL last season, and he did it while playing significant minutes for a very good Laval Rocket team. What’s particularly impressive about Engström’s game is his hockey awareness at both ends of the ice. He’s a great passer, but he’s also an extremely capable defender off the rush. These skills allow Engström to turn good defence into good offence, where he can break up plays in transition and turn them into quick outlet passes, creating opportunities off the rush for his forwards. There’s no question that Engström carries the potential to become a top four NHL defenceman with his unique size and athleticism, but he will need to continue working on his game in Laval to reach that projection. There’s still room for Engström to improve his offence, and his defensive game could really use some increased physicality. Look for Engström to continue to play a big role with the Rocket this upcoming season and get some games in limited minutes with the Montreal Canadiens.

10 - Alex Zharovsky

Alexander Zharovsky may become one of the steals of the draft after Montreal was able to snatch him up at the start of the second round. Zharovsky’s hands are elite and allow him to maneuver through complex situations like very few others at the junior level. He slips around defenders with ease and at times, it looks like the puck is fastened to his stick with string as he is able to maintain possession through some heavy pressure. His playmaking is also very good. He is able to plan his decisions and execute them with precision to create dangerous looks. There is still a lot of work that needs to be done if we are going to see Alex reach his potential. He lags behind other top picks in skating and shooting and will need to improve his effort on the defensive side of the puck. He looks to have a top six ceiling who could be a game breaking playmaker for the Habs.

11 - Florian Xhekaj

Xhekaj turned heads in his rookie pro season thanks to 24 goals, and a whopping 175 penalty minutes. His competitiveness in puck pursuit is a standout trait, but he also has speed and an ability to generate scoring chances that could make him an intriguing depth player in the NHL. The next step for Xhekaj will be to continue to establish himself as a reliable pro.

12 - Filip Mesar

Mesar has not yet lived up to his first-round billing, especially with a disappointing rookie season in Laval from an offensive standpoint. However, the tools are still there, as Mesar’s quickness and hands in tight remained intact. Although he might not “wow”, Mesar still profiles as a solid pro and should see some improvement in Laval this year.

13 - Sean Farrell

Farrell took a step forward offensively this season, posting 20 goals in the AHL and carving out a bit of a niche in the bumper position on the power play. Farrell has an intriguing offensive toolkit, with good passing vision and a hard shot. To take the next step, though, he’ll have to continue to add strength and speed. He will compete for an NHL job this fall, likely returning to the AHL thereafter.

14 - Bogdan Konyushkov

Konyushkov logged heavy minutes in the KHL last season, playing nearly 23 minutes a night for Torpedo. He was featured both on the power play and on the penalty kill and has an ability to get involved offensively while making a solid first pass. He is under KHL contract through the end of the 2026-27 season, where he will be able to make the jump to North America.

15 - Yevgeni Volokhin

Volokhin made the jump to the KHL this season to mostly solid results after two very impressive seasons in the MHL. Despite not possessing elite size, he has active hands in the net that help him get to difficult shots. He has plenty of runway in the KHL to continue to improve his game.

2025 NHL PROSPECTS REPORT: #1 MONTREAL CANADIENS – Top 15 NHL Affiliated Prospects

Fri, 06 Jun 2025 12:17:46 +0000

MONTREAL, QC - APRIL 16:Ivan Demidov (93) of the Montreal Canadiens shoots the puck during the second period of the NHL game between the Carolina Hurricanes and the Montreal Canadiens on Apr 16 2025, at the Bell Centre in Montreal, QC (Photo by Vincent Ethier/Icon Sportswire)

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Montreal 25 Prospects

NHL: DADOUN – FINAL FANTASY STRETCH – Playoff teams and their schedules to close out the regular season – What to watch for

Ryan Dadoun — Sun, 06 Apr 2025 14:34:50 +0000

WASHINGTON, DC - APRIL 04: Capitals left wing Alexander Ovechkin (8) celebrates with Jakob Chychrun (6) and Andrew Mangiapane (88) after scoring his 894th career NHL goal to tie Wayne Gretzky for most NHL career goals with 894 during the Chicago Blackhawks versus Washington Capitals National Hockey League game on April 4, 2025 at Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C.. (Photo by Randy Litzinger/Icon Sportswire)

I’m not going to retread my discussion about St. Louis’ success after featuring it last week, but after earning an 11th straight victory Thursday, the Blues have basically secured their playoff berth with a 42-28-7 record (91 points). At the same time, Minnesota, which holds the second wild-card spot, is looking pretty safe with its 41-29-7 record (89 points). Sure, Calgary still has an outside chance at 36-27-12, but the fight for the last two spots in the Western Conference playoffs seems all-but decided.

The battle for the second wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference is still wide open, though, so with the season winding down, I’m going to feature Montreal, the Rangers, Columbus, Detroit and the Islanders in that order to do a deep dive into what remains on each team’s schedule and what needs to happen for any of those squads to squeak into the postseason. So as not to make this final edition of the Look Ahead too skewed towards the east, I’ll also feature Vegas, Los Angeles and Edmonton. All three of those teams are extremely likely to make the playoffs, but there is still meaningful room for movement there in terms of who will end up in what seed.

While those are some of the most interesting teams to watch over the final week and a half of the campaign, there are a few more storylines worth covering before we dive into them, starting, of course, with Alexander Ovechkin. He found the back of the net twice Friday to tie Wayne Gretzky for the all-time goal-scoring record. He’s just one marker away from breaking the record.

When you compare him to Gretzky, the two have had extraordinarily different careers. Gretzky surpassed the 70-goal mark on four occasions and still holds the record for most goals in a single season with 92. With the caveat that we are measuring players from different eras, Ovechkin never came close to enjoying a height equal to Gretzky’s. However, Ovechkin’s longevity has been unreal. At the age of 39, he’s at 41 goals in 60 games this season, putting him third in the NHL’s goal-scoring race this season behind only William Nylander (42) and Leon Draisaitl (52) despite the time Ovechkin has missed due to injury.

Gretzky’s goal-scoring diminished dramatically in the back half of his career. The final time he reached the 40-goal mark was his age-30 season (1990-91), and the last time he collected at least 30 goals was his age-33 campaign (1993-94). We might never see a player who ages as well as Ovechkin has.

At the time of writing, Washington still has six games left on its schedule. Of note, the Capitals’ remaining home games are Thursday vs. Carolina and Sunday vs. Columbus. Ovechkin’s next chance to break the record will come against the Islanders on Sunday. Wherever he breaks it will be special, but it would be particularly remarkable if he does so at home.

Given Ovechkin’s scoring pace, the record probably isn’t going to come down to the final game of the season, but it is worth adding that the Capitals are set to conclude the campaign in Pittsburgh on April 17. To have it happen there with Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby would give the event some extra flavor, given that trio’s long and storied history.

That’s by far the biggest event to watch out for, but we might also see some players reach the 400-goal mark soon. Draisaitl and Jamie Benn are both one marker away (Note: Draisaitl is injured. More on that during Edmonton’s section), while Auston Matthews is three shy.

I’m also interested to see how rookie Lane Hutson does over Montreal’s final seven regular-season games. He’s already at 63 points, which is the seventh most ever by a rookie defenseman. He’s just two away from surpassing Chris Chelios and establishing a new rookie record by a Canadiens defenseman. Also within striking range are Ray Bourque (ranked fifth, 65 points), Phil Housley (fourth, 66 points) and maybe even Gary Suter (third, 68). That’s extraordinary company that Hutson has found himself in.

Finally, it’s worth keeping an eye on the Hart Trophy race. Colorado’s Nathan MacKinnon (32 goals, 115 points), Tampa Bay’s Nikita Kucherov (33 goals, 112 points) and Draisaitl (52 goals, 106 points) are all making a strong case, and who actually gets the award could be decided based on how these final days go. It doesn’t seem like a stretch to say that Connor Hellebuyck is the heavy favorite for the Vezina Trophy, but he’s also just two wins away from becoming just the eighth goaltender ever to hit 45 wins.

In other words, there are plenty of interesting events to monitor without even getting into the battle for the second wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference, but speaking about it…

Montreal Canadiens

The Canadiens earned their fourth straight victory Thursday and currently hold the second wild-card spot with a 37-30-9 record. Still, there is plenty of competition to dethrone them, as we’ll examine soon, so Montreal needs to do well down the stretch. Looking ahead to the final week-and-a-half, the Canadiens have three home games (April 8 versus Detroit, April 14 versus Chicago, April 16 versus Carolina) and two road contests (April 11 in Ottawa, April 12 in Toronto).

That game against Detroit is the only remaining match against a team battling for the second wild-card spot with the Canadiens. Ottawa has a five-point edge on Montreal in the battle for the first wild-card position, with each club still set to play seven games as of Friday. That’s probably too big a gap for Montreal to overcome, but a victory over the Senators would make the leap far more feasible.

As noted above, Hutson has been a major part of the Canadiens’ resurgence into contention this campaign, and he’s continued to perform well down the stretch, supplying eight helpers over his past five appearances. It wouldn’t be surprising to see him continue to succeed in the final games, especially on the power play, where he’s already collected 25 points.

A recent hero for the Canadiens who is more surprising is Brendan Gallagher. The 32-year-old hasn’t reached the 40-point mark since 2019-20, but that might change this season. He’s just four points shy of the milestone and seems to be racing towards it after collecting five goals and six assists over his past ten outings. He’s one of the oldest members of the young club and has 71 games worth of playoff experience, so his experience is an important asset at this stage of the year.

Though, what might be even more helpful than Gallagher’s experience would be a Patrik Laine hot streak. When Laine starts scoring, it can be near impossible for goaltenders to contain him, but the 26-year-old’s extreme highs tend to be offset by prolonged cold spells. Lately, though, he’s kind of been in between with two goals across his past seven games -- far from his best, but not a disaster either. He’ll be one to monitor, though, to see if he catches fire at this crucial juncture. Keep a particular eye on him during power plays: 15 of Laine’s 19 goals this campaign have been tallied with the man advantage.

If Gallagher and Laine are the X-factors going forward, then Nick Suzuki is the steady hand. He has 27 goals and 83 points through 76 games, and Suzuki will probably continue to contribute over the final stretch. He certainly hasn’t shown any signs of slowing across his past 17 appearances in which he’s supplied eight goals and 31 points, including five goals and nine points in his last four games.

New York Rangers

Where will the Rangers’ roller coaster end? They got off to a 12-4-1 start, followed by a 4-15-0 descent. After numerous ups and downs, not to mention a flurry of trades, New York finds itself two points behind Montreal for the second wild-card spot with a 36-32-7 record. The Rangers will enter the final week-and-a-half with six games remaining, split evenly between three home games (April 7 versus Tampa Bay, April 9 versus Philadelphia, April 17 versus Tampa Bay) and three road matches (April 10 against the Islanders, April 12 in Carolina, April 14 in Florida).

That’s four games against top-tier teams (Tampa Bay x2, Carolina, Florida), one against a team competing with them for a wild-card spot (the Islanders) and one against a team that’s faded out of the playoff picture (Philadelphia). That’s a tough way to finish the campaign, but if you’re fishing for silver linings, Carolina and Florida might be more concerned about resting stars than winning games by the time they play the Rangers, so perhaps the situation isn’t as difficult as it initially seems.

Either way, the ideal for the Rangers would be if they’re able to make life a little easier for Igor Shesterkin. On the surface, it’s looked like he’s been a mixed bag this campaign with a 25-26-5 record, 2.86 GAA and .905 save percentage in 56 appearances. He’s also allowed nine goals over his past two starts against two teams that have underwhelmed offensively this season -- Minnesota and Anaheim. However, the Rangers rank 28th in xGA/60 (3.32), per Moneypuck, which suggests that the defense has made life miserable for Shesterkin. In fact, his goals saved above expected is 21.3, which is the fourth best in the league and suggests he’s been basically as good as Andrei Vasilevskiy (36-20-3, 2.16 GAA, .921 save percentage), with the key difference being the play in front of the respective netminders.

Unfortunately, New York isn’t likely to fix its leaky defense this late into the campaign, so Shesterkin is going to probably continue to give up more goals than commonly associated with an elite netminder, even if he continues to play at a high level. If the Rangers are to squeak into the playoffs, the difference will have to be made up by the team’s offense. The silver lining for the Rangers is that scoring seems to come far more naturally to them than defense.

That’s been especially true since a trade with Vancouver brought J.T. Miller back to New York. Miller has 10 goals and 26 points in 25 outings with the Rangers this season and is doing everything in his power to push the Rangers into the playoffs by contributing three goals and eight points over his past five outings.

New York also has Adam Fox back. The offensive defenseman missed eight straight games due to an upper-body injury, but since returning March 15, he’s provided four goals and eight points in nine outings, giving him nine goals and 56 points across 67 appearances this campaign.

One player they could use more from, though, is Alexis Lafreniere. After breaking out last season with 28 goals and 57 points in 82 appearances, the 23-year-old has suffered a mild regression with 16 goals and 43 points through 75 outings. That’s despite starting 2024-25 with an impressive eight goals and 16 points in 19 games. Lafreniere has been a mixed bag recently, with a goal and five points over his past eight appearances, so he certainly has room for improvement.

Columbus Blue Jackets

The Blue Jackets went through a rough 1-7-1 stretch from March 4-21, which severely hindered their playoff chances. They’ve since stabilized by winning three of six from March 24-April 3, but that still leaves them six points behind Montreal in the wild-card race with a 34-31-9 record.. The silver lining is that Columbus has a game in hand against Montreal at the time of writing. The other good news is Columbus will play four of its final six games at home (April 8 versus Ottawa, April 10 versus Buffalo, April 12 versus Washington, April 17 versus the Islanders) over the final week-and-a-half. The Blue Jackets’ other two outings during that stretch will be on the road against Washington on April 13 and Philadelphia on April 15.

The two games against Washington might be of particular difficulty. However, if Ovechkin has established a new all-time goal record by that point -- which seems likely after he scored twice to tie the record Friday -- then the Capitals won’t have anything of consequence left to fight for until the postseason, which might lead to them taking their pedal off the gas a bit.

Columbus also has the benefit of getting healthy at the right time. Sean Monahan has three goals and eight points across six outings since returning from a wrist injury. Meanwhile, Boone Jenner has six goals and nine points in his past seven games as he finds his rhythm after not making his season debut until Feb. 22 due to shoulder surgery.

Add in forwards Kirill Marchenko, who has six goals and eight points over his past six outings, and Dante Fabbro, who has two goals and seven points across his last five appearances, then mix Zach Werenski, who has established a new career high with 74 points in 73 games, and Columbus has an offense that can match up with most teams in the league.

Unfortunately, the goaltending might end up costing them a playoff berth. Elvis Merzlikins has a 25-21-5 record, 3.24 GAA and .890 save percentage in 51 outings this season. He’s also been trending in the wrong direction, allowing 25 goals on 159 shots (.843 save percentage) over his past five appearances. This isn’t a Shesterkin situation either: Columbus actually has an underrated defense, ranking 11th in xGA/60 (2.96). It really is just that Merzlikins hasn’t been holding up his end of the bargain with his minus-8.2 goals saved above expected.

Perhaps he’ll get hot down the stretch. That would give Columbus the final piece of the puzzle.

Detroit Red Wings

Detroit earned a 5-3 victory over Carolina on Friday to improve to 35-33-7 on the season. That puts the Red Wings six points behind Montreal, with one game in hand. Of course, Detroit is competing with more than just the Canadiens, so their margin of error is extremely low going into the final week-and-a-half. To further complicate things, five of Detroit’s final six games are on the road (April 8 in Montreal, April 10 in Florida, April 11 in Tampa Bay, April 16 in New Jersey, April 17 in Toronto) with just one game at home (April 14 versus the Stars).

Detroit has an underwhelming 15-17-4 road record, so the Red Wings are in a tricky position. Perhaps Patrick Kane can guide them to the playoffs regardless. He scored a goal Friday, bringing him up to three goals and seven points across his past seven appearances. Given the 36-year-old’s long history of success in high-stakes situations, it seems appropriate that he’s stepped up when Detroit has needed him the most.

His linemate, Alex DeBrincat, went through a bit of a quiet stretch in which he was limited to one assist across four outings from March 25-April 1, but he broke out of that with a goal and an assist versus Carolina, so perhaps he’s starting a new run. DeBrincat is a crucial part of the offense with 34 goals and 64 points in 75 appearances, so having him at his best in the final stretch is naturally important.

Like Columbus, goaltending might be what holds Detroit back, especially because Petr Mrazek (head) hasn’t played since March 24. To be fair, though, Cam Talbot has looked fine recently, allowing six goals on 91 shots (.934 save percentage) over his past three contests. He still has an underwhelming 2.89 GAA and .903 save percentage through 42 games this year, but a strong stint from Talbot now keeps Detroit’s hope alive.

New York Islanders

The Islanders secured a 3-1 win over Minnesota on Friday, raising to 33-32-10 on the season. That still puts them five points behind Montreal, and the Islanders would also have to climb above the Rangers, Columbus and Detroit, so their chances of actually making the playoffs are slim. Still, they have reason to cling to hope going into the final week-and-a-half. The Islanders are set to play two of their final six games at home (April 10 versus the Rangers, April 15 versus Washington), and four on the road (April 8 in Nashville, April 12 in Philadelphia, April 13 in New Jersey, April 17 in Columbus).

The Islanders’ win over Minnesota ended a six-game skid (0-4-2), so to say the Islanders have been slipping lately would be an understatement. Ilya Sorokin stopped 27 of 28 shots against the Wild, but he had allowed at least three goals in each of his previous five appearances. He’s also had a rough campaign overall with a 28-23-6 record, 2.76 GAA and .905 save percentage in 56 outings. The Islanders have been middling defensively, ranking 19th in xGA/60 (3.10), and Sorokin has done his best to make up the difference with a plus-12.1 goals saved above expected. In other words, he hasn’t been quite as good as Shesterkin, but he also hasn’t been part of the problem like Merzlikins.

Rather than Sorokin, or even the defense, the Islanders’ issue has been scoring. New York ranks 25th in goals per game with 2.72. Anticipating that this wouldn’t be their year, the Islanders further hurt their offense by trading Brock Nelson, who had 20 goals and 43 points in 61 appearances with the Islanders this campaign, to Colorado on March 6.

As a consequence, the Islanders’ forward corps has been underwhelming. Bo Horvat has been their leading scorer among forwards since the Nelson trade, providing just nine points (five goals) across his past 14 appearances. However, there are some silver linings there.

While no forward is carrying the team, there at least has been a decent spread of offense. Six different forwards have provided at least three goals over that 14-game span (Horvat, Anders Lee, Pierre Engvall, Simon Holmstrom, Kyle Palmieri and Marc Gatcomb). The other silver lining is that the defensive duo of Anthony DeAngelo and Noah Dobson have been outperforming the forwards, supplying 11 and 12 points, respectively, over that stretch. Each defenseman has also contributed three goals in that span, bringing the number of Islanders in that category up to eight.

At the end of the day, it might be those defensemen leading the offense rather than any of the forwards, which isn’t optimal, but at this point, the Islanders need to take what they can get.

Vegas Golden Knights

Moving on from the Eastern Conference wild-card race, let’s examine the battle for the top spot in the Pacific Division, which is still up in the air. Vegas does lead the pack with a 46-22-8 record, but the Golden Knights have allowed others to catch up a bit after dropping games to Edmonton and Winnipeg on Tuesday and Thursday, respectively. The Golden Knights will play five games over the final week-and-a-half split between two home matches (April 10 versus Seattle, April 12 versus Nashville) and three on the road (April 8 in Colorado, April 15 in Calgary, April 16 in Vancouver).

If Vegas is to secure the first seed, it might need to do so without Tomas Hertl. He’s missed the past five games due to a shoulder injury and still wasn’t taking contact as of Thursday. Hertl hasn’t been ruled out for the remainder of the season, so it wouldn’t be shocking to see him return at some point before the playoffs, but I imagine the Golden Knights will be erring on the side of caution when it comes to his return since being healthy at this stage is arguably even more valuable than a good seed.

Ilya Samsonov (upper body) is working his way through an injury too. The timing is particularly unfortunate there because Adin Hill has now appeared in five straight games and seven of Vegas’ last eight, so the Golden Knights probably want to give him some time to rest before the playoffs. If Samsonov isn’t able to return soon, then Akira Schmid will probably get some action in his place.

Even with all this talk of being especially careful with injuries and resting their starter, it needs to be emphasized that these games still have value for the Golden Knights. Seeding might not be the most critical thing in the world, especially when your reward for winning the division might be a first-round matchup against the red-hot Blues, but winning the division does hold value. The Golden Knights are 27-9-3 in Vegas versus 18-13-5 on the road, so that’ll be on their mind as they fight to secure the home-ice advantage through at least the first two rounds.

Jack Eichel will be an important part of that fight for the division title. He’s been Vegas’ best player this campaign, with 27 goals and 93 points in 74 appearances. Eichel also has a chance to do something he hasn’t done since 2015-16: Finish ahead of the player who was taken ahead of him in the 2015 NHL Draft, Connor McDavid, in the scoring race. McDavid is three points shy of Eichel and dealing with a lower-body injury. It might seem like a hollow victory given McDavid’s injury issues, but keep in mind, injuries have held Eichel back substantially for large stretches of his career. So, Eichel staying relatively healthy this campaign is an accomplishment in itself.

Los Angeles Kings

Vegas going through a touch of a slow patch has made its position vulnerable, but only because the Kings (43-23-9) have been keeping the pressure on them. Los Angeles has won 12 of its past 15 games, making the Kings one of the hottest squads in the league. We’ll see if they can continue that during the final stretch, which includes four home games (April 7 versus Seattle, April 10 versus Anaheim, April 12 versus Colorado, April 17 versus Calgary) and two road matches (April 14 in Edmonton, April 15 in Seattle).

Darcy Kuemper has been such a big part of the Kings’ recent success, posting a 10-2-0 record, 1.08 GAA and .953 save percentage across his past 12 appearances, shutting out their potential first round matchup in Edmonton last night. If the difference in the playoffs is which team’s goaltender gets hot at the right time, then Los Angeles is looking like a team to be feared. It doesn’t hurt that Kuemper was the starting goaltender during the Avalanche’s championship run in 2022, so he has experience to fall back on as the stakes get higher.

Los Angeles’ offense shouldn’t be overlooked either. The Kings have averaged 3.56 goals per game over their past 16 showings, which is good enough to rank fifth in that category dating back to March 8. They’ve accomplished that through a balanced attack rather than any one player sticking out. No player has averaged a point per game over that stretch, though Anze Kopitar has come close with 14 points. At the same time, they do have six different players (Adrian Kempe, Quinton Byfield, Trevor Moore, Kopitar, Kevin Fiala and Warren Foegele) who have collected at least five goals in that span, which is impressive.

Andrei Kuzmenko has also fit in nicely with the Kings, providing four goals and 10 points across his past 15 appearances. That’s still a far cry from his 39-goal, 74-point showing in 2022-23, but that was a pretty lucky season for him, as evidenced by his unreal 27.3 shooting percentage, and it seems unproductive to expect him to ever hit those highs again. He still has value, though, and Los Angeles deserves credit for finding a way to extract it after Kuzmenko failed to click in Calgary.

Edmonton Oilers

Edmonton is weird. At the time of writing, the Oilers are missing superstar forwards Connor McDavid (lower body) and Leon Draisaitl (lower body), top defenseman Mattias Ekholm (undisclosed) and starting goaltender Stuart Skinner (head). That’s in addition to a number of other injuries, including those to Trent Frederic (lower body), John Klingberg (lower body) and the continued absence of Evander Kane (knee).

So, Edmonton’s naturally going through a rough stretch. Except, no, the Oilers have won their past three of their last four games and are 7-3-1 dating back to March 14. That’s kept the Oilers in the running for the top spot in the Pacific Division, though they’re still five points back of Vegas, so it will take a strong finish for them to close the gap. The Oilers are set to play six games in the final week-and-a-half, split between three home showings (April 9 versus the Blues, April 11 versus the Sharks, April 14 versus the Kings) and three road games (April 7 in Anaheim, April 13 in Winnipeg, April 16 in San Jose).

Let’s start with the injury situation because that’s what’s bound to concern Oilers fans even more than the team’s place in the standings. Draisaitl missed four games from March 20-27 because of an undisclosed injury, and while he made his return Saturday, the star forward exited the lineup again Thursday and missed Saturday’s game against the Kings. The good news is Draisaitl’s injury is regarded as short term, and he’s expected to be back before the playoffs, coach Kris Knoblauch told the media Friday. It’s also not a case of him reaggravating his previous injury, this is a new issue, which can be taken as good news depending on how you want to look at it.

McDavid missed his sixth straight game Thursday, but he was on the ice for Friday’s practice, so there seems to be some progress being made. Ideally, this is also an opportunity for him to rest up for the playoffs, which might make this a bit of a blessing in disguise, given that he’s played a ton of hockey recently -- after all, Edmonton did make it all the way to the Stanley Cup Final in 2024.

In the case of Ekholm, there hasn’t been much news recently. He’s missed four straight games and 10 of Edmonton’s past 14 contests, and he’s not expected to return before the end of the Oilers’ current road trip, which will conclude Monday in Anaheim. We also haven’t heard much about Stuart Skinner lately, who isn’t expected to return before Monday either.

As noted above, missing all those players hasn’t resulted in Edmonton’s collapse, and part of the reason is that others have stepped up. Jeff Skinner has been a disappointment this campaign with 15 goals and 27 points in 66 outings, but injuries have resulted in him averaging 16:07 of ice time over his past seven games compared to his season average of 12:47, and he’s taken advantage of the opportunity, scoring four goals and six points over that eight-game stretch.

Viktor Arvidsson has similarly underwhelmed this campaign with 13 goals and 25 points across 60 appearances. However, he found the back of the net Thursday to extend his goal-scoring streak to three games. If these absences have been what it’s taken to get Skinner and Arvidsson going right before the playoffs, then perhaps this will actually benefit Edmonton in the long run.

Calvin Pickard has also been solid, posting a 5-1-1 record, 2.32 GAA and .918 save percentage over his previous eight appearances prior to last nights loss to the Kings, despite a solid .929 save percentage. What makes his success particularly interesting is that Stuart Skinner hasn’t done that well this season, posting a 24-18-4 record, 2.91 GAA and .894 save percentage in 49 outings. Skinner is probably still going to be the Oilers’ Game 1 starter in the playoffs so long as he’s healthy, but he might be on a short leash if Pickard continues to impress over the final games of the regular season.

NHL: DADOUN – THE FANTASY WEEK AHEAD – Holloway paying dividends for streaking in St. Louis – Teams and players to target this week

Ryan Dadoun — Sat, 29 Mar 2025 14:00:11 +0000

St. Louis Blues center Dylan Holloway (81) (Photo by Keith Gillett/IconSportswire)

Has a team ever benefited so greatly and immediately from a player they snagged away from an adversary via an offer sheet as St. Louis has with Dylan Holloway? The two-year contract worth roughly $4.58 million was too rich for the Oilers when the Blues made a move against the RFA this summer, and to be fair to Edmonton, Holloway had just nine goals and 18 points in 89 regular-season appearances as well as five goals and seven points in 26 playoff games at that point. For a team in a cap crunch, Edmonton didn’t feel comfortable offering that kind of salary to a player projected for its bottom six.

Whatever the rationale was, though, Holloway has thoroughly demonstrated that Edmonton could not have been more wrong in its decision. Holloway scored tow goals to lead St. Louis to a 3-2 victory over Nashville on Thursday, bringing him up to 26 goals and 62 points in 74 outings this campaign. What once looked like a rich contract is now unquestionably one of the league’s biggest value signings.

He's provided the Blues, who tied for 24th in goals per game (2.85) last year with some much needed offensive depth, and he’s stepped up down the stretch, providing 10 goals and 22 points across 18 appearances since the 4 Nations break. Though, he does have plenty of company in that regard.

St. Louis as a whole has excelled since the tournament. That win against Nashville was the squad’s eighth straight, and the Blues are 14-2-2 since the time off. That’s the best record in the NHL over that span, and they’ve led the league in goals per game with an eye-popping 4.00. In addition to Holloway, Robert Thomas (six goals, 25 points), Jordan Kyrou (eight, 18), Jake Neighbours (six, 17), Brayden Schenn (six, 16) and defenseman Cam Fowler (two, 14) have been major factors.

The goaltending has been there too. Since leading Canada to victory, Jordan Binnington has posted a 9-2-0 record, 2.19 GAA and .912 save percentage across 11 outings, while Joel Hofer is 5-0-2 with a 1.98 GAA and a .910 save percentage across his last nine appearances.

The result is St. Louis has gone for a team that was set to miss the playoffs to one that’s sitting in a wild-card spot. To an extent, there’s shades of 2018-19 when the Blues got off to a disastrous start only to get hot, make the playoffs and then battle all the way to a championship. The Blues even made a midseason coaching change this year, replacing Drew Bannister (9-12-1) with Jim Montgomery (30-16-6). Obviously, just because the Blues had a magical run in 2019 doesn’t mean history will repeat itself this year, but with the way St. Louis is playing, it will be a dangerous team to face in the postseason.

Boston Bruins (Tue vs WAS, Thu @ MTL, Sat vs CAR, Sun @ BUF)

While the Blues have surged, Boston has faded, making already long odds to secure a playoff berth now look all-but impossible. Boston had a 3-12-3 from Feb. 5-March 26 and suffered its seventh straight loss (0-6-1) against the Ducks on Wednesday. Will the freefall continue next week? Boston will start by hosting Washington before playing in Montreal on Thursday, returning home to face the Hurricanes on Saturday and then playing in Buffalo on Sunday.

Boston has managed just 2.22 goals per game over the aforementioned 18-game stretch, and that’s despite David Pastrnak still doing really well with eight goals and 19 points in that span. Pastrnak has 35 goals and 85 points in 73 appearances, giving him a shot of reaching the 40-goal and 100-point marks for the third straight campaign. He’s one of the few Bruins who has largely lived up to expectations in 2024-25.

Morgan Geekie has also been something of a silver lining during Boston’s dreadful stretch. He’s provided four goals and six points across his past five games. That brings him up to 26 goals in 68 appearances this season, shattering his previous career high of 17 from 2023-24. One word of warning, though: His shooting percentage of 19.7 is a substantial jump compared to his career average of 11.4 going into the campaign, so it wouldn’t be surprising if Geekie saw a decline in goal production next season.

On another team, Geekie’s strong showing this season would have been a pleasant surprise that might have elevated the squad, but Boston is so devoid of scoring options that it barely moves the needle. Aside from Geekie and Pastrnak, no other player has recorded even five goals for Boston over the past 18 games, and to put that into context, five goals in 18 outings would amount to only a 23-goal pace over 82 games. Looking at the Bruins’ season as a whole, Pastrnak and Geekie will probably be the only players to finish with at least 22 goals. Brad Marchand will almost certainly finish the campaign third in goals for Boston with 21 despite being traded. Charlie Coyle, who was also dealt, currently ranks fourth in goals with 15 during his time with the Bruins.

Boston did acquire Casey Mittelstadt from Colorado, but so far that hasn’t paid dividends. Mittelstadt has two goals and four points in nine appearances with the Bruins despite averaging a healthy 17:28 of ice time and seeing minutes alongside Pastrnak. Mittelstadt’s 5v5 CF% rel and 5v5 FF% rel are minus-8.4 and minus-5.6, which suggests that, for as bad as Boston has been recently, the Bruins have performed even worse when Mittelstadt is on the ice.

This is a season that can’t end soon enough for the Bruins, but maybe with the season already essentially lost, Boston will feel the pressure lift and settle into a spoiler role. The Bruins do have a chance to make things harder for Montreal, and Boston is 2-0-0 against the Canadiens this season, so if you’re looking for a game where the Bruins might pleasantly surprise, that seems like a good candidate.

Calgary Flames (Mon @ COL, Tue @ UTA, Thu vs ANA, Sat vs VGK)

For a time, it looked like Calgary might squeak into the playoffs despite its lack of offense, but the rise of the Blues has made that unlikely. Still, the Flames have an outside chance should they have a strong week. Calgary will start the week on the road in Colorado on Monday and Utah on Tuesday. The Flames will then return home to face the Ducks on Thursday and the Golden Knights on Saturday.

For much of the season, Calgary was competitive thanks in large part to rookie goaltender Dustin Wolf. Unfortunately, the 23-year-old has hit a rough patch, posting a 2-3-1 record, 3.65 GAA and .869 save percentage across his past six appearances. That’s reduced him to a 24-15-5 record, 2.67 GAA and .909 save percentage in 44 outings overall. It’s still been a good campaign for him, but I think his recent decline is likely enough to take him out of serious competition for the Calder Trophy, barring an unbelievable finish. Montreal’s Lane Hutson has a shot to reach 60 points as a defenseman, and San Jose’s Macklin Celebrini has been averaging near a point per game, so in my mind the competition is just too strong for Wolf to still grab the trophy.

Of course, it’d be unfair to suggest Wolf’s struggles down the stretch cost Calgary a potential playoff berth. Calgary ranks 31st in goals per game with 2.61, which is what the real problem is. If there is a silver lining to be found among the Flames forwards, though, it’s been Jonathan Huberdeau. The first two years of his tenure with the Flames looked like a disaster, but he’s been solid this campaign with 27 goals and 58 points through 71 appearances. He’s also red hot with five goals and 12 points over his past eight outings. He’s still not warranting his $10.5 million cap hit, but at least he’s not fading away.

Nazem Kadri is also doing his part, even at the age of 34. He’s on a five-game goal-scoring streak in which he’s found the back of the net seven times. That’s rocketed him to 30 markers, which is his most since 2017-18 with Toronto, and just two goals away from his career high. I wouldn’t count on that goal streak carrying into next week, but he’s certainly one of the Flames’ best forward options.

Matthew Coronato is also giving the Flames some hope that there are better days ahead on offense. The 22-year-old has four goals and six points across his past five appearances, bringing him up to 20 goals and 39 points through 66 games this season. He’s getting tons of playing time -- 19:36 per game, including 3:21 with the man advantage, over his past five outings -- which puts him in a solid position to finish the campaign on a high note. Just keep in mind that young players can be particularly streaking, and Coronato has shown that he’s no exception. He had just two goals and three points in 12 appearances from Feb. 8-March 17, just to cite the latest example of his offense drying up.

Colorado Avalanche (Mon vs CGY, Wed @ CHI, Thu @ CBJ, Sat @ STL)

Colorado is cruising toward the end of the campaign with a 12-1-1 record over its past 14 games. The Avalanche will attempt to maintain that level of extreme success next week, starting with a home game against the Flames. They’ll then hit the road to play in Chicago on Wednesday, Columbus on Thursday and St. Louis on Saturday.

The Avalanche have a 45-25-3 record, which gives them the third spot in the Central Division. Even with their recent success, Colorado is still five points shy of the second-place Dallas Stars despite Colorado having played in one extra game. The Avalanche also have a six-point lead on Minnesota, which is pretty healthy this late in the season. In other words, Colorado is unlikely to move up or down from its current third-place seed, and I do wonder if a sense that the stakes are low will cause Colorado to ease up on the gas a little over the final games off the season, potentially ending the hot streak.

Then again, it’s hard to envision Nathan MacKinnon or Cale Makar giving suboptimal performances for any meaningful length of time. They’re just so reliable. Plus, MacKinnon has some added personal motivation as he looks to win the Art Ross Trophy -- MacKinnon leads the pack with 108 points in 73 appearances, but Nikita Kucherov isn’t far behind with 105 points in 68 outings -- and bolster his bid for the Hart Trophy. Meanwhile, Makar would set a new career high of 91 points if he collects at least seven more in Colorado’s final nine games -- a very doable task for the elite blueliner.

MacKinnon and Makar have unsurprisingly led the charge during the Avalanche’s past 14 games, providing 21 points and 20 points, respectively, but Martin Necas hasn’t been that far behind with six goals and 16 points in 14 appearances. Necas has worked out superbly alongside MacKinnon, which has led to him recording 26 goals and 80 points across 73 outings between Carolina and Colorado this campaign. Given that I don’t think MacKinnon is likely to slow, Necas should have a strong end to the campaign too.

I’m more uncertain about the sustainability of Brock Nelson. He has three goals and six points across his past four appearances, but can be fairly streaky, and he doesn’t have the luxury of regularly playing with MacKinnon at even strength, so if Colorado slows a bit during its final games, Nelson might be part of that.

Regardless of what the Avalanche do collectively, Charlie Coyle probably won’t factor in much on offense. He has just two assists in 10 games since joining Colorado from Boston, but more importantly, he’s averaging just 13:32 of ice time. Unlike Boston, the Avalanche are deep up front, especially when it comes to centers, so Coyle seems stuck on the third line, barring an injury. There’s no reason to put much stock in Coyle, given that role.

Columbus Blue Jackets (Tue vs NAS, Thu vs COL, Sat @ TOR, Sun @ OTT)

Columbus battled to its second straight shootout win Friday, improving to 33-29-9 on the campaign. Through March 28, the Blue Jackets hold the second wild-card seed, but their position couldn’t be more precarious: Although Columbus has the edge in games left (11), Montreal and the Rangers are tied with the Blue Jackets in terms of total points (75). Every point is critical for Columbus, and in that context, the Blue Jackets have a huge week ahead of them. They’ll host Nashville on Tuesday and Colorado on Thursday before hitting the road to visit Toronto and Ottawa on Saturday and Sunday, respectively.

The fact that Columbus even has a shot this deep into the season is a story that isn’t getting enough coverage nationally. This is a team that was projected to be closer to Chicago (21-43-9) and San Jose (20-42-9) than a playoff berth.

Getting Boone Jenner, Sean Monahan and Cole Sillinger back from injuries has given the Blue Jackets a huge boost that might push them over the edge. Since making his Feb. 22 season debut, Jenner has supplied four goals and 14 points in 15 appearances, and he’s only been getting better, supplying four goals and five points over his past three outings. Meanwhile, Monahan returned Monday after missing 28 games due to a wrist injury and went right back to work with three helpers over his past two outings, and Sillinger (shoulder) played Friday for the first time this month, contributing an assist in his return.

Monahan is centering the top line between Dmitri Voronkov and Kirill Marchenko, while Boone Jenner is on the second unit with Adam Fantilli and Kent Johnson. Sillinger helps round out the top nine by playing alongside Justin Danforth and Mathieu Olivier. Now that Columbus’ forward corps is relatively healthy, James van Riemsdyk was a healthy scratch Friday, and he’ll probably find himself moving in and out of the lineup the rest of the way. Olivier is also going to have a tougher time getting minutes, he averaged just 11:40 of ice time Friday despite recording a goal and an assist, which is a significant drop from his average of 14:58 from Feb. 22-March 24.

A healthy group also makes things better for defenseman Zach Werenski on offense. He’s having a career year with 20 goals and 70 points in 70 outings, but he went through a six-game scoring drought from March 13-24. Werenski collected a power-play assist on one of Jenner’s goals to end that slump Friday, and it wouldn’t be surprising to see the 27-year-old defenseman end the campaign on a high note.

Dallas Stars ( Mon @ SEA, Thu vs NAS, Sat vs PIT, Sun @ MIN)

Dallas earned a 5-2 victory over Calgary on Thursday to improve to 4-1-1 over its past six games. The Stars seem secure as the Central Division’s second seed given their 47-21-4 record, and there’s still an outside shot of catching up to the 49-19-4 Jets to win the division. Dallas will attempt to pull that off with another strong week, starting in Seattle on Monday. The Stars will then host the Predators on Thursday and the Penguins on Saturday before playing in Minnesota on Sunday.

Defenseman Thomas Harley has found another gear lately, scoring five goals and 16 points across his past 14 appearances, rocketing him up to 15 goals and 47 points in 70 outings this campaign. The 23-year-old’s recent success is in part due to the power play -- he has eight points with the man advantage over his last 14 games, compared to just six power-play points across his first 56 outings in 2024-25. Miro Heiskanen (knee) hasn’t played since Jan. 28, which has resulted in Harley averaging 3:24 of power-play ice time since the injury compared to his season average of 2:11, which helps explain why Harley has see that spike in power-play success. Heiskanen is expected to miss the remainder of the regular season as well as the first round of the playoffs, so the current arrangement will persist for a while longer.

While Heiskanen won’t be back any time soon, Tyler Seguin might rejoin the team before the end of the regular season. Keep him in mind for playoff pools. He has nine goals and 20 points in 19 appearances before getting hurt, and it wouldn’t be surprising to see him reunite with Matt Duchene and Mason Marchment when he’s healthy. Mikael Granlund will make that a difficult decision for the Avalanche, though. Granlund is their current linemate and has done well recently with four goals and eight points across his past 10 outings.

One alternative would be to keep Dallas’ current second line of Duchene, Marchment and Granlund intact, and instead have Seguin play alongside Jamie Benn. That might help the 34-year-old Benn, who has been good, but not great this campaign with 16 goals and 45 points in 72 outings this season. Benn has also been productive recently, supplying five assists in his past seven games despite averaging just 13:14 of ice time due to the Stars’ offensive depth.

Whatever happens, it’s a good problem for Dallas to have. The Stars already have a really strong top nine, and adding a healthy Seguin to that mix would make it truly special.

Montreal Canadiens (Tue vs FLA, Thu vs BOS, Sat vs PHI, Sun @ NAS)

The battle for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference might come down to the wire. Columbus won while Montreal suffered a loss Friday, leaving the Canadiens tied with Columbus in terms of points (75) for the second wild-card spot, but Montreal is at a disadvantage with one fewer game left on its schedule. The Rangers are also tied with 75 points while the Islanders are at 74. Montreal has been faltering lately, and the Canadiens need to stop the bleeding to stay in the mix. They’ll host the Panthers on Tuesday, the Bruins on Thursday and the Flyers on Saturday. Montreal will then conclude the week with a road match in Nashville on Sunday.

Sam Montembeault deserves some of the blame for Montreal’s recent struggles. He’s 0-2-2 across his past four outings while posting a 4.04 GAA and an .864 save percentage in four appearances. His overall numbers also don’t look great – he has a 25-23-6 record, 2.93 GAA and .898 save percentage through 54 appearances. However, there is a caveat to consider: His goals saved above expected is plus-14.5, per Moneypuck, which is actually the 14th best in the league. That’s because Montreal’s xGA/60 ranks 26th at 3.30. In other words, the Canadiens haven’t made things easy for him, and when it comes to this summer, adding players who could help shore up the defense should be a priority.

In meantime, Montreal’s best hope of making the playoffs might be through brute forcing with overwhelming offense. It helps that Patrik Laine has been clicking lately, supplying four goals and seven points over his past eight appearances, however, he’s been held off the scoresheet in two of his past three games, so it’s possible that run is petering out. Laine has traditionally had extreme hot and cold spells, so be weary of the other shoe dropping.

If he does fade, maybe that will be counterbalanced by Cole Caufield getting hot again. Caufield has been a touch quiet lately with a goal and two points across his past five appearances, but he’s having a great season overall with 34 goals and 63 points, and I don’t expect him to be held back for long.

Brendan Gallagher is also worthy of note. He’s enjoying one of his best stretches of the campaign with two goals and seven points in his last six outings. Just keep in mind that he’s still averaging a modest 13:55 of ice time, and he’s not going to be one of Montreal’s main scoring threats overall.

Ottawa Senators (Tue vs BUF, Thu vs TBL, Sat vs FLA, Sun vs CBJ)

Ottawa has merely treaded water recently, winning two of its past five games, but thanks to a 7-0-1 run from March 1-15, the Senators hold the first wild-card spot. Ottawa will look to maintain that lead this week and will have the benefit of remaining at home for the entire duration. The Senators will host Buffalo on Tuesday, Tampa Bay on Thursday, Florida on Saturday and Columbus on Sunday.

The Senators are 20-10-2 at home versus 18-18-3 on the road, so fantasy managers do tend to get a boost when deploying their players in Ottawa. That said, not all players have a dramatic home/road split. One who does is Tim Stutzle. He’s collected 13 goals and 43 points across 32 outings in Ottawa but is a less effective eight goals and 28 points in 39 appearances on the road. To put that in perspective, Stutzle’s home pace amounts to 33 goals and 110 points per 82 games, so that’s the kind of player you’d be deploying if you use him this week.

Drake Batherson is another player who tends to step up in front of the home crowd. He has 14 goals and 34 points in 32 outings at the Canadian Tire Centre this campaign versus six goals and 24 points in 39 games on the road. Batherson has also been hot lately, supplying four goals and nine points over his past eight appearances.

One more player who has a dramatic split is defenseman Jake Sanderson, who has supplied four goals and 30 points in 32 home games compared to three goals and 18 points on the road. However, not every player sees significant benefit from playing at home. Brady Tkachuk does have a higher point per game at home (26 points in 30 outings), but it’s a more muted jump compared to the road (29 points in 39 appearances) than we’ve seen with some other players. The same can be said for Claude Giroux (22 points in 32 games at home; 24 in 39 on the road). Meanwhile, Linus Ullmark actually seems to do a bit better away from Ottawa (2.68 GAA, .911 save percentage) than at home (2.91 GAA, .906 save percentage), so keep that in mind.

Washington Capitals (Tue @ BOS, Wed @ CAR, Fri vs CHI, Sun @ NYI)

The Capitals will spend most of the week on the road, playing in Boston on Tuesday, Carolina on Wednesday and the Islanders on Sunday. That leaves the Capitals with just one home game -- a match against Chicago on Friday. Washington was a borderline team to include because of that skew toward road games, but I couldn’t resist highlighting them given Alex Ovechkin’s chase of Wayne Gretzky’s record.

Ovechkin has 36 goals and 60 points in 56 appearances this campaign, putting him at 889 career goals, five shy of matching Gretzky and six away from beating him. Washington has 10 games left in the schedule for Ovechkin to accomplish that feat. In other words, it’s likely going to come down to the wire, but given Ovechkin’s recent pace of 14 goals in his past 22 games, it seems doable.

One x-factor is weather Ovechkin will get rested before the end of the season. To do so when he’s closing in on the record seems insane, but if you take a step back from that, he’s a 39-year-old on a team with Cup aspirations. Under normal circumstances, giving Ovechkin a game or more off at the end of the season would be a no brainer, and not doing so arguably could hurt Washington a bit in the playoffs. To some extent, it’s the same dilemma Toronto faced last year with Auston Matthews. Resting Matthews before Toronto’s first-round series against Boston might have been the smart play, but Matthews had a shot at a 70-goal season, so Toronto decided to keep him in the lineup and even log 21:03 of ice time against Tampa Bay in the season finale despite that game not even mattering from a playoff seeding perspective.

Still, Ovechkin didn’t play in the 4 Nations Face-Off, and he missed 16 games from Nov. 21-Dec. 23 due to a fractured fibula, so unlike Matthews, who logged 81 regular-season games last season, Ovechkin has already had time off, so perhaps he doesn’t need the break as much as you might assume. Either way, it seems unlikely that Washington will rest him unless Ovechkin has already secured the record -- and the plus side in all this is it gives the Capitals something to play for even at this stage when they’ve already basically secured the top spot in the Conference with their 47-16-9 record.

Ovechkin’s pursuit should also help Aliaksei Protas finish his breakout campaign on a strong note. Protas has six goals and 13 points across his past 10 outings, bringing him up to 29 goals and 64 points in 72 outings. It’s going to be challenging for Washington to maintain its current level once Ovechkin eventually retires, but the 24-year-old Protas does give the Capitals hope for the future as well as the present.

AHL: Owen Beck C, Laval Rocket (Montreal Canadiens) – Detailed Scouting Report (Video + Grades)

Michael Moroz — Fri, 28 Feb 2025 14:42:46 +0000

MONTREAL, QC - JANUARY 19: Owen Beck (62) of the Montreal Canadiens skates during the first period of the NHL game between the New York Rangers and the Montreal Canadiens on Jan 19 2025, at the Bell Centre in Montreal, QC(Photo by Vincent Ethier/Icon Sportswire)

Owen Beck

2022 NHL Entry Draft (Round 2, #33, Montreal)

Position: C, Shoots: R

H/W: 6’0”, 199lbs

Date of Birth: 2004-02-03

Stats to Date: 47GP, 13-19-32, 41 PIM with Laval (AHL); 8 GP, 0-1-1, 0 PIM with Montreal (NHL)

Owen Beck is more than just a battle-tested competitor; he’s the ultimate team-first winner. Beck initially burst onto the Ontario Hockey League scene after having a great minor hockey career with the Quinte Red Devils program, where he was selected by the Mississauga (now Brampton) Steelheads during the second round of the 2020 OHL Priority Selection. Despite not playing during his first season of eligibility (since league games were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic), Beck hit the ground running in 2021-2022, where he played a big role on a strong Mississauga Steelheads team with the likes of Luca Del Bel Belluz (Columbus Blue Jackets) and Ethan Del Mastro (Chicago Blackhawks). Beck parlayed his strong OHL freshman campaign, where he displayed strong playmaking, skating, and two-way abilities, into a well-deserved second round selection by the Montreal Canadiens in 2022.

After being selected by the Canadiens, Beck returned to the OHL for two seasons where he filled a variety of roles on championship-winning teams. On the international stage, Beck was named the replacement player for the injured Colton Dach (Chicago Blackhawks) for Canada at the 2022-2023 WJC, and played well despite having limited minutes in a bottom-six role. Canada ultimately ended up winning the tournament on the back of a spectacular performance from Connor Bedard (Chicago Blackhawks). After completing the tournament, Beck was traded from the Mississauga Steelheads to the Peterborough Petes, and Peterborough ended up winning the OHL Championship in 2023. Beck’s final season in junior also housed another trade for the former OHL champion, where he was dealt from the Peterborough Petes to the Saginaw Spirit, and Beck played a pivotal top-six role on that 2024 Memorial Cup-winning team. Beck’s the ultimate team-first player that every NHL team is looking to add; a player that will fill any role that he’s asked, and one that he will perform to the best of his abilities.

Beck has many strengths to his game. Beck’s skating is already of great caliber, arguably his best skill, and he can compete as a skater with the best the NHL has to offer. In other words, Beck has the skating speed and edgework of an NHLer; and his current skills would actually put him in the NHL’s upper class. Other impressive aspects of Beck’s game are his playmaking abilities; he’s a good passer that can make quick plays in-tight, and he rarely tries to force a play that’s not there. The last piece of his game that really positions him well for full-time NHL duty is his two-way acumen; for Beck, good defense leads to good offense, and he looks to have rounded out his play at both ends of the ice. It’s not a matter of if Beck will make the NHL, it’s simply a matter of when. A bit remains uncertain with how high Beck’s offensive ceiling is; can he be more than a reliable second or third-line center? Is he capable of putting up 60+ points? I surmise that he won’t become a top-line player, but I have been wrong before.

Skating

Beck’s skating alone could carve him out a solid 15-year NHL career, and this is assuming he has no skill in other areas of his game (but he does, which really makes him scary to opposing defenders). His skating is just so impressive to watch because he’s such a strong, fluid skater. Combine his skating strength with an almost effortless stride, and you can see why Canadiens’ staff are so high on Beck as a prospect. Beck can use his top speed to break wide past NHL-caliber defenders, he can use his quick edgework to change his method of attack, and he can combine fakes with pivots to trick opposing goalies. Put simply, Beck can do it all as a skater, and Montreal Canadiens fans should be really excited. It’s near impossible to offer critiques on Beck’s skating because his speed and mechanics are so excellent. Enjoy watching some of his clips below, and don’t be afraid to search for more on YouTube!

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This clip is a perfect example of Beck’s near effortless stride. Beck takes a few steps and is on a partial breakaway against the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins.

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Here’s a clip of Beck doing a bit of a give-and-go with the puck in the offensive zone. Beck’s skating is so dynamic; it doesn’t take much to create offensive chances for the forward.

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This is a bit of a longer clip, but I kept it this way on purpose. Beck comes off the bench, receives a quick pass, and gets a goal out of nothing. Great skating here from Beck.

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Watch Beck track from the middle of the ice. He uses his speed as the F1 to make a hit on the Utica Comets’ defender. This is what he will need to do to be successful in the NHL.

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Here’s a second clip of Beck as the F1. He gets in on the attack quite quickly, but notice that he’s not moving his legs at full speed. This is what’s particularly impressive about Beck’s skating; his stride is almost effortless.

GRADE: 57.5

Shot

Although Beck’s shot is not as strong as his skating, he still has an NHL-caliber release. Beck can score goals in-tight on excellent goalies, and he can rip pucks from afar with pinpoint accuracy. Beck’s more of a playmaker than he is a shooter, however, so many times he’ll simply defer from taking a shot in favor of passing to an open teammate. That approach is totally fine, as making plays is just as important as utilizing scoring opportunities on your own, especially at the NHL level. Beck seems to have struck a good balance between individual and team play, although part of me would like him to shoot more because he’s definitely a capable shooter. Beck can perhaps be a bit more selfish with the puck when it’s on his stick.

I’m also going to touch a bit on Beck’s deceptive release. There are times when you think Beck’s going to load up with a heavy shot, but then he changes his approach and quickly snaps his wrists with no hesitancy at all. This will serve him well at the NHL level, especially when he’s in-tight, because there’s just not as much time and space as there will be at the AHL level. Overall, Beck’s a talented shooter with a very detail-oriented approach. He can definitely score, and don’t be surprised when he surpasses 20 goals this season in the AHL.

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Here’s a bit of a longer clip, but it’s a good highlight of Beck’s skating in combination with his pinpoint accuracy. Beck picks up speed as the F3 and scores on a nice release against the Hartford Wolf Pack.

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This is that deceptive release that I was mentioning previously. Beck takes the puck, skates wide and scores against the Toronto Marlies. Yes Canadiens fans, I’d bet he does this against the Maple Leafs one day as well.

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This shot is not a perfect one from Beck, but he gets some good power behind it and scores against the Lehigh Valley Phantoms.

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Nice one-timer here from the Laval Rocket forward.

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Beck uses his skating, hounds the available puck, and pots a quick release. Nice stuff here.

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Beck gets a good shot off here but doesn’t score. Still gets a good scoring chance, however.

GRADE: 50

Skills

Beck’s a very skilled player at both ends of the ice. He’s good at creating time and space for his teammates in the offensive zone, where he can use his body to shield the puck from opposing defenders. He’s also great on the forecheck; there are many instances during a given game where you’ll see Beck as the F1, and he’ll utilize his speed and stick positioning to close on opposing players, which ultimately prevents them from making open plays. It’s also important to note that Beck’s a good faceoff player as well. He consistently wins draws at both ends of the ice and can be counted on to take a big draw when the game is on the line. In summary, Beck’s a relentless machine, and it’s his positioning (both with his body and stick) that really allows him to dictate the play on his own terms. He’s a very trustworthy player, and that’s exactly what NHL coaches are looking for in a prototypical bottom-six penalty killing role.

Beck’s also a very skilled player when the puck is on his stick. He doesn’t hesitate to make simple plays, which is a really important skill at the pro level. I wasn’t sure Beck’s game would translate as easily as it has to the pro game; he hasn’t looked out of place when playing against players that are bigger and more experienced than he is. I’m also of the view that Beck’s a capable playmaker. I’m not sure he’ll ever evolve into a playmaking machine at the NHL level, but I’m quite comfortable projecting Beck in that consistent 20-to-30 assist range. Beck can make plays and definitely has the skill of a second NHL powerplay unit type of player.

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This is a great play from Beck. He makes a perfect pass here, which is very difficult to do. Great poise and skill on display with the puck from the Laval Rocket forward.

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I like this clip because it shows Beck’s willingness to make a simple, open play. He makes a cross-ice pass to set up a goal against the Cleveland Monsters.

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Another cross-ice pass from Beck. Tape-to-tape!

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Here’s Beck combining his hands with his offensive awareness. He makes a nice move and sets up a goal against the Toronto Marlies.

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This was a bit of a lucky play by Beck, but it’s a nice stretch pass. This is a tough play to make.

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I like Beck’s engagement here in the faceoff circle. Many young forwards wouldn’t attempt to tie-up the opposing centerman, but Beck tries to do that here. This allows his teammate to retrieve the puck, which leads to a scoring chance. Great stuff here by Beck.

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A nice faceoff win by Beck leads to a goal.

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A good defensive zone faceoff win here by Beck in a tied game. He’s a very trustworthy player.

GRADE: 55

Smarts

Beck is a smart player at both ends of the ice. He’s just as trustworthy in a penalty killing role in the defensive zone as he is with the puck on his stick in the offensive zone. He simply knows what to do and where to be. This will really help Beck establish himself as a future NHL regular with the Montreal Canadiens, as he will have to work for the opportunity to play higher in the lineup with the amount of young forward prospects the Canadiens have coming. When called upon, Beck will be ready to play that bottom-six, penalty killing role, and he should excel. I’m really hoping he gets his chance this year because he looks very close to NHL ready.

The hallmark of a great playmaker is the ability to make plays that do not appear to be there. You have to be able to read your teammates, understand what their skills are, and determine where they’re going in order to make an inapparent play. Beck has the smarts to do all of those things, and he really excels in transition and off the rush. I also really like Beck’s work on the powerplay; he knows where his teammates are and can make plays accordingly. He’s just as cerebral as he is responsible, and that’s a really exciting feat that is not easily accomplished. Beck’s just a smart hockey player and he makes his teammates better.

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Look at this subtle deception here from Beck. He draws a defender in, then makes a quick pass that sets up a goal against the Syracuse Crunch. Smart play here by the Laval Rocket forward.

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I used this clip earlier, but look at Beck’s head before he makes the pass. He already knows where his teammate is before he makes the pass.

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This is a bit of a slow developing play, but Beck knows exactly where to go: the net. He hovers around the net, then capitalizes on a scoring chance against the Hartford Wolf Pack.

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This is a smart system play here. Beck makes the pass to the middle and gets the primary assist on a goal against the Belleville Senators.

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I like this clip here. Beck goes straight to the net after the faceoff.

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This is another good clip of Beck’s smarts. Rather than skating himself out of position, he stays put so his teammate has the option of passing to him for the open one-timer.

GRADE: 57.5

Physicality/Compete

I’m a huge fan of Beck’s motor and compete. He never gives up when he’s out on the ice. Although there have been some learning moments this season, He has really played hard on a consistent basis, which is exactly what you want to see if you are a Montreal Canadiens fan. Beck’s compete was part of the reason he was rewarded with NHL games this season, and it’s only a matter of time before he becomes a full-time player in the Canadiens’ lineup. The Canadiens might not have another player exactly like Beck with his combination of skating, skill and determination.

Although Beck’s not the tallest player, he’s a heavy player to play against. He’s hard on pucks, he’s good at using his body, and he’s relentless with his stick. He’s going to be a very good penalty killer for the Montreal Canadiens, and he’s going to be a very difficult player to play against in a playoff-type scenario. I’ve been really impressed by Beck this season.

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Here’s that consistent effort we see every night from Beck. Great stuff here.

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Hard hit by Beck here against the Cleveland Monsters.

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Again, Beck’s compete is on full display. He’s unafraid to get in the shooting lane to block a shot against the Utica Comets.

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Another good shot block here by Beck.

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Heavy hit here by Beck. If necessary, Beck can hit to hurt.

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I love this sequence here by Beck. He loses his stick, rushes back to the bench, comes back and strips a defender of the puck, then utilizes a quick release to score. Fantastic stuff here from the Laval Rocket forward.

GRADE: 57.5

OFP: 55.75

A note on the 20-80 scale used above. We look at five attributes (skating, shooting, puck skills, hockey IQ and physicality) for skaters and six for goalies (athleticism/quickness, compete/temperament, vision/play reading, technique/style, rebound control and puck handling). Each individual attribute is graded along the 20-80 scales, which includes half-grades. The idea is that a projection of 50 in a given attribute meant that our observer believed that the player could get to roughly NHL average at that attribute at maturity.

NHL: DADOUN – THE FANTASY WEEK AHEAD – What about the Maple Leafs is not working? – Favourable schedules and players to target

Ryan Dadoun — Sat, 01 Feb 2025 16:05:37 +0000

TORONTO, ON - JANUARY 24: Toronto Maple Leafs Winger William Nylander (88) skates with the puck during the NHL regular season game between the Winnipeg Jets and the Toronto Maple Leafs on January 24, 2024, at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, ON, Canada. (Photo by Julian Avram/Icon Sportswire)

The Maple Leafs are going through a bit of a rough patch, losing their past three games and six of their last nine. Even after factoring in that slump, though, they have an impressive 30-19-2 record. This downturn is also coming at a time when they’re missing one of their top forwards in John Tavares (lower body) as well as the continued absence of Anthony Stolarz (knee).

Toronto seems to be a city of anxiety when it comes to the Leafs, brought on by years of playoff disappointments, so success seems to be treated with an asterisk whereas slumps come with an “Oh boy, here we go again” attitude, but given the overall success of this team thus far in 2024-25 and the recent injuries, would it be best to dismiss the recent struggles as just the type of stretch that every good team goes through, or is there really an underlining issue being exposed?

Certainly, this is still a good team, but when people express those doubts about Toronto, they’re not disputing that. Instead, they’re saying this team isn’t good enough to be regarded as a serious Stanley Cup contender, and by that standard, I do think this stretch highlights an area of real concern. Toronto has managed just one goal in each of its past three games and ranks 13th in goals per game this campaign with 3.04. For a team that’s built around four elite forwards, to have a lack of offense is rather discouraging.

In fact, 74.5 percent of Toronto’s cap is eaten by forwards compared to 54.3 percent for Winnipeg (3.58 goals per game) and 56.5 percent for Tampa Bay (3.48 goals per game). In fact, the only other team close to the Maple Leafs in terms of the percentage of their cap spent on forwards is Washington, but while the Capitals are at 74.7 percent, their situation is weird because Nicklas Backstrom ($9.2 million against the cap) and TJ Oshie ($5.75 million against the cap) are on LTIR. Even if we were talking apples to apples, though, at least Washington is getting value at 3.49 goals per game.

So, what is it about Toronto that isn’t working? You’ve probably already guessed because it is the common argument against the Maple Leafs’ way of doing things: If you spend $46.65 million on four forwards (Auston Matthews, William Nylander, Tavares and Mitch Marner), then you don’t have much left over for the rest of your forward corps.

On another team, that could be supplemented by young players on entry-level contracts or players locked to team-friendly contracts. Toronto doesn’t have much of either on the forward side of things. Part of that is because for years now, Toronto has been trading futures for playoff runs that didn’t materialize.

The notable exception is Matthew Knies, who has 18 goals and 31 points in 47 appearances this campaign, but even that is about to go away given that this is the last season of his entry-level contract. Outside of him and the Big Four, no Maple Leafs player has reached the 15-goal or 25-point mark.

That also makes them particularly vulnerable to absences, such as the current one by Tavares. It does have to be said that Toronto did fairly well without Matthews during stretches of the campaign, but that was due to strong goaltending rather than other forwards filling the void. In Toronto’s first stint without Matthews from Nov. 5-27, the team went 7-2-0 despite averaging just 2.89 goals per game. Toronto was a mixed 3-3-0 during Matthews second absence from Dec. 21-Jan. 2 and once again managed just 2.83 goals per game.

That strong goaltending has been the backbone of the Maple Leafs this campaign, but we’ve seen vulnerability there since Dec. 14 with Toronto allowing 3.32 goals per game. It’s not coincidental that the Maple Leafs’ dip in goaltending is what’s made Toronto’s underwhelming offense -- something that’s nothing new this campaign -- gain attention. A lot can be forgiven or ignored as long as the team collectively is winning. It’s also not coincidental that Dec. 14 to present covers Toronto’s span without Stolarz, who had been terrific before getting hurt with a 9-5-2 record, 2.15 GAA and .927 save percentage in 17 appearances.

When Stolarz comes back, perhaps he’ll resume his dominant play, and Toronto’s mediocre scoring will once again seem acceptable. Once thing this stretch has highlighted, though: The Maple Leafs need him. Unlike some older versions of the Maple Leafs who were driven by offense, this team hasn’t consistently shown an ability to impress when not backed up by great goaltending.

Calgary Flames (Tue vs TOR, Thu vs COL, Sat vs SEA)

The Flames will wrap up their schedule before the 4 Nations Face-Off with a trio of home games. They’ll host Toronto on Tuesday, Colorado on Thursday and Seattle on Saturday. It’s fairly tough competition, but I wanted to highlight them anyway to discuss the trade that sent Andrei Kuzmenko, Jakob Pelletier and two draft picks (2025 second rounder, 2028 seventh rounder) in exchange for Morgan Frost and Joel Farabee.

In terms of what Calgary gave up, the 23-year-old Pelletier is a former first-round pick, but hasn’t developed into a top six forward yet, supplying four goals and 11 points in 24 outings this season before the trade. Meanwhile, Kuzmenko is a former 39-goal scorer, but he’s struggled to do much of anything with the Flames in 2024-25, collecting four goals and 15 points in 37 outings. In other words, the Flyers got some interesting pieces in this trade, but Calgary isn’t losing assets that were likely to help the squad in the short term.

The best piece Calgary got in exchange for that was Frost, who has 11 goals and 25 points in 49 appearances in 2024-25 after recording 41 and 46 points in 2023-24 and 2022-23, respectively. He’s a solid third-line center who looks fine on the draw with a 51.6 winning percentage this year. Nazem Kadri and Mikael Backlund will probably play ahead of Frost up the middle, and when Connor Zary (knee) comes back, Zary might shift to the wing to play alongside the newly acquired Flyers center.

Frost isn’t likely to turn heads, but he should be a nice secondary scorer for a team struggling to find the back of the net (2.68 goals per game). The only potential sticking point is Frost couldn’t complete Wednesday’s 5-0 loss to New Jersey, which might indicate he’s dealing with an injury. It’s probably nothing serious if the Flames pulled the trigger on this trade, but perhaps it will delay his debut with the Flames.

When it comes to Farabee, he’s another middle-six forward. The 24-year-old did look like he was on track to become more than that last campaign when he supplied 22 goals and 50 points in 82 games, but he’s regressed this year with eight goals and 19 points in 50 outings. Perhaps a fresh start with Calgary will do him some good, but he’ll probably begin his stint with Calgary on the third line with Frost (assuming Frost is healthy).

For the 25-18-7 Flames, the question is if these moves are enough to win them a playoff spot. The team is still very dependent on Dustin Wolf to be stellar in goal -- his 19-8-2 record, 2.51 GAA and .917 save percentage in 29 appearances is a big part of the reason Calgary’s in this position -- but this should at least give him a bit more goal support.

Chicago Blackhawks (Wed vs EDM, Fri vs NSH, Sat @ STL)

The Blackhawks will get to rest up early this week before hosting the Oilers on Wednesday and Predators on Friday. Chicago will then travel to St. Louis for a clash Saturday.

In most cases, I’d label the 18-24-7 Predators and 23-24-4 Blues are favorable matchups, but we’re talking about Chicago…so that doesn’t really work. Chicago is 16-30-5, giving the franchise good odds of getting a top two pick for the third straight campaign. The silver lining is that sets the stage for the Blackhawks to have an amazing core to build around, but in the meantime, Connor Bedard is burning the second year of his entry-level contract on a team that’s not giving him much to work with.

Not that Bedard is putting up Connor McDavid-like numbers, but the Blackhawks sophomore is doing his part with 14 goals and 44 points in 50 games. There’s only so much he can do when only one other player on the team, Teuvo Teravainen, has more than 30 points. Chicago also recently dealt Taylor Hall to Carolina, and while he wasn’t living up to expectations with the Blackhawks, his nine goals and 24 points in 46 outings was still good enough to rank fifth among forwards in Chicago’s scoring race before the trade.

Ryan Donato, who ranks third with 29 points (15 goals) in 49 outings, might be gone soon too. The 28-year-old is in the final season of his two-year, $4 million contract, so it’s fair to believe Chicago will jump at the opportunity to move him for a pick or prospect.

Seth Jones, who is only in the third season of his eight-year, $76 million contract, is likely to stay, though. That contract hasn’t looked great for Chicago and with the benefit of hindsight, the timing was awkward given the Blackhawks’ performance over the life of it. However, Jones has his moments, and he’s going through one of them. The 30-year-old blueliner has recorded at least a point in each of his past seven appearances, giving him two goals and 10 points in that span. If you’re looking for someone who will provide value this week in Chicago outside of Bedard, Jones is your best bet.

Los Angeles Kings (Wed vs MTL, Fri vs DAL, Sat vs ANA)

The Kings will spend the week at home, facing Montreal, Dallas and Anaheim on Wednesday, Friday and Saturday, respectively. They’ll try to enter the break on a positive note after going 2-7-1 from Jan. 11-30.

Los Angeles’ recent slump is due in large part to a lack of scoring. The Kings have managed three or more goals just once in that 10-game span. Anze Kopitar has been noticeably quiet. The 37-year-old is having a great campaign overall with 12 goals and 43 points through 49 appearances, but he’s supplied just four assists over his past 13 outings. It should just be a matter of time before the veteran gets going again, but perhaps fantasy managers should consider benching him until that time comes.

Phillip Danault has left plenty to be desired too after collecting only two points (one goal) across his last 11 games. He’s now on pace to record just 38 points this season, which would make it the first time he’s ever finished below the 40-point mark in a season where he’s logged at least 70 games.

Obviously, the slump has skewed the scoring pace downward, but there are areas of concern beyond that. Perhaps the most discouraging aspect of his game is his complete lack of power-play production. He had nine points with the man advantage last season and a career-high 20 in 2022-23, but he still hasn’t found the scoresheet on the power play this campaign. To make matters worse for him, with Drew Doughty back, Danault might find himself shifting out of the power-play makeup entirely.

Speaking of Doughty, he made his season debut following a knee injury without any sort of time management to ease him back in. He logged 23:51 of ice time Wednesday and another 27:43 the very next day. He didn’t get any points over his first two contests, but the Kings were shutout of back-to-back games, so that’s less of a Doughty thing and more of a byproduct of the team’s overall slump.

Los Angeles is a good enough team to overcome its recent struggles, and Doughty should be an effective defender the rest of the way. It wouldn’t be shocking to see him collect 15-20 points over what’s left of the campaign.

Montreal Canadiens (Tue @ SJS, Wed @ LAK, Sat vs NJD, Sun vs TBL)

The Canadiens are one of just a handful of squads set to play four games next week. They’ll start on the road with contests in San Jose on Tuesday and Los Angeles on Wednesday. Afterward, Montreal will host the Devils on Saturday and the Lightning on Sunday.

The Canadiens battled their way back in the playoff conversation by going 13-3-1 from Dec. 17-Jan. 21, but some of that momentum has been lost after dropping their past four games (0-3-1). Unfortunately, Jakub Dobes has lost some of his initial magic. He burst onto the scene by stopping 103 of 107 shots (.963 save percentage) across his first four starts -- all wins -- but he’s allowed at least three goals in each of his past three outings.

The 23-year-old is a promising netminder who has a 2.44 GAA and a .910 save percentage in 14 AHL appearances this season, but he’s not presently one of the best goaltenders in the world. A drop off from his hot start isn’t shocking and you similarly shouldn’t be surprised if he’s able to work his way back from it. He should average out to be a pretty decent rookie for the Canadiens in the second half of the campaign, but it would be too much to hope for Dobes to drag Montreal into the playoffs.

If the Canadiens are going to feature in the postseason, it will probably need to be the offense leading the charge. Patrik Laine has slumped recently too, though, being held off the scoresheet in each of his past three outings. Laine tends to be a very streaky scorer who sometimes seems unstoppable and on other occasions is a nonfactor. If he’s on your team, you have to work around these cold patches. Benching him wouldn’t be the worst idea in the short term but put him right back into the mix the second he finds the back of the net because one goal from him often kicks off a new hot streak.

When Laine starts going again, it should also help Lane Hutson, who is on a four-game scoring drought. Hutson isn’t solely dependent on Laine for offense, but it’s fair to say that the two have found chemistry, especially with the man advantage, so what’s good for one is often good for the other.

Hutson is also just one point shy of 40. The last time the Canadiens had a rookie defenseman hit that milestone was 1984-85 when Chris Chelios and Tom Kurvers surpassed that mark. The only other rookie blueliner to ever reach that milestone in franchise history was Guy Lapointe in 1970-71.

Ottawa Senators (Mon @ NSH, Tue @ TBL, Thu @ TBL, Sat @ FLA)

During a busier week, I wouldn’t be highlighting the Senators because they have a rather tough schedule, but because they’re one of the rare squads set to play in four games, I’ll feature them anyway. The Senators will be on the road all week, starting in Nashville on Monday before playing two games in Tampa Bay on Tuesday and Thursday. Ottawa will then conclude the week in Florida on Saturday.

In contrast to the Canadiens, Ottawa has won its last three games, bringing the Senators up to an 8-2-1 record dating back to Jan. 11. That’s propelled Ottawa to the third spot in the Atlantic Division, just four points behind Toronto and five shy of Florida.

If you had suggested at the beginning of the campaign that this would be the Senators’ position, many would have assumed that it was a sign that Linus Ullmark had worked out superbly, and while the goaltender does have an impressive 2.38 GAA and .915 save percentage, he’s been limited to 23 outings due to injury and hasn’t played since Dec. 22.

Even with him gone, though, goaltending hasn’t been an issue. Leevi Merilainen has looked fantastic, posting a 7-3-1 record, 2.19 GAA and .921 save percentage in 11 appearances. Although Anton Forsberg hasn’t been nearly as effective overall, he’s done his part recently too with a 3-1-0 record, 2.19 GAA and a .922 save percentage over his last five outings.

Ullmark is close to returning, so it will be interesting to see what Ottawa does next. The path of least resistance would be to send Merilainen back to the minors because he’s waiver-exempt. It feels wrong to demote a goaltender who has been doing this good, but you also need to keep in mind that he’s 22 years old. He might not get many starts in a scenario where all three goaltenders are healthy, so it’s probably better for his development if he’s with AHL Belleville and playing regularly.

That scenario assumes Forsberg can at least do adequately as the backup. He’s done well lately but still hasn’t been great overall, posting a 2.87 GAA and an .893 save percentage across 19 outings in 2024-25. If he starts struggling again, then Ottawa could push him to the side. At the very least, Forsberg has less job security now than he had at the beginning of the campaign.

Perhaps the Senators will consider seeing if there is a taker for Forsberg on the trade market. There might not be much demand for him, but it wouldn’t be surprising if that’s an avenue they’ve explored. Whatever consideration they gave to the possibility of trading Claude Giroux is probably over, though. The 37-year-old is in the final year of his contract, so it would have made sense to move him before the Senators got hot, but now that a playoff berth is looking realistic, there’s little reason to move one of their top six forwards, so fans of other contenders can likely cross him off their wish list.

Tampa Bay Lightning (Tue vs OTT, Thu vs OTT, Sat @ DET, Sun @ MTL)

Ottawa has surpassed Tampa Bay in the standing, but the Lightning will have an opportunity to reclaim their spot. As noted above, Tampa Bay is set to host the Senators on Tuesday and Thursday. After those two key games, Tampa Bay will hit the road, playing in Detroit on Saturday and Montreal on Sunday.

It might be a bit much to say Tampa Bay is slumping -- the Lightning earned a 3-0 win over LA on Thursday -- but at the least, the results have been mild recently. Dating back to Dec. 29, Tampa Bay has a record of 7-9-1.

The Lightning have scored just 2.47 goals per game during that 17-game stretch, so it’s fair to say offense has been at the heart of the problem. That’s despite Nikita Kucherov providing an impressive seven goals and 22 points in that span.

However, a lot of other players are a step below what they’re capable of producing. Kucherov’s typical linemates, Jake Guentzel and Brayden Point aren’t enduring a full-blown drought, but they’re usually better than the 13 and 10 points, respectively, they’ve collected over the past 17 games. Brandon Hagel (six goals, 14 points) and Victor Hedman (three goals, 12 points) have largely held their own over that stretch too, but their overall scoring pace has declined relative to what it was before Dec. 29.

Taken on their own, the dip of any of those four high-end producers wouldn’t be a big deal, but to have all four of them drop at the same time is noteworthy. That’s compounded by the more significant decline Anthony Cirelli has suffered. After averaging a point-per-game through his first 32 outings (14 goals, 18 assists), he’s managed just two goals and seven points across his past 17 appearances.

Let’s look at this another way: Of Tampa Bay’s top nine scorers through Dec. 28, only one, Darren Raddysh, has seen his point-per-game pace increase over Tampa Bay’s last 17 games. Meanwhile, seven of the nine have a point-per-game pace from Dec. 29-Jan. 30 that’s at least 26 basis points less than it was from the start of the campaign through Dec. 28. Even Kucherov, who as seen a significant decline between those two stretches -- 1.71 PPG compared to 1.29 PPG.

So, it’s not a one player problem. The team collectively has cooled, and there aren’t players outside of that core who have stepped up to fill the void.

Utah HC (Tue vs PHI, Thu @ CBJ, Sat @ CAR, Sun @ WSH)

Utah has a busy week ahead of it. The Hockey Club will host the Flyers on Tuesday before hitting the road with clashes in Columbus on Thursday, Carolina on Saturday and Washington on Sunday.

This has nothing to do with fantasy hockey, but I got to note that Utah will apparently not be able to use the nickname Yeti or Yetis, per The Salt Lake Tribune. That leaves the finalists as the Utah Mammoth, Utah Outlaws or sticking with Utah Hockey Club. I’ll be honest, I don’t like any of those options, but a good logo and time can cause branding to grow on people.

I just hope they don’t stick with Hockey Club. As a placeholder, I get it, and I understand it’s a perfectly common name in other sports -- as someone from Toronto, Toronto FC immediately jumps to mind, and that’s one of many MLS teams using FC. However, to me, Hockey Club feels like the absence of identity rather than an identity in and of itself. At the end of the day, though, it’s not for me to decide. The fans of the team are what matter here, but if I was picking, that would be last on my list.

Clayton Keller jerseys should sell regardless. He certainly is playing well enough to deserve it. He has 18 goals and 54 points in 49 appearances, and Keller’s been consistent too, not being held off the scoresheet for more than two games in a row this campaign.

Logan Cooley is sure to help define the Utah franchise too. The 20-year-old sophomore is enjoying a breakout campaign with 15 goals and 43 points in 50 appearances. However, Utah will have to get along without him for a while because he suffered a lower-body injury Wednesday and is regarded as being out indefinitely. That’s on top of the absence of Dylan Guenther (lower body), who has 16 goals and 34 points in 40 outings, but hasn’t played since Jan. 8.

With both of them gone, Josh Doan seems set to serve in a top six capacity and the first power-play unit. He hasn’t done much with his opportunities so far this campaign, collecting just two goals and five points in 19 outings, but he does still have upside and is worth keeping an eye on.

We might also see Matias Maccelli get a fresh opportunity. Maccelli has averaged just 13:58 of ice time this campaign and was even a healthy scratch Wednesday, but with Cooley out, Maccelli could find himself on the second unit. Maccelli has just 17 points (eight goals) in 48 outings this campaign, but he had 49 points in 2022-23 and 57 points last season, so a comeback isn’t out of the question.

Vegas Golden Knights (Tue @ NYI, Thu @ NJD, Sat 2 BOS)

Vegas will be on the road next week, playing against the Islanders on Tuesday, New Jersey on Thursday and Boston on Saturday. All of those adversaries are in the mix for a playoff spot, but only the Devils are a safe bet to make the postseason at this time.

Vegas seems all-but certain to make the playoffs too given its 31-15-6 record, but the Golden Knights have faltered recently, going 3-6-3 over their past 12 games. Vegas, which had been doing fairly well on the injury front, also got some bad news there. William Karlsson (lower body) has missed the past five games and isn’t close to returning. Cole Schwindt (lower body) will probably be out for a while too.

The Golden Knights attempted to help fill that void by inking Brandon Saad to a one-year, $1.5 million contract. Saad was an unrestricted free agent because he and the Blues mutually agreed to terminate what was left on his remaining on his five-year, $22.5 million contract, which would have run through 2025-26. Even after signing that deal with Vegas, Saad has cost himself millions of dollars by agreeing to walk away from his old deal, but that also highlights how much value he puts on playing in the NHL.

The Blues waived him Tuesday and he cleared because no team wanted his old $4.5 million cap hit. Saad could have simply reported to the minors and collected his paycheck, but the 32-year-old instead took this path, which led him to a fresh opportunity with Vegas.

Although he hasn’t been terribly productive this campaign, recording seven goals and 16 points in 43 outings with St. Louis, he can be an effective middle-six winger. Vegas will likely give him an opportunity to play on the third unit, perhaps alongside Raphael Lavoie and Nicolas Roy. Saad might also get a look on the second power-play unit, but that’s far from certain.

I wouldn’t expect big things from Saad, but I also wouldn’t be surprised if he proves to be serviceable with his new team. He also might end up doing a little better when Karlsson returns -- it's entirely feasible Saad and Karlsson will end up playing together when that happens with Roy shifting to the fourth line.

One player Saad is less likely to play with is Tomas Hertl, which is a shame for Saad because Hertl is red hot. The 31-year-old is on an 11-game scoring streak in which he’s provided nine goals and 15 points. Funny enough, he has a neutral plus/minus, even during that terrific stretch, keeping him at a team-worst minus-10 overall. Hertl looks more appealing in terms of possession stats -- his 5v5 relative Corsi and Fenwick are plus-1.8 and plus-4.0, respectively, which suggests the team performs better when he’s on the ice -- but it seems plus/minus is destined to be the one area where he underperforms.

NHL: DADOUN – THE FANTASY WEEK AHEAD – A look at the rookie race at mid-season – Favourable schedules and player to target

Ryan Dadoun — Mon, 13 Jan 2025 15:20:08 +0000

I haven’t spent any time talking about the rookie race this campaign. Macklin Celebrini did miss 12 games early on due to a lower-body injury, which mitigated the early attention he might have otherwise had, but he’s been healthy for a while and has looked fantastic, providing 13 goals and 28 points through 32 appearances.

Montreal Canadiens defenseman Lane Hutson (48) (Photo by David Kirouac/Icon Sportswire)

At this stage, though, the reason why I haven’t dipped into the Calder Trophy race is because there’s not a lot to chew on there. Celebrini does have direct competition with Matvei Michkov, but Michkov is just one point ahead of Celebrini despite having played in eight more outings, so barring a change in the second half of the campaign, Celebrini seems like the clear favorite between them. Beyond that, the main competitors are defenseman Lane Hutson, who has three goals and 31 points in 41 outings, and goaltender Dustin Wolf, who is 13-6-2 with a 2.60 GAA and a .914 save percentage in 21 starts.

Comparing Celebrini, Hutson and Wolf is mostly subjective because they bring completely different things, so while a judgment call can and will be made by the end of the season which of them -- or Michkov if he does surprise me -- should get the trophy, comparing them in an article setting feels like evaluating apples and oranges.

Still, we might be able to glean something by evaluating how each of them compares to previous rookies at this stage of their careers. For Celebrini, we’ll compare his start against other forwards, and Hutson will be evaluated against defensemen. I’ll simplify things a little by making the comparisons based on games played (in other words, Connor Bedard’s first 32 games played will be measured against the Sharks rookie) to factor out Celebrini’s injury.

In the case of Wolf, I’m not going to break it down because the odds of him winning the Calder Trophy seem slim. While I think he deserves to be in the conversation to become one of the finalists, the last goaltender to take the trophy was Steve Mason back in 2008-09, and he was unreal that campaign with a 33-20-7 record, 2.29 GAA and .916 save percentage along with 10 shutouts. To put that into the context of that campaign, Mason also finished second in Vezina Trophy voting and fourth in the Hart race. With all due respect to Wolf, he’s not doing anything that measures up to that -- at least, he hasn’t yet.

With that in mind, let’s look at Celebrini’s recent comparables:

Alex Ovechkin, 2005-06, 19-19-38

Connor McDavid, 2016-17, 13-21-34

Sidney Crosby, 2005-06, 13-19-32

Patrick Kane, 2007-08, 8-23-31

Connor Bedard, 2023-24, 12-17-29

Macklin Celebrini, 2024-25, 13-15-28

Auston Matthews, 2016-17, 16-9-25

Paul Stastny, 2006-07, 8-14-22

You can see that his pace is a step below that of Ovechkin, McDavid, Crosby and Kane (note that McDavid missed roughly half of his rookie season and consequently missed out on the Calder), but he’s doing about as well as Bedard did last year.

Matthews and Stastny are there to remind us that we need to take these numbers with a grain of salt. Matthews is an amazing goal scorer who began his career with a four-goal game, but he had an extended quiet period from Oct. 27-Nov. 22 (0-3-3 in 13 games) during his rookie campaign, which diminished his early returns. In the case of Stastny, he finished with 28 goals and 78 points in 82 appearances in his first campaign, but he got off to a slow start.

These are ultimately still small sample sizes, but it does at least show that Celebrini is off to a respectable start when measured against the biggest stars of the salary cap era.

Still, Hutson looks even better:

Cale Makar*, 2019-20, 11-26-37

Shayne Gostisbehere*, 2015-16, 12-22-34

Lane Hutson*, 2024-25, 3-28-31

Quinn Hughes*, 2019-20, 4-26-30

Moritz Seider, 2021-22, 3-23-26

Zach Werenski, 2016-17, 6-20-26

Luke Hughes*, 2023-24, 7-16-23

Tyler Myers, 2009-10, 3-19-22

Brock Faber*, 2023-24, 2-18-20

You’ll notice a number of defensemen on this list with asterisks, which indicates that I took the first 41 games of their Calder season, not their first 41 games overall. For example, I didn’t count Makar’s 10 playoff appearances before 2019-20 or Quinn Hughes’ five regular-season outings in 2018-19. Hutson’s two appearances in 2023-24 weren’t factored in either, not that it would have hurt him -- he finished last season with a pair of assists.

That aside, Hutson is off to a remarkable start compared to other defensemen of the salary cap era. Faber did well enough to finish second in Calder Trophy voting last campaign with 47 points, and Hutson is well ahead of him. Moritz Seider is the last blueliner to win the award, and Hutson is outpacing the Red Wings defenseman as well.

Hutson is behind Makar and Gostisbehere, but Makar logged just 57 games as a rookie, consequently finishing with 50 points, and Gostisbehere didn’t play a full campaign either, finishing with 46 points in 66 outings. Hutson is currently on a 62-point pace. That would surpass Nicklas Lidstrom’s 60 points in 1991-92 and be the most since Brian Leetch’s 71 points in 1988-89.

Again, it’s apples and oranges between Celebrini and Hutson, but if you’re just talking about who is on track to leave the bigger mark on history for a rookie in their position, then so far that’s clearly Hutson.

Columbus Blue Jackets (Tue vs PHI, Thu vs SJS, Sat @ NYR)

At this point, it seems very likely Buffalo’s playoff drought, which dates back to 2011, will continue, but another franchise’s bid to re-enter the postseason might be successful. The Blue Jackets are in the mix for a Wild Card spot with some favorable games ahead of them. They’ll play in home against Philadelphia and San Jose on Tuesday and Thursday, respectively, before visiting the Rangers on Saturday. At the time of writing, none of those three adversaries have a winning record.

The Blue Jackets are no strangers to injuries this campaign, but they are facing arguably their biggest challenge on that front with Sean Monahan on the injured reserve list due to a wrist issue. It’s not clear how long he’ll be out for, but he was placed on IR rather quickly after sustaining the injury Tuesday, which probably isn’t a great sign.

Before the injury, Monahan had 14 goals and 41 points through 41 appearances in 2024-25 while playing primarily on the Blue Jackets’ top line and first power-play unit. His loss will be felt, but if there is any silver lining at all, it’s that Columbus had a promising young forward waiting in the minors for his opportunity.

Luca Del Bel Belluz has excelled with AHL Cleveland in 2024-25, providing 17 goals and 37 points in 34 outings. The 21-year-old was summoned due to Monahan’s absence and was a standout performer in Thursday’s 6-2 victory over Seattle, collecting a goal and an assist in 11:16 of ice time. It’s reasonable to believe that his playing time will increase as he settles in, and he seems like a nice short-term grab to me -- short term because he might return to the minors once Monahan recovers.

Adam Fantilli is likely to be another player leaned on during Monahan’s absence. He logged 18:41, including 1:42 with the man advantage, Thursday and registered an assist to extend his scoring streak to four games. The 20-year-old’s nine goals and 20 points in 42 appearances in 2024-25 is nothing to write home about, but the 2023 No. 3 overall pick has tremendous upside that makes him worth keeping a very close eye on.

Dallas Stars (Tue @ TOR, Thu vs MTL, Sat @ COL, Sun vs DET)

Dallas has won its past six games, pushing its record to 26-13-1 in 2024-25. Although the Stars are having an incredible season, they’re still not in position to have the home-ice advantage in the first round because of the tough division they play in. Consequently, the Stars need every point they can get. They’ll try to stay strong in Toronto on Tuesday before hosting Montreal on Thursday. Dallas then has a back-to-back set over the weekend, playing in Colorado on Saturday and at home against Detroit on Sunday.

Jason Robertson’s resurgence has been a major part of the Stars’ winning streak. He was playing well below his potential early in the campaign, recording four goals and eight points across his opening 17 outings. Since then, he hasn’t been held off the scoresheet in consecutive games and has been especially effective recently, supplying three goals and 11 points over his past six outings. To put that into perspective, he leads all players in scoring from Dec. 29-Jan. 9 -- Zach Werenski and Mitch Marner are tied for second with nine points each.

Matt Duchene has also been on a roll. Although he’s having a strong campaign overall, Duchene had a slow stretch from Dec. 4-27 in which he was limited to a goal and an assist over 10 contests. He’s since rebounded with three goals and eight points across his past six outings.

The best part for Dallas is Duchene and Robertson typically play on separate lines, so this isn’t a case of one player’s hot streak simply feeding into the other’s, they’re both gelling at the same time independent of each other, which helps spread out the offense. That said, Duchene’s linemates Wyatt Johnston and Jamie Benn are looking good as well with eight and seven points, respectively, across Dallas’ past six games. Robertson’s linemates Evgenii Dadonov and Roope Hintz are also enjoying strong stretches with six and five points, respectively, over the same span.

The only downside is Logan Stankoven, who serves on the third line, hasn’t been doing much. He has the most offensive potential among the forwards outside of the top six, but the 21-year-old has been a mixed bag this campaign with four goals and 19 points in 38 outings, and that’s despite an amazing start of the season in which he had four goals and 14 points over his opening 15 games. He’s worth monitoring to see if he gets hot again, but he’s too streaky to be an everyday option in fantasy.

Florida Panthers (Mon @ PHI, Tue @NJD, Thu vs DET, Sat vs ANA)

The Panthers have a real shot of reaching the 100-point mark for the third time in four seasons -- and they played at a 100-point pace in the shortened 2021 campaign (37-14-5) -- but they’ve been going through something of a rough patch with a 3-4-0 record from Dec. 23-Jan. 8. Florida will attempt to correct course on the road against the Flyers on Monday and the Devils on Tuesday. The Panthers will then return home to host Detroit on Thursday and Anaheim on Saturday.

Matthew Tkachuk, Carter Verhaeghe, Aleksander Barkov and Sam Reinhart typically drive Florida’s offense, but none of them have been especially noteworthy lately -- each of them has no more than one goal and three points across Florida’s past five outings. Instead, Jesper Boqvist has been the unlikely leader recently, collecting four goals and six points over that five-game span.

This won’t last -- the 26-year-old has never recorded more than 23 points in a single campaign -- but you can enjoy this while it lasts. If nothing else, the timing of it has taken a touch of pressure off the Panthers’ major forwards during one of their quieter stretches.

One forward who might be feeling the pressure regardless, though, is Sam Bennett. He was amazing at the start of the campaign, supplying 13 goals and 26 points across his opening 27 appearances, which made it look like he might earn a big payday in the final season of his four-year, $17.7 million contract. Some decline was likely inevitable, but rather than slow, he’s collapsed, recording just one assist over his past 13 outings.

If there is a silver lining, Bennett is still firing the puck at a decent rate, accounting for 25 shots in his past eight outings, and his role with the team alongside Tkachuk and Verhaeghe seems largely intact. It seems just a matter of time before he breaks out of his recent slump, but he probably won’t have another stretch like he did in the early portion of 2024-25.

Montreal Canadiens (Tue @ UTA, Thu @ DAL, Sat vs TOR, Sun vs NYR)

Montreal wasn’t terribly impressive early in the campaign, owning an 11-16-3 record through Dec. 14, but the Canadiens have gone on a 9-2-0 run since. That’s put them into the mix for a playoff spot going into next week’s action. Montreal will begin on the road with games in Utah on TuesdayJack Hughes, and Dallas on Thursday. The Canadiens will then host the Maple Leafs on Saturday and the Rangers on Sunday.

A key factor in Montreal’s recent success has been its offense. The Canadiens have averaged 3.82 goals per game across their past 11 contests, which is a huge spike from their 2.70 goals per game over their first 30 outings.

Interestingly, there’s very little overlap with Patrik Laine’s success after returning from a knee injury and Montreal’s run. He did have an incredible eight goals and nine points in nine outings, but that was from Dec. 3-21, so mostly before Montreal took off. He then had no goals and an assist in four appearances from Dec. 23-31 and has missed the Canadiens’ last four outings due to an illness. You could absolutely make an argument that his hot return helped get the ball rolling, but he’s not what’s sustained it.

Cole Caufield has been an offensive leader over that stretch with six goals and 13 points through 11 outings, but that’s nothing new for him -- he has 23 goals and 40 points in 41 games overall -- so while he’s an important part of the Canadiens’ offense, he’s not what changed. The same goes for Nick Suzuki, who has two goals and 12 points across his past 11 appearances, giving him 13 goals and 42 points in 2024-25.

If you want the secret sauce, it’s been depth players stepping up. Joel Armia, Juraj Slafkovsky, Emil Heineman and Jake Evans have each had 15 points or fewer over Montreal’s first 30 outings, but those four have each collected seven or more points over the past 11 games.

Meanwhile, we’ve seen some promise from Jakub Dobes. He’s made three starts so far and is 3-0-0 with a GAA and a save percentage of 0.97 and .959, respectively. Granted, that’s a small sample size, but those matches were against Florida, Colorado and Washington -- all on the road -- so the Canadiens have given him tough competition, and he’s risen to the occasion.

Sam Montembeault has been largely hit-and-miss this campaign, including from Dec. 17 onward. He does have a 6-2-0 record over that stretch, but he also has a 2.78 GAA and an .890 save percentage. With that in mind, there’s a chance Dobes could see his workload begin to increase.

New Jersey Devils (Tue vs FLA, Thu @ TOR, Sat vs PHI, Sun vs OTT)

The Devils recent mediocre play has been due to a cold spell offensively. New Jersey has been strong overall, ranking 11th in goals per game with 3.16 goals per game, but the Devils have averaged just 2 goals per game across their past seven outings.

Forwards Jack Hughes (two goals, six points), Jesper Bratt (one goal, five points) and Ondrej Palat (three goals, four points), as well as defenseman Dougie Hamilton (five assists), are the only players who have made notable contributions on offense during that seven-game stretch. Timo Meier (one goal, two points) and especially Nico Hischier (one goal, two points) stand out as having been unusually cold in that span.

It's just a matter of time before the Devils start scoring again, though, so I wouldn’t be overly worried. It’s also worth remembering that six of New Jersey’s past seven outings have been on the road, so perhaps that worked against the Devils.

For his part, Markstrom hasn’t been amazing recently, but he also hasn’t been the issue. He’s limited the competition to two or three goals in each of his past five starts, which would be good enough under normal circumstances. He’s also still putting up strong numbers overall with a 21-8-3 record, 2.19 GAA and .911 save percentage across his past 32 appearances.

So, if you have New Jersey players on your team, my recommendation would be to hold firm and anticipate better times ahead.

Ottawa Senators (Tue @ NYI, Thu vs WAS, Sat vs BOS, Sun @ NJD)

Ottawa is going through a four-game schedule in the week of Jan. 6-12, and it has another full slate ahead. The Senators will begin next week with a road matchup against the Islanders before hosting Washington and Boston on Thursday and Saturday, respectively. The Senators will then conclude the week in New Jersey on Sunday. With those final two games, the Senators will have played in five back-to-back sets, totaling 10 matches, in the span of 12 contests.

Ottawa has suffered four straight defeats to start January and is 1-5-1 across its past seven outings. With Montreal and Detroit both trending in the right direction, the Senators are in danger of slipping to seventh in the Atlantic Division and seeing their playoff chances fade further.

Brady Tkachuk, who is 25 and in his seventh NHL campaign without making his postseason debut, is doing his best to keep the Senators afloat, recording two goals, five points, 21 PIM and 20 hits over that seven-game span. He’s been Ottawa’s top offensive power during that stretch, but the other forwards the Senators typically rely on for offense -- Claude Giroux, Tim Stutzle and Drake Batherson -- have each recorded two or fewer points over that stretch.

Though, perhaps it’s inaccurate to say that the Senators are relying on Giroux for offense, or at least they shouldn’t be at this point. Giroux was still a strong top-line scoring threat when he joined the Senators in 2022, but he seems to have declined substantially at the age of 36, supplying nine goals and 24 points through 40 appearances this campaign. Clearly, he still has something to offer, but those are numbers that would be more in line with a third line forward on a strong team.

Perhaps there’s a strong team out there that would want him in such a role. Giroux is in the final campaign of his three-year, $19.5 million contract, and if the Senators don’t rebuild soon, it would make sense for them to shop the veteran forward. He does have a no-movement clause, so Giroux has complete control over that situation, but his career is winding down, and he hasn’t won the Cup yet, so if presented with the opportunity to play for a serious contender, he’d likely take it.

He'd easily be the Senators’ biggest trade chip if it came to that. Travis Hamonic would also likely have appeal as a third-pairing blueliner, while Nick Cousins and Adam Gaudette might be grabbed to provide playoff-bound teams with forward depth, but if you’re a Senators fan and the team doesn’t turn things around soon, then Giroux rumors are the ones you’ll want to pay attention to.

Philadelphia Flyers (Mon vs FLA, Tue @ CBJ, Thu @ NYI, Sat @ NJD)

The Flyers endured a tough road stretch from Dec. 23-Jan. 5 in which they went 2-3-1. They’re back at home now, but rather than reverse the trend, they’ve dropped their past two games. Their home stint will conclude Monday against the Panthers. After that, they’ll go on a three-game trip involving games against the Blue Jackets on Tuesday, the Islanders on Thursday and the Devils on Saturday. Philadelphia will look to do better in that stretch while attempting to make up ground in the hunt for a Wild Card spot.

Like Ottawa, Philadelphia’s recent struggles has caused its playoff hopes to drastically diminish, but with half the season left, a comeback can’t be ruled out. It’s unfair to put this on the rookie, but a stronger showing out of Matvei Michkov would go a long way toward making that happen.

I noted Michkov’s overall success this season up top, but what I didn’t mention is how cold he’s been recently, recording a goal, an assist and a minus-17 rating across his past 13 appearances. Plus/minus is always a stat that needs to be taken with a grain of salt, but his minus-17 rating from Dec. 14-Jan. 9 is by far the worst in the NHL. The next worst in the NHL during that time period are Brandon Montour and Mikhail Sergachev, who are tied at minus-12. Jamie Drysdale is the next worst member of the Flyers at minus-11 while the next worst Flyers forward is Morgan Frost at minus-9.

Michkov was a healthy scratch for two games from Nov. 7-9 and followed that with an amazing stretch from Nov. 11-Dec. 10 in which he had seven goals, 17 points and a plus-13 rating across 14 outings. I do wonder if maybe another scratch is in Michkov’s future to give him a chance to regroup. Either way, he’s a talented rookie, and it’s not uncommon for rookies to grow through stretches like this -- for one of countless examples, you might recall the Auston Matthews rookie slump I highlighted earlier -- so there’s not much cause for concern about Michkov’s future. In the long run, he should grow from this.

In contrast to his cold spell, Tyson Foerster had an incredible run of six goals and nine points in nine outings from Dec. 18-Jan. 5, but he was held off the scoresheet in Philadelphia’s past two games, so the good times might be over. He’s more of a streaming option given his streaky nature and middle-of-the-road stats (12 goals and 19 points in 41 games). For that reason, it’s best to move on when he shows signs of cooling.

If you’re looking for a hot member of the team, that’s Travis Konecny. He’s having an amazing campaign overall too with 20 goals and 46 points in 42 outings, but he’s been especially productive on the goal front recently with four markers across his last five appearances. His shooting percentage of 19.0 is well above his career average of 13.0, which is a potential warning sign, but that’s been skewed upwards by his power-play goals (a career-high eight). His 5-on-5 shooting percentage of 9.8 is actually a bit low for him (he finished with a 5-on-5 shooting percentage in the double digits in five of his previous seven campaigns), so there might still be some upside in that regard.

Utah HC (Tue vs MTL, Thu vs NYR, Sat vs STL)

Utah is having a streaky season, and lately, the squad has been trending in the wrong direction, going 2-6-2 from Dec. 22-Jan. 10. Fortunately, next week, the team will be at home against adversaries that presently don’t occupy a playoff position. Utah HC will face the Canadiens on Tuesday, the Rangers on Thursday and the Blues on Saturday.

Utah got Connor Ingram back from an upper-body injury, but at the time of writing, he hasn’t drawn into a game since returning, and it’s likely he’ll be used sparing. He didn’t impress before the injury, posting a 6-4-3 record, 3.61 GAA and .871 save percentage in 13 outings. Perhaps the time off has given him a chance to reset, but given Karel Vejmelka’s success -- although he has a 10-11-3 record, he’s stellar in terms of GAA (2.38) and save percentage (.916) -- so there isn’t much motivation to use Ingram except when Vejmelka could use a breather. Then again, the winds with this duo have changed before, so nothing is certain. Vejmelka was the starter in 2022-23, but that role was taken by Ingram last season. Ingram also entered 2024-25 with the No. 1 gig that now belongs to Vejmelka.

Neither has a track record of success long enough to be called a safe bet. The closest thing to that in Utah is Clayton Keller. The 26-year-old forward has been remarkably consistent this campaign, being held off the scoresheet in consecutive games just once in 2024-25 (Oct. 22-24). That steady stream of offense has resulted in him recording 14 goals and 41 points through 40 appearances, putting him well on his way toward reaching the 75-point mark for the third straight campaign.

It's just a shame that the forward corps around him is nothing special. Logan Cooley (11 goals, 35 points), Dylan Guenther (16 goals, 34 points) and Nick Schmaltz (seven goals, 30 points) have all been fine, but no other member of the squad has even reached the 20-point mark. In the long run, Utah does have Tij Iginla, Cole Beaudoin and Daniil But, who could make a significant impact in a couple of years, but none of those young forwards are in a position to help now.

Josh Doan is much closer, but after the 22-year-old turned heads by providing five goals and nine points in 11 games with Arizona in 2023-24, he was quiet during an NHL stint from Oct. 8-26 this campaign, supplying a goal and an assist across nine outings before being sent to AHL Tucson. He did seem to find his way in Tucson, though, contributing eight goals and 21 points over 25 contests, and was recalled Friday as a result. He had three shots in 14:18 of ice time during Utah’s 2-1 win over San Jose.

As already noted, Utah isn’t swimming in offensive depth, so with Keller, Cooley and Schmaltz sharing a line and Dylan Guenther (lower body) out indefinitely, Doan doesn’t have great linemates to play off. He’s at least worth keeping an eye on, but I wouldn’t jump to take him yet.

MCKEEN’S 2024 NHL PROSPECT REPORT – #4 Montreal Canadiens – Organization Overview – Top 15 Prospects

Player Profiles - Derek Neumeier, Team Overview - Robert Howard — Sun, 09 Jun 2024 15:00:05 +0000

Kent Hughes has been one of the more active and creative GM’s in the NHL in a little over two years. Two drafts under his belt, and he has shown he is going to follow his own instincts, as both first overall picks were not the consensus at the time. He has received vindication for taking Juraj Slafkovsky first overall in 2022 as he broke out this season and showed considerable ceiling as an elite power forward. There were some raised eyebrows about picking 6’2” right shot defenseman, David Reinbacher, given there were flashier options on the table at the time. He is followed by the #2 prospect, Lane Hutson, also on defense, and looking like one of the great steals from the 2022 Draft at 62nd. He also gets high marks for drafting goaltender Jacob Fowler in the second round, currently ranked as the sixth best prospect goaltender by McKeens. He will certainly add to the fourth best prospect pool with two first-round picks in 2024 and two firsts in 2025, and a slew of picks in both drafts.

Hughes, an ex-player agent, is a master of using his cap space to land prospects and picks. He took Sean Monahan off of Calgary’s hands (future considerations) for a first-round pick in the summer of 2022. Monahan had a strong 2023-24 season and recouped another first at the 2024 deadline. We do not have enough space here to cover all the wheeling and dealing but it has created a wealth of future potential, but also to add key young pieces to the core in reclamation projects in two former first round 23-year-olds in Kirby Dach and Alex Newhook. They are building around forwards Nick Suzuki (24) and Cole Caufield (23), who have established themselves as stars, and are signed through 2029-30 at very reasonable, identical AAV of $7.875 million. They are a few years out from contending, there is real momentum and excitement in one of the most jaded fan bases.

RNK	PLAYER	POS	AGE	HT/WT	TM	Acquired	GP	G(W)	A(L)	PTS(GAA)	PIM(SPCT)
1	David Reinbacher	D	19	6-2/185	Kloten (Sui-NL)	`23(5th)	35	1	10	11	18
					Laval (AHL)	`23(5th)	11	2	3	5	4
2	Lane Hutson	D	20	5-10/160	Boston University (HE)	`22(62nd)	38	15	34	49	24
					Montreal (NHL)	`22(62nd)	2	0	2	2	0
3	Joshua Roy	RW	20	6-0/190	Laval (AHL)	`21(150th)	41	13	19	32	12
					Montreal (NHL)	`21(150th)	23	4	5	9	0
4	Logan Mailloux	D	21	6-3/215	Laval (AHL)	`21(31st)	72	14	33	47	91
5	Jacob Fowler	G	19	6-1/215	Boston College (HE)	`23(69th)	39	32	6	2.14	0.926
6	Owen Beck	C	20	5-11/185	Pbo-Sag (OHL)	`22(33rd)	57	34	47	81	18
7	Sean Farrell	C	22	5-8/175	Laval (AHL)	`20(124th)	47	9	19	28	10
8	Jakub Dobes	G	22	6-3/200	Laval (AHL)	`20(136th)	51	24	18	2.93	0.906
9	Oliver Kapanen	C	20	6-0/170	KalPa (Fin-Liiga)	`21(64th)	51	14	20	34	32
10	Bogdan Konyushkov	D	21	5-11/175	Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod (KHL)	`23(110th)	65	6	22	28	18
11	Filip Mesar	C	20	5-9/175	Kitchener (OHL)	`22(26th)	45	19	33	52	12
12	Adam Engstrom	D	20	6-2/185	Rogle (SHL)	`22(92nd)	51	4	18	22	4
13	Riley Kidney	C	21	5-11/170	Laval (AHL)	`21(63rd)	65	7	13	20	41
14	Emil Heineman	LW	22	6-1/185	Laval (AHL)	T(Cgy-2/22)	48	15	14	29	25
					Montreal (NHL)	T(Cgy-2/22)	4	0	0	0	0
15	William Trudeau	D	21	6-0/190	Laval (AHL)	`21(113th)	70	8	16	24	69

1. David Reinbacher, D, Kloten (NL)/Laval Rocket (AHL)

It certainly can't be easy to be Reinbacher these days, with all that noise generated by the fervent Montreal fans and media, especially the noise that’s related to his somewhat controversial draft slot. Knowing that, it says a lot about his character that he was able to quickly move past an injury-dampened and loss-filled season in Switzerland and immediately start looking comfortable with Laval in the AHL. The Habs want him to be a top-pairing, all-situations, minute-munching blueliner, and he's on a good enough trajectory with his development so far that he genuinely could reach that ceiling. He already has all of the necessary tools in his toolbox. However, he's still a long ways away from that goal as of right now, and progress won't happen overnight. If the team and the city can be patient enough, they could get rewarded handsomely.

2. Lane Hutson, D, Boston University (NCAA)

Never tell Hutson the odds. It’s understandable, to a degree, why teams were nervous about him in his draft year, because it’s exceedingly rare for blueliners of his small stature to become core roster players. That said, it’s always been pretty apparent that this particular pint-sized defender was special, and now there are probably a number of teams that are kicking themselves for not being believers. When it comes to puck-rushing defensemen he is as dynamic as they come, with explosive all-direction mobility and the desire to play on his toes at all times. He also deserves full marks for his mental traits, as he is utterly fearless and endlessly driven, and he reads and reacts to the play in front of him at lightning speed with near perfect precision. Can Hutson reach a similar level to Quinn Hughes in Vancouver? Habs fans are already dreaming about it.

3. Joshua Roy, RW, Laval Rocket (AHL)

Nearly three years have now passed since the 2021 draft, and yet it’s only gotten more and more perplexing over time why Roy wasn’t picked until the 5th round and 150th overall. Sure, hindsight is always 20/20, and absolutely no one was confident that he would be quite this good by this age, but he was a former 1st-overall pick into the QMJHL who scored at a point-per-game pace that season split between two lackluster teams, and a profile like that seems like it would be worth a roll of the dice at least a round or two sooner. The Canadiens certainly aren’t complaining about how things worked out, though. He’s already putting in work and looking solid as a support scorer, and that will keep him around for a long time, even if he never becomes a primary creator.

4. Logan Mailloux, D, Laval Rocket (AHL)

Much has already been said and written about Mailloux’s past and the highly controversial decision by the Canadiens to select him in the 1st round in the 2021 draft, and that story will be talked about again and relitigated in depth once he eventually becomes an NHL regular. For right now, though, there is another story that has emerged with him, and it’s about how well he’s managed to tune out all that chatter and channel his energy into his on-ice performance, which cannot be an easy focus to maintain. He is intensely attuned to his development and the on-ice results that stem from it, perhaps knowing that his career will always be on uniquely thinner ice than others, and he’s become one of the best defense prospects in all of hockey. If the Habs keep maintaining their long-term investment in him then he’ll win a full-time spot with the big club in short order.

5. Jacob Fowler, G, Boston College (NCAA)

A popular hockey saying goes that goalies are voodoo, but thus far into his career Fowler is almost boringly, simplistically excellent. Put on the pads, stop almost all the pucks, win the game, repeat. And that's been the same song and dance for him going as far back as his stats were even recorded. His technique and positioning are impeccably fine-tuned for a goalie his age, and the quality of his mental approach is rare. He just never seems to have a bad game, and on the rare occasion that he lets in a bad goal he’s always able to shake it off and immediately refocus. He came remarkably close to winning back-to-back league championships, after leading Youngstown to a USHL title last season, but Boston College was overpowered in the final of the Frozen Four. If he keeps improving his quickness and athleticism he could become quite a solid NHL starter.

6. Owen Beck, C, Saginaw Spirit (OHL)

Beck is now playing for his third OHL team in the span of three years, but he’s probably not complaining too much, since he’s guaranteed a return trip to the Memorial Cup tournament, this time as a member of the host Saginaw Spirit after getting there the harder way last year with the Peterborough Petes. Montreal must be pleased that he’s getting all of this high-quality experience, because it’s nothing but pure benefit for him. He’s a reliable, competitive two-way center by nature, and after all of this it’s easy to imagine how prepared he’s going to be for playoff hockey in the NHL once he gets there. It seems like his ceiling will end up being a little lower than what was initially hoped for, but he should still be able to fit in just fine with what the Canadiens are building long-term.

7. Sean Farrell, C, Laval Rocket (AHL)

Farrell proved himself to be a top-tier offensive contributor in both the USHL and the NCAA, so further point production is expected to be a part of his future. That might just take longer than Habs fans expect, though, because of the higher importance of strength and conditioning at the professional levels, and how much progress he still needs to make in these areas. Few can match his ability to see the ice in front of him and anticipate the flow of play, and he pairs that with an innate touch for the puck and a confidence for playmaking. He’s an ace at slowing things down and letting his options unfurl themselves, and that’s always a great trait to possess, but he will also need to round things out by getting more explosive with his skating and applying pressure with more intensity.

8. Jakub Dobes, G, Laval Rocket (AHL)

Among all AHL goalies this season Dobes finished in a tie for game appearances and was solely in second place for total minutes between the pipes, which is quite a rare thing for a rookie netminder in the league to accomplish. He has a remarkable ability to step into a totally new environment and look uncharacteristically right at home, which he’s done recently with both Ohio State and now Laval as well, winning the starter’s job upon arrival each time and never relinquishing it. His play just keeps getting better and better as he continues growing into his sprawling frame and gaining more natural coordination, and making things even more enticing, he still looks like he’s not even close to reaching the limits of that progression. If a re-do for the 2020 draft were to happen tomorrow Dobes might get picked as many as 100 spots higher.

9. Oliver Kapanen, C, KalPa (Liiga)

Yet another member of the Kapanen clap, Oliver comes from quite a bloodline of hockey players. To say that he lived and breathed hockey growing up probably wouldn't be much of a stretch or understatement. He was also practically raised by the Kalpa organization in Finland, playing with them for so many years that they watched him grow from a boy into a man, so there must have been a lot of pride being felt when he exploded in the Liiga playoffs this spring, scoring at a point per game pace and helping them make it far. The skill and hockey IQ have always been in place for him, and he continues to make necessary progress on his strength and conditioning, improvements that he'll need to be able to play in the NHL one day. Montreal, with all their young forward depth, can afford to be patient with Kapanen.

10. Bogdan Konyushkov, D, Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod (KHL)

Sometimes it makes a lot of sense to draft older prospects, even if they've gone unpicked before, because more is already known about them, and less guess work is needed about their development. Konyushkov was the single oldest player to hear his name get called in the 2023 draft, but he had just played a full season in the KHL, so the Habs had a lot of good material to help inform their decision and must have been pretty comfortable in their assessment of him. Additionally, his coach for the past two seasons with Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod was the legendary Igor “The Professor” Larionov, which was surely a nice bonus. He has the requisite determination and pacing needed for smaller blueliners, utilizing his feet to be fast and shifty on puck retrievals and breakouts, while keeping tight gaps to defend with pokechecks.

PROSPECT CRITERIA: Players under 26 years of age as of 9/15/2024 who have appeared in less than 60 games (30 for goalies) and less than 25 in one season (25 for goalies).