Welcome to Fantasy Hockey Life, presented by fan Tracks. Here's your source of
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a step hit on, stay lock. Here's your hosts, Jesse Severe and
Victor Nuno Fantasy Hockey Live back once again at Hawk Fantasy Hockey. I am
Jesse Severe. That there is Victor Nugno of EP Ringside. Victor, how
you doing today? I'm doing great, Jesse. Yeah, it's exciting times.
It's it's beautiful summer days, getting close to the draft time. That's
always an exciting thing. Yeah, how are you doing? Come on,
man, your entire year is summer days. I don't even I don't even
want to hear about all of you. Summer days are better than most.
You're having summer days in November, right, Isn't that how it works?
In California? It's not snowy, but we do have well they say that
where I live on the coast of California, we don't have seasons throughout the
year. We have it throughout the day because it's cool and foggy, and
then the fog burns off and it's warm, and then it gets a little
windy. Sometimes it rains and then and it cools off in the evening,
so we have all of it within a day, not within the throughout the
year. Nice, all right, I'll give you a break on that.
I'll give you a break on that. If we record another episode of this
afternoon, I'm going to ask you how the weather is again, it'll be
a different season. Victor, we are going to talk Montreal Canadians today.
We're going north of the border. We're going to Quebec to talk Canadians.
And if you would like to talk Canadians. Frankly, if you'd like to
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Check it out at patreon dot com slash Fantasy Hockey Life. Would be right
back to Talk Montreal Canadians. We welcome back to the show one of the
old timer friends of the show man who's been here several years talking Montreal Canadians.
It's Ryan spar of the Hockey Writers. How you doing, Ryan?
Yeah, I'm okay, Thanks, How are you good? We've been with
you in thick and thin for the Canadians this year a little more thin but
still looking forward to this talk and find it out a little bit about the
team. So Ryan, just looking at it from thirty thousand feet. You
know, I'm not watching the Canadians every night, but it didn't look like
a good year. I will say every stat is at or near the bottom
of the league cumulatively. At the end, they were fifth worse than the
league's standings, allowed the third most shots against, the most short handed goals
against, and that COVID Cup final year seems maybe a little bit more like
an outlier in the recent trajectory of the team. Is that was the only
time they want a playoff series in the last nine years. Now, on
the brighter side, slame you with all the negatives NHL stats and infos is
their roster was the third youngest in the league on opening nin We'll be talking
about some players who gave us optimism for this year and they definitely have gone
in on the rebuild, which is probably the right move for the future of
the team. What is your takeaway from this season of the Canadians and how
long until they build themselves back into a contender? Brant, I mean,
I wish I had a crystal ball for myriad reasons because i'd be able to
win the lottery, but I can't really say for certain when they're going to
contend again. I do believe that next season they'll be in playoff contention,
which I think is it makes sense based on the fact they were last in
the league a few seasons ago. The year after sixty eight points, this
past season seventy six points, I'd anticipated maybe like an eighty point season from
them this past year, So I think logically you have to assume, based
on the progression of that young roster you mentioned that they'll be eighty five to
ninety points in that range next season, which should put them in contention.
Yeah, in that Atlantic division is so rough, I think I've for your
sake, it would be better to be in the Metro right now, is
all I can say. But let's start going through the players Ryan, because
Nick Suzuki is a great story. He had a career year this year,
thirty three goals, forty four says, seventy seven points. They were all
personal best for the captain. He played in every regular season game. In
fact, if I'm reading this right, he's played in every regular season game
all five years of his career, he impressed with twenty one sixteen average time
and ice the fifth most forward minutes played in the NHL. Now, I
wish you would shoot more. It's just barely over two shots a game that
he does, and especially with eighteen percent shooting like he has, seems like
he's a trigger man when he gets it. But I understand your Centerman,
and maybe the quality of the shots poined why so many of them hit the
net. What did you make of Suzuki's age twenty four season and what are
you expecting in the future for this young man. Yeah, it's interesting you
bring up the iron man streak. I think he's just behind Brent Burns and
Ryan Suitor, so he's definitely one of the league's iron man and I think
that plays into how much or how little respect he gets when he deserves so
much more. Actually, I just wrote a piece it was published this morning
on my seite or the site for which I write about how Nick Suzuki is
legitimate number one center and the NHL, and I stand by that assessment.
Obviously. I think he's He had the most prolific Canadian season since coal of
Alexei Cobolev did in seven two thousand and eight, and that was when Colub
hit eighty four points and Canadians haven't had a point per game player since,
which is a huge problem. But Nick Suzuki and I've been a fan of
him since he first came over and the Max Patriotti trade with the Vegas Golden
Knights, but even he continues to surprise me to the upside. He made
the All Star Game for the third straight time, and I don't think anybody
I was surprised because I had penciled in Cole Kawfield to be take that spot
at the beginning of the year, but Sizuki just eclipsed him in terms of
his overall worth to the team. And I think he's like I wrote in
my piece, I think he's the right guy to lead the Canadians to the
playoffs when the time is right, for sure. And let's talk about the
other guy you mentioned there, Cole Kawfield, long time favorite of this podcast,
and there was one number that particularly caught my eye his stats this year
that I loved above all others, the number eighty two. He played all
eighty two games, staying healthy and productive to notch a twenty eight thirty seven
sixty five line. His points per sixty he actually has been fairly consistent over
his career. It's the fact that he's out there more that really is helping
his totals. In fact, it was actually down to touch in terms of
a raid stat this year due to a drop in his shooting percentage. He
really had a rough year there, dropped from sixteen point five down to eight
point nine. All in all, the team was not so great in expected
goals four for sixty or expected goals against sixty five. Generally, things were
a whole lot better with Cole Cowfield on the ice than without him. Is
Coffield is what we saw this year? It's becoming consistent, this sixty five
point pace type player. Is this what he's going to be or is their
potential for a leap into a star level NHL player here? I think Canadians
fans are anticipating more from him, even though I think that this season went
better than most really. I think went better than most really thought because everyone
thought he was going to be in the running for the rocketby shire or at
the very least becoming, you know, the Canadians first forty goal scorer since
I believe Vencen d'anfus, and obviously his goal scoring it took a You mentioned
the drop in the shooting percentage, so obviously his goal scoring a number the
umber goals he scored was effected, but he rounded out his game nicely to
become a more complete hockey player. And I think if he gets those goals
up, he becomes a star. If he stays the way he is,
I think it's perfectly fine and he'll definitely be worth the long term contract he
signed, I believe last season. Yeah, an interesting stat is and I
may have brought this up the last time we spoke. He in his first
eighty two games under Saint Louis, he scored forty eight goals, and that
was spanning two seasons. Obviously, in the last thirty eight games of twenty
twenty one twenty two he had twenty two goals, and in the last forty
four and the first forty four games of twenty one to twenty two he had
twenty six goals, and soon thereafter his season ended due to a shoulder injury.
It means I don't think the drop in shooting percentage is as a result
of the shoulder injury. It's something to watch for if he bounces back or
not next season from a goalscoring perspective, but whether or not he gets those
goals up. I think he's a legitimate top line player for the Canadians and
you know him rounding out his game only votes for the future of this team.
Yeah, Well, speaking of the future, obviously yours. Lefkowski is
going to be a big part of that. And he played all eighty two
games this season. That was also a big deal, increasing his point pains
from twenty nine to fifty gone at least for now or the cries of him
being a bus and it's replaced with lofty expectations and excitement, perhaps sometimes too
high. Early in the season he was moved around a lot and played a
lot with Alex Newhook Josh Anderson, but he finished the season mostly with cold
Coffee lt Nick Suzuki on the top line. His TOM on ice nearly crested
eighteen minutes and his power play time on ice was nearly three. He threw
a fair amount through the body of Fairmount, with nearly two hits per game,
similar for a shots, so we would have liked the shots to be
a little bit higher, but the blocks are really high for a forward.
He's certainly looking like a bash Gem that some of us thought that he could
be. So Ryan, What did you see from Sulkowski this season and do
you think he can push up even more closeer to seventy plus points. Full
disclosure. At the time of the pick, I was not a fan.
I had anticipated the Canadians taking shine, but because that the day of the
Canaves also acquired Kirby Dock to play center, it made more sense to go
with a power forward winger in Slavkovsky. I think he's proving the doubters wrong,
myself included, so kudos to him. He had only two goals in
five assists in his first three to nine games, and that was when he
was saddled with Josh Anderson on that second line along with Alex Newhook as a
center. And I think it's fair to say that I saddled with Josh Anderson
as the way to put it, because Anderson didn't really served as an anchor
whatever line he was on this season, but Slavkovsky obviously ended the year strong.
I think you mentioned twenty goals, thirty assists, which you know fifty
points. Those are all impressive plateaus for a sophomore, in my opinion,
especially one who wasn't assessed to be elite or generational or what have you.
I think what we're seeing is him establishing himself as the top line presence,
and it's great for Montreal Canadians fans. And maybe i'm too what's the word.
Maybe this is a remnant of my hesitancy to get behind him one hundred
percent when he was first drafted, But I hesitate to see him moving towards
the seventy point wrench. I think he'll be sixty sixty five point player.
I'd love to be proven wrong. He's proven to be the missing ingredient on
the top line zukin Calfield. So even if he remains a complimentary player and
doesn't drive offense a traditional first overall pick, I think Canines fans will live
with how everything's turned out. Gladly you mentioned Alex Newhook being on his line.
He is signed to three more years on a nice middle class contract that
is about on par with his performance. He was actually the fifth highest returning
score to the team as far as guys who weren't traded during the season,
with thirty four points. In fifty five games a high ankle sprain wiped out
two months in the middle of his season. But this guy's got his name
on a Stanley Cup. We could say that from his Avalanche days, is
Alex Newhook a guy who can take a step up, maybe continue to mature
and be more than just what the kids call mid in terms of that,
or is this maybe a guy who will be the third center once Montreal continues
to fill in the roster with their hopefully playoff future team. That's an interesting
question because when the season started he was put on line with Kirby Dock at
center and I believe Slavkovski and then that Doc got injured two games in and
forcing head coach Matftan st Louis to shuffle of lines considerably. So I think
obviously, when the Canaans acquired in new Hook, it was established that he
could play both wing and center. He had arguably failed as a center with
the Avalanche if you look past the fact that he also failed as a center
with Anderson on his line, and again considering both Slavkovsky and new Hook turned
their seasons around once they were taking off that line with Josh Anderson, I
think all due respect Anderson, he was a problem. I think he becomes
new Hook does a legitimate option at center, and I think it depends on
a variety of factors where the Canadians put him. Kirby Doc obviously has to
be healthy. He had claimed that second line center spots out of training camp
last season and get injured again. If that happens, obviously New Hook would
drop a lot him down the middle onto the third line if the Canadians go
that round. It also depends on with Joshua Joa, who's still exempt from
waivers if Canadians keep him up, in which case I think it makes sense
to play him on the second line on the wing. So all of a
sudden, maybe New Hook does become a good option to ice a deeper team
down the middle. And overall, if you put him being on that third
line and offensively inclined third line, I think it's worth noting that he knew
Hook effectively, Rawlington's purposes replicated Doc's production last year when he when everyone was
singing his praises Docks praises as a legitimate number two guy, maybe even a
number one guy in the future. I think that's a testament to new Hook's
play that he was able to mirror Doc season from once from twenty twenty two
to twenty twenty three. And I think wherever Canadians play him, whether it's
on wing, on Doc swing or at center on the third line, I
think new Hook. I don't think. I don't see envision of being a
star, but definitely a solid middle six guy with leaning towards a top six
role. You just mentioned the other guy we're going to talk about, Joshua,
and he had a pretty great professional transition. I would say he played
forty one games for the Laval Rocket and had thirty two points. And this
is his first this was his per first professional hockey. Before that, he
was tearing up to QMJHL. That strong play for the LaVall Rocket earned him
a mid to lay season call up, where he played twenty three games and
had nine points. He saw a lot of time with Monahan before the trade
and then new Hook and Armia after. And this is just your friendly reminder
that Joshua was a fifth round pick not because of his size, mainly because
of his skating, which still isn't great, but he's a super smart offensive
winger shows up in the right spots when he's supposed to be and that's pretty
much found money in the fifth round for a strong offensive player. Ryan,
what did you see from Wah this season and what can we expect from him
next season? Yeah? So he actually when he was playing with Mona and
he was also playing with Armia, and it's worth noting that he and Armia
also played together in La Valve. With Armia having been sent down or cut
out of training camp last season, there is some chemistry there which makes me
think that Armia is going to be able to stay around in twenty twenty three,
twenty twenty four, or sorry, twenty twenty four, twenty twenty five,
he's still you know, his contract is expiring, so it's he's probably
going to be traded at some point. But to start the season with expectations
higher, I think Ken Hughes will want to ice the best lineup possible,
so that means insulating Juah as much as possible, assuming he makes a team,
and again, what makes the team better, So I have no reason
to doubt that. I'd like to give a shout out to Mak Dumont of
Montreal Hockey Now and these are the stats that I've found he's only fourth off
the top lines of the top line of Suzuki, Kafield, and Slavkovski to
control over fifty percent of five on five shots while on the ice since the
All Star break, and he at all forwards with a fifty six point nine
percent expected goal share since the All Star break, and he trails just Nick
Suzuki with two point twenty four points per sixteen minutes at five on five since
the All Star Break, Nick Zuzuki having two point five to one. I'd
say that, as you put it, his transition has been seamless. He's
again exempt from waivers he was, could theoretically send him down to solve roster
spot crunch, but I think the smart move for his development and for Canadian
success is to keep him around and ideally in a top six role, because
even though his production was relatively honest with nine points and four goals and twenty
three games, like you said, his ability to drive the play was incredibly
impressive for a rookie, and there will be growing pains, certainly, but
I think he's outgrown the AHL at this point, and not for nothing.
But I do believe he was a first overall drop pick into the Qubec Major
Junior Hockey League once upon a time, so it's a reflection of that talent.
And I think when he was drafted as relatively low as he was,
that was the COVID season, so there weren't a lot there wasn't a lot
of scouting around, so he could have conceivably gone higher with a full season
with more attention paid to him. I think the Canadians have top six foward
in well, and it just a matter of whether he is laid there this
year or not. We've talked about him or you've talked about him a few
times on this episode. Kirby Doc, like you said, only played two
games last year and then he was out very unfortunately for the Canadians as they
tried to evaluate him. The injuries are really a problem, I think,
but it's difficult to evaluate what he is at this point based on the fact
that he missed the whole year. What do you think of what why is
going to be able to do? Is he going to be healthy back this
season? Are you expecting a strong second center or what are you looking for
from Kirby Doc. If he's healthy, he's going to be the second line
center. I think that's a matter of fact. At this point, that's
the job he won out of training camp. I think that's where Hughes envisioned
him playing when he first acquired him at the draft few years ago. And
in those two games, I think he got two assists in those two games.
It's not like he did anything to warrant being moved to the wing grant
thing. It just dumb luck. I think it was Jared Nordy who hit
him, accidentally tearing both his ACL and his MCL. If he's healthy,
if he stays healthy, which I guess is a beer question mark at this
point, unfortunately, I do envision top end number two center who's capable of
making his linemates better. That's what he did last year when he was playing
with Suzuki and Kawfield on the wing. He made them better. That line
was effectively most dominant for all intents and purposes. And when he got moved
to center when John Monaghan got injured at the midpoint last season, not this
past season, with the season before, he helped shoulder the load and carry
that line with whomever he was playing. And I think the Canadians it's hard
to say that the Canadians robbed the Blackhawks blind when they acquired him, because
I think that trade helped the Blackhawks bottom out and get connor Bidard. But
the Canadians made out very well acquiring him. Assuming can stay healthy again and
just in passing anybody else in this board group, you think capable of a
fifty points season this year. No, that's a solid answer, Bryan.
The point and that's on. It is thank you, oh problem, That's
what it is. Honestly, this is why we love you, Ryan,
because you don't mess around. Just nope, moving on, let's move on
to the D. Yeah. Mike Matheson is the guy we're going to start
with, and many people did not believe his twenty twenty two to twenty three
stat line with fifty eight point paced twenty six assists, eight goals for thirty
four points in forty eight games. Is what that worked out too. I
figured he could at least repeat. There weren't really any challengers that I saw
that could take this role from him, and Matheson did better than just repeating.
He said, hold my beer. He had incredible season, sixty two
point pace, over two blocks per game, plenty of hits and shots.
His Bash was ranked forty first in our top fifty in our tidy format.
He's definitely a guy who I think is better in fantasy than in real life,
because if you look at his play driving metrics and his overall impact on
the offense and defense, it looks pretty sad overall in terms of what he
did for the actual team, which of course I'm sure the Canadians would like
to be winning more. But he's definitely someone who contributes greatly to your fantasy
team. And next season they might have some young guns coming for him,
but I think he might still have another season or two of great relevance.
What do you think, Ryan, Is Mike Mathieson going to have another strong
productive season in terms of points and block shots hits or is he going to
regress potentially losing out on some of his role. I think the Canadians are
intent on keeping him, and in such an instance, if they do keep
them, and in my opinion, there's no reason why they shouldn't, they'll
play him in the same role He's been played as a top pairing defenseman with
power play time as a power play quarterback, and I think he's earned that
role. I don't think it's fair to as the team's overall performance because it's
a bad team, like we talked about at the top of this this episode,
and Matheson has done nothing but really, as you pointed out, exceed
expectations from production standpoint primarily. But I think Mathieson has proven himself to be
a top four defense pin on any team, and I don't envision him taking
a step back. I will readily admit when he was first acquired, I
didn't see him taking the next step in his development, being thirty years old
at this point. When he was acquired, he would have been twenty eight
or something. But again, he's proven me wrong. And the main issue
is, like you hinted at, the young defenseman coming up hand, the
left side is incredibly crouded. But I think there's something to be said for
his for having a veteran in the lineup to help guide those young cons.
Even though he'd have immense value on the trademarket, I think it's Canaians are
better served keeping him, especially considering his very coss effective cap at which I'm
looking at now is only four point seventy five million for the next two seasons.
He's more than worth that. Yeah, I think he's where he needs
to be and where the Canadians want him to be. Of the more established
veteran defenseman on this team. There's not necessarily people who we think of a
lot for fantasy purposes anyway, But let me put a points pick him out
there to you, David Savard, Caden Google Savard. We know he blocks
a lot of shots. He holds a middle of the road place in that
lineup slightly better than offensive for defensive advanced stats. I don't know if he's
really up for a bigger role at this point. Goola played most of the
season until he was headlined with a head injury at the end. It looks
like he's playing internationally this summer. That's a good sign. Excellent with bash,
especially blocks and hits. Advanced stats suggest he may already be the second
best defenseman on the team, not accounting for the new guys obviously, who
will get to in a minute, what role are is Ghouli going to have?
And in who do you think is going to have the better season for
fantasy types? Oh, I'd say Gooley will have the better season by a
mile. That savardas camouflage that conclusion to a degree based on his twenty four
points. I believe this past season, which was the most since he put
together and he put together twenty four points in twenty eighteen nineteen, but in
he did it this year in sixty games. He did it in twenty eighteen
nineteen eighty two games. It's basically his most productive season since he had thirty
six points in twenty fourteen to fifteen with the Blue Jackets, I believe,
and so effectively he emerged as an offensive threat. I want to say,
but ultimately he's a stay at home defenseman just in my opinion, got lucky
bounces, and that isn't to diminish his role. I just think when Hugh
and Hughes came aboard, he wanted He said that he was looking for an
offensive minded team, and Savard doesn't really fit the bill. Savard was a
contract he inherited and with I believe one season left on his contract, I
think he's trade bait for all intensive purposes. It's interesting because comparing him to
Goolei, Gooley is obviously left hand defenseman like Mike Mathieson, but Mathieson and
Gooli was the second most used pairing by the team. Last season, they
switched Gooley over to the right side because of the log jam, the most
use pairing was Madison and Savard. It's interesting to see where the Canadians go.
I think Gooley on his off side and isn't necessarily the best for his
development. But I also think that with so many left handed defensemen, you
may not have the option but to play him there. Defenseman like Jordan Harris,
who's also played on the red side, arbor Jack guy Jaden Strubel,
and I know we're going to get to these guys also, But Lanne Hudson,
who's coming up, He's a left handed defenceman. May he was a
right handed defenseman, but he also adds to the logjam overall on defense,
which kind of makes the Canadians more likely to trade a guy like Savard,
which would force Canadians to play Gooly on that top ering. Again, you
did just mention those two, and of course I want to ask a little
bit more about Lane Hudson and Logan Mayu. We've just seen Hudson complete two
incredible NCAA seasons, highly productive. He was great at the World Championship for
the Americans, and we even got to see him in two games for the
Montreal Canadians, so he signed his ELC. He's not going back to college.
We didn't really think he would. We don't necessarily know if he'll be
with Laval with the Canadians next season, but he's coming. And then of
course Logan may You, who some of us definitely had feelings about at the
time of the pick, but since then he has really turned things around.
He's had really strong season. He finished third in total points for defenseman in
the AHL for the LaVall Rocket. He definitely has really come around and looks
like a solid player. Both of these guys seem like they're knocking on the
door, so that seems like it's going to affect potentially what happens with the
rest. So how do you see this playing out? What kind of opportunity
are may You and Hudson going to get, if any, with the Canadians.
I honestly, and it companes me the status because I think they're they
might deserve shots based on how training camp goes. I just with all the
players above them on the death chart, I just think it's best for their
developments and the team overall to just keep them in the American Hockey League this
season. Yeah, they're both wavering exempt, so it just I know some
will say Watson didn't play in the AHL and he proved he belonged as a
matter of him signing his contract late or well when he did anyway, and
the can is getting him a shot right off the bat. Mayu was called
up as a reward, I guess for his season where he scored fourteen goals
in thirty assis getting an AHL All Star Game not as well, which was
impressive. But I think, especially in Mau's case, defense remains a defensive
awareness remains an issue, and I think it will serve them both well to
get some more games, in Hudson's case, get games in period in the
AHL before moving on to the NHL. That is fair. Let's move on
to the goalies. The Canadians were ranked twenty ninth and expected goals against per
sixty, but they only conceded the fifteenth actual rank goal per game. That
tells you that, of course they their goalies performed pretty well. Jake Allen
had a pretty decent season. We're not going to really cover him though,
because he has moved on after playing thirty four games for the Canadians. Sam
Montembau played forty one. Cayden Primo. We've been waiting for this for a
long time. It seems like played twenty three NHL games in Montebau. Both
these guys were good. Montebou saved eighteen point thretey nine goals save above expected,
had a point ninety six delta Fenwick. Primo for his performance almost nine
goals save above expected and a similarly great delta Fenwick. Both of them wildly
outperformed the production in front of them, so it was nice to see Primo
finally get a run of NHL games. I know I've been talking about him
as a prospect goalie for it seems like forever, and Monty has three more
years. His reasonable cap hit three point one point five is really nice for
those of us in cap leagues, and it sure seems like he's going to
be the workhorse next season. Ryan. It seems to me like they'll run
something like maybe sixty forty or seventy thirty with Montambeaux Primo. Is that your
read on this and can they be as good as they were last season?
I think actually Mantambleau was better the previous season in terms of goal saved above
expecting when he ranked among the league leaders. I don't have the stats in
front of me, but that's basically well documented, I believe so. Yeah,
I think at least in Montamble's case, he can replicate the performance.
The issue is, you know he has this was his most his busiest Angel
season. He's never played more than the forty one games he played he played
in twenty twenty three twenty twenty four. I don't really know what the sheriff
starts will look like because the knock on Alan was he was a very good,
above average backup, but in my opinion, he didn't do so well
as a starter back when he was with the Blues, which kind of led
to Jordan Binnington usurping him for that role. And I think you saw a
similar situation where as seasons went on while he was with the Canadians that his
effectiveness bottomed out. And I think that's a risk with Multumble. I think
it's fair to say he'll be the starter. I'm just not sure how many
games he'll get. Yeah, I think it's worth noting that he's definitely surpassed
expectations and the sheer fact that I'm saying that he's almost a shoe in to
replicate the performance they just put together is a testament to his consistency and abilities.
Yeah, he's definitely impressed me. And he's one win shy of fifteen
in his career, So someone who came aboard as kind of they took a
flyer on him as a third string goalie. It seems a few years ago
after they reached the Stanley Cup final, he's established himself as the team's number
one. Maybe he's not a legitimate number one, it depends on how many
games gets but as a transitional goalie, as a team learns to compete more
and more, I think he's earned that. And are we talking about Primo
two. Yeah, you can talk about prayer. I'll just mention that I
looked it up while you were talking, and he had more goals save above
expected in all situations this season. But if you just look at even strength,
he had more last season. So that's usually what I look at in
terms of I think even strength is more replicable. So if you just look
at even strength, he was better last season. And I'll also just add
that I was super skeptical about this move when they made it. I was
he had a small sample size of being good in Florida, and I just
didn't know if he could be this volume starter and be good. And he
has really shown that Montabeau can be. But yeah, I'm curious to hear
your thoughts on Primo as well. Yeah, I believe Primo won the Mike
Richter Award to get back when and say he was he even though he was
a late drafted by the Canadians. After he was drafted rows up to death
the death chart. To the point that we talked about this in the past,
I believe that he was seen as carry price, as their apparent and
unfortunately he came up at around the time of COVID and the Canadians mismanaged him
in my opinion anyway, where they'd always and I've used this expression before,
they've always thrown him to the wolves, giving him just the other goalie scraps,
and I think that was true this year as well, even though they
kept him up to rotate the three goalies. They only did that because he
was no longer waiver exempt and they didn't want to expose him to waivers,
which I guess is a good thing. But yeah, he again got the
scraps of both Mountainbone and Allen, and despite that, he'd put together a
horrible start every now and again, but he'd always respond with a great game
where he'd steal the two points. And it's interesting that once Alan got traded
to the New Jersey Devils at the deadline, primo end of the season was
in nine ten save percent, but since trade deadline and nine starts, he
had one of nine to twenty one, which is obviously incredible. And I'm
not prepared to say that he's retaken the mantle of the Montreal Canaans goal of
the future, but he's definitely given his critics pause for thought, and I'm
genuinely excited about where how his development takes goes next season when he gets steven
more starts. I think at this point he's a legitimate NHL backup and it
will be interesting to see how I'm assuming that he and Multima will push each
other. So I'm cautiously optimistic about team's goaltending moving forward. It's suffice to
say it's not one of the areas in which the Canadians should be immediately concerned
in my opinion, ran this has been some great stuff on the Montreal Canadians.
Let people know where they could check out all your work. Yees.
So I'm Montreal Can's calmist at the Hockey Writers. You can check me out
there. I tend to write or post a piece every few days and I
look forward to reading your comments and interacting. Thanks once again for coming back
and talking Montreal with us. Until next time, Ryan, Well next time,
thanks for having me. Thanks Will sit that's good fire past. Oh
my goodness, long quick gram. Now it's your weekly goalie talk, but
Kat Silverman Kat's Instincts join once again by Kat Silverman of NGL Mag to talk
prospect goalies this edition, of course Montreal Canadians. We are not going to
talk about Cayden Primo for once in our team in our prospect series because he's
finally played enough NHL games. I think we've seen enough from him there.
But we do have some other interesting ones to talk about. We're going to
start with Jacob de Besh. Actually we're going to do the Jacobs is basically
what we're going to do. Jacob de Besh. We're going to start with
twenty twenty fifth round, pick six, four, two hundred and one pounds.
After two great years in the NCAA for Ohio State. He had his
first full season with the LaVall Rocket, played fifty one games and overall dino
six a percentage two point one zero GAA. He increased his expected goals per
goal conceded from the previous season up to one point four to two. That's
really good, especially when you're going from easier quote unquote to a more difficult
league in the AHL. He's also increased his hockey prospecting potential, graduating that
model at a thirty nine percent chance of being a starter. There's some comps
here of guys like Ray Emery and tarnet Amaki, who I remember watching him.
I'm old enough to remember, and so there's some interesting comps there.
Kat, What do your instincts tell us about Dobesh. I'm so excited to
see how he continues to develop for Montreal. No offense to Cayden Primo.
I was getting a little tired of wondering whether or not he was going to
make the NHL, So now we get to move that uncertainty onto a new
guy, and it's I think going to be do Besh. Yeah, he's
When he was drafted, he was one of a slew of Zech goaltenders who
all played very drastically different styles, who were essentially coming up about to get
drafted. He had made his way over to the US after playing some of
his pre draft development years in the Czech Republic. He then made his way
over and played for the Saint Louis Triple A Blues. Then he played for
a US high school team, moved onto the NALL played for the Topeka Pilots,
then moved onto the USHL. Then he played for Ohio State, so
he really went through. He went on the tour of the US development leagues.
If there is a development league in the US, he played for it.
And it seems like it's panning off because at every level he's played,
he's had really good numbers and he's one of the more conservative check goaltenders.
Doesn't have a ton of the over aggressive movement, and I think some of
that is because he made the move over to playing in the US system so
early, so he didn't have this huge, wide open ice surface to essentially
develop that freedom on that. Sometimes we then, unfortunately have to see some
of those chet goaltenders get restrained and brought back into the blue paint once they
make their way over to play in North America. We saw him come over
nice and early, so he was able to start working on slightly more conservative
movement from the get go. His skating looks good. I think his saves
look good. I don't know if I want to see him make his way
to the NHL immediately, just because the Montreal Canadians have had some misfortunes with
some of NHL goaltenders. It seems like they're in what's going on like a
near decade long curse now, so I'd love to see him get a little
more happiness in the AHL before he makes his way up. But he looks
like he's close. He's he turned twenty four this year, yeah, or
this upcoming season rather, and I think by next season I would give him
some looks at the NHL, just to see what happens, because so far
he hasn't really had any missteps, hasn't had any backward slides in his development.
I see no real reason not to just continue him on that slow,
steady upwards trajectory. I'm excited to see what happens with them. Yes,
indeed, and I guess we can only have Jacobs in the Montreal Canadian system
because we're going to go to the other Jacob Fowler twenty twenty three third round
pick just this past draft, six two fourteen pounds. He had a pretty
incredible run at this past calendar year. He went from USHL Clark Cup champ
with the Youngstown Phantom in his draft season and by the way, he was
the MVP of that first team, All Star and Goalie of the Year,
so he pretty much won them the Clark Cup. Then he went to the
U twenty World Junior Championship with the USA, and obviously they won, although
he was not the main goalie, that was Trey Augustine, but he was
part of that team. And then he was awesome at BC during his freshman
season. Obviously that BC team was pretty stacked and they were a very good
offensive team, but he made some really strong saves for them, and sometimes
that can be difficult being a goalie for a strong offensive team where they might
might not see a lot of action and then have to make a big save.
Anyways, he nearly won the NCAA title as a freshman. He did
win the Big East and was the first team All Star. His expected goals
per goal conceded one point five to one at BC one point seventy five for
Youngstown. Basically, he's an awesome goalie. According to these metrics and looking
at the hockey prospecting, he has up to thirty four percent chance of being
NHLer. He's got some really good comps. Guys like Carla Vomenica, Jean
Sebastian Jaguer was his one as well, so kat Is Jacob Vowler, the
future starter of the habs. How excited should we be about him? What
your instincts tell us? I don't want to immediately put all this pressure on
him and essentially set myself up for people in the future telling me that I
was so wrong. But he looks like a Spencer Night to me. For
them, I think he just based on the way that he's been playing and
the confidence he shows. That's one of the things that when Spencer Knight was
essentially being drafted. And I think we've talked in the past about how over
the last two or three years here post COVID teams have really hesitated to draft
goaltenders as high as they did pre COVID, just because we missed out on
a full year of watching them play for a little while and then we had
all these backlogged and just logjammed teams where guys essentially didn't get to their designated
starting point until a year after they were supposed to. But I think,
based on how he's been playing, he looks like as soon as he hits
a certain level or a certain league, he reads it well. I do
think that his style is not quite Spencer knightish. He's a little bit more
energetic, really likes to move from post to post. Not a super aggressive
guy depth wise, but loves to use his skating to his advantage. I
don't know. I think he looks really good. I don't want to overhype
him. I don't think he's ready for playing in the NHL right now,
so I don't want anyone to think that's what I'm saying. But it looks
like he's able to read his opponents really well and just make little modifications to
his speed and to his game to match what his opponents are throwing at him.
And that's something that not every goaltender is able to do. Some of
them really have that stumble and restart learning curve when they go from one level
to the next. And I think that so far we haven't really seen that
from him. I'm excited. I think Canadians fans should be excited. They
have a pair of really good Jacobs in their system. What more could you
ask for? We could ask for another Jacob in the next draft. I
think they should just are there any Jacob Jacobs? I don't know if there
are any coming up, but that's what they should do. I think.
All right, thanks Gov for giving us your instincts on the Montreal Canadians goals.
We'll be back right after this dig good dynasty day talking Montreal Canadians.
We got an extra first on the Canadians books, an extra third and extra
fifth, and two extra seventh round picks they pick fifth in the upcoming draft
and twenty six and the we have, according to Victor Nunio's rankings, a
tied for the eighth best system in the National Hockey League. Victor, it
starts with a massive no brainer. Who is it so massive that we already
had to mention him in the main part of the show. That is Lane
Hudson twenty twenty two to sixty second overall pick. He's now up to five
foot ten, one hundred and sixty one pounds. He's a left handed d
second straight season in the NCAA where he was over a point per game,
that's pretty impressive as a freshman sophomore, forty nine points in thirty eight games
was what it was this season. He had two NHL games this season with
two assists, so point per game pace pretty nice. He had seven World
Junior Championship games just six assists. I think that was a little low for
what a lot of people thought, but he played in all situations and was
very good overall. So a really nice production there and obviously good to win
the gold medal, even though he didn't put up a ton of points.
Looking at his tracking data from Mitch Brown on his NC DOUBLEA, time was
outstanding. His offense his expected goals were was like three standard deviations, practically
above the mean. His assession assists also really strong, tons of shots,
really good transition play too, controlled entries, exits, cross lane plays,
fantastic advantages created, primary point involvement, all that stuff great. His defense
was a little bit lower thirty ninth percentile in the NCUBLEA. When you look
at his World Junior Championship card, his defense was also a bit lower,
although I thought according to my eye test that he looked much better defensively in
all situations, much more engaged driving the play, but didn't rate out as
well in Mitch's tracking data. Looking at his FHL player card, his shots
are sorry. His goals and assists per sixty in the NC DOUBLEA basically tops
no one better on a per sixty rate. His shots eight out of ten
shoots a fair amount, doesn't hit or block too much, so his bash
overall is a little bit on the lower side because of that. So that's
where he sits right now and really strong prospect. But we need to know
a little bit more about Josh and Lane Hudson, and to do that we're
going to talk here from our FHL scout Josh. Yes, indeed, and
here's what Josh has to say. Skating one of Lane Hudson's strongest suits.
He's a very quick, fluid, confident skater. He is really mobile in
the offensive zone, can skate out of a phone booth if needed. He
assist in his first NHL game is a perfect example. He walks the blue
line quickly, darts down the wall fast enough to pinch forward get back to
defend the rush. The greatness of his game stems all from his fantastic skating.
For passing, you can hardly ask for a better transitional rear guard than
Hudson. The combo of speed, anticipation, and passing skill makes him a
nightmare to cover. He has fantastic vision, able to build passing lanes and
openings in opposing defenses. Once he builds up speed through his own zone and
neutral zone, he can be very evasive. It just takes one or two
well placed decks for him to cut through the opposition shooting. This is the
one thing that Hudson lacks when you think about an offensive defenseman is that big,
booming shot. He has a heavy wrist shot, which he's good at
getting through traffic and placing it where there will be a rebound and it will
cause chaos in front of the net. Josh says in terms of IQ,
Hudson has a quick mind, whether it's in transition or the offensive zone.
Really good at finding the soft spots in opponents coverage. Loves to creep down
on the weak side to open himself to offensive opportunities or definding passing lanes.
He also doesn't panic easily on the breakout. Physical players can put pressure on
him, but he can usually get rid of the fuck quick enough to safety
or checking offensive first defender will pinch to keep the offensive play alive, uses
his Hockey IQ to anticipate plays cut off the opposition. He has the speed
to cover a lot of ice and could take some chances and still make it
back to defend on defense. Active in the defensive zone certainly isn't a liability,
but definitely isn't what you look for in his game. Although he's grown
inches since being drafted, he's still a small five to ten can be pushed
around by bigger, physical players. He has an active stick and can predict
plays to cut them off, and even shown he can at least handle the
physicality of the NHL by holding off JT. Coomfort in his first game.
So the best asset is that incredible, dynamic offensive game that if it translates
to the NHL, will make him a top play driver from the back end
and an offensive force. The biggest concern boy Josh points out the NHL is
big, mean and physical and this is a small guy. There's less time
and space in the NHL, which could limit his effectiveness. Injuries and being
overwhelmed in his own zone are a possibility if that happens to Hudson. So
the top ten outcome for this guy tier one fifty plus points score with Elite
Bash justify a justification for top tier assessment. If he hits, we could
be seeing a player on the level of Cal mccarr and Quinn Ughes, a
clear offensive first pairing defender, especially if paired with a more responsible partner to
allow him to unlock his full potential. The median outcome is more of a
Tier three guy. That's if he's not able to translate his defense the way
that his offense translates to the NHL game. His worst case scenario could see
him as more of a powerplay specialist stylistic comparable. He's gonna stick with Quinn
Hughes and Cale mccarr as recent examples of superstar undersized offensive defenders. So our
friend Mason Black, the NHL ranking put out the poll Lane Hudson versus last
year's Bell of the Ball on the Blue Line Brock favor of the Minnesota Wild,
and that poll came out Lane Hudson decisively fifty nine to forty one.
Victor do you agree this is a really tough one? Because you're talking about
some of the questions that Josh raised and some of the projectability with Lane in
terms of him being like a number one all situations defenseman. I'm just not
sure if he's going to be able to do that. We know that brock
Faber has basically already proven that he could do that. You did it this
year. He did it well. I know Spurgeon was out for a little
bit, but Spurgeon is also on the older side, and it sure looks
like brock Faber is going to be that all situations player. He's gonna have
tons of time on eyes, tons of peripheral coverage. We have seen him
run a powerplay. He's maybe he's not as dynamic as Lane. I don't
think he is. I've never thought that doing it at the NHL level is
super impressive. This is a This one may seem difficult, but actually I
think it's fairly easy because I'm just going to take the guy who's already done
it. I'm taking brock favor here. I know that this may may seem
a little controversial because Hudson seems so exciting and he is so good at the
NCAA level. We've seen him internationally, he's been fantastic, and I think
the upside is potentially higher. But I'm not going to be too upset with
having that security of the guy who I know is already doing it. He's
already been doing it at the NHL level, And I think there's still even
more upside for Faber because he was just a rookie and he was dragging a
really heavy workload defensively along with that, and he still had almost a fifty
point pace. I think there's even more to gain there. Plus, the
Minnesota prospect pool is strong. They're going to get some reinforcements, some even
better players. Most of those are forwards though, so I don't think anyone's
coming for his job. So yeah, what's not to like about brock Favor.
There's a potential that Hudson passes and exceeds him in terms of upside,
But I'm taking the security and the already high floor for Faber here all day
long, looking at hockey prospecting between the two, it's hilarious because Hudson has
an eighty seven percent chance of being a star. Brock Favor just graduated at
just two percent chance of being a star, and looking at some of his
other comps. Lane Hudson has some owen zelwigger, which I'm not sure how
much that helps. Evan Bouchard is with one comp Darryl sedor maybe somewhere in
that range, but of course all those guys are taller than he is that
don't have the small guy problems. It's maybe not one hundred percent translatable,
but also just goes to show you can't just look at statistical models. You
have to pay attention to the data in front of you. All the data
in front of you, and what Favor did this season, I think cannot
be ignored at all. So that's really impressive. Looking at the top down
hockey model, Hudson has seventeen percent chance of being a star, ninety seven
percent chance of being an NHL A, so quite optimistic about him as well.
Overall, a very strong prospect. We know that high upside is just
some of the question marks with the floor and the translatability, and I think
Josh also mentioned the lack of a really strong shot can be an issue for
some. We've certainly seen some strong power play qbs who don't have that,
but that might be a bit of a limiting factor for him next up Victor.
The need to know prospect need to know is David Reinbacher twenty twenty three,
fifth overall pick. There was definitely there were definitely some gas some surprises
there at the draft. But we'll talk a little bit about what this player
can provide. Six to two, one hundred ninety four pounds right handed,
d very coveted position. Eleven points and thirty five games in the NL FORHC
Cloton where he was last season, which was a bit of a decrease in
production, and then he came over to North America at the end played eleven
games for the laball Rocket had five points, two goals, three assists,
which was pretty nice production. Looking at some of his play driving that I
have on the FHL cards, it looks pretty weak actually in the NL,
which is not the strongest league but a decent league. A lot of his
transition data, his Fenwick scoring chances, puck battles, all those are pretty
low actually, which is disappointing to see. Looking at his FHL regular player
card, not a whole lot to glean potentially from this eleven game sample size,
but it looks like he shoots a fair amount. But other than that,
there isn't really a home a whole lot in terms of block shots or
goals or assists. So up on the low side. But let's learn a
little bit more about Ryan Bocker from OURFHL scout. Josh says that as far
as the skating, while Ryan Baker won't beat players in a flat out foot
brace, he still moves well for a big defender, uses smart positioning spatial
awareness, so he's rarely in a poor position. He can be sneaky fast
on the weak side in a breakout when he sees an opportunity to jump up
in the play. He skates fluidly in corners well. In terms of passing
and handling, he can surprise with some soft hands through the neutral zone.
Just watch his first Ahl goal, especially for someone with his size and reputation.
Passing could use some work, but that's more of a problem with his
decision making rather than skill for shooting in the offensive zone. His best skill
is his shot. He has a very heavy, really accurate shot, whether
it's a rister or a slapper, reliably gets the puck through crowds, hits
the net hi q. One of the biggest problems that Josh found with Ryan
Baker's game was the decision making under pressure. Too often when he had his
puck on the stick in his own zone, it ended up in the stick
of an opponent or simply not making a clean breakout. His anticipation in his
own zone and reading opponent attackers is top notch, but he can frequently shut
down plays before they begin for checking. Ryan Backers, a pretty conservative,
stay at home type defender, uses an active stick in the neutral zone and
offensive zone to knock pucks off sticks, intercept passes that will and will stand
up opponents, putting his big size to great use defense. That is Ryan
Backer's bread and butter, per Josh. He is fantastic in his own zone
positionally, physically and mentally. A fantastic stick where he can knock pucks off
opponent sticks very easily, blocks passes. A big, physical player that can
clear out the front of the net easily and get involved with puck battles on
the board. So the best asset the best asset. Ryanbacker is at his
best when he is stopping the opponent's attackers from doing anything that they want to
do. He's awesome at everything in his own zone. The biggest concern decision
making with the puck on the stick. He has offensive skill, but he
needs to make better decisions with the puck to become a true puck moving defender.
The top outcome here would be a Tier one top pairing defender. That
is, if he is paired with an offensive defender, he can anchor a
first line while picking points along the way and eating a huge number of minutes
per night. The fifty percent tom Median outcome middle pairing defensive defender, and
that's if he still struggles offensively and moving the puck off his stick. He
should still be a shutdown defender, but maybe not putting up many points at
that point. The stylistic comparable Ryan mcdonnoh physical and defensive defender. And he
finally, Josh says, Ryan Backer is a classic high floor type guy.
He will be a very solid NHL level defender for a long time. He's
going to eight minutes against great competition. Just a question of whether he can
step up his offensive and transitional game to reach full potential. And Mason Black
the NHL Rankking. He did the poll David Ryan Backer versus Dmitri Simyshev,
and how did that one turn out Ryan Backer in a route sixty seven to
thirty or sixty nine to thirty one over Simyshev Victor. Is that how you
look at this competition? Yeah, I think so. It's a little bit
difficult to say because of what we've seen so far from both and we don't
certainly have as many eyes in the KHL, so it's a little bit hard
to say. And Simashev continues to not score a lot of points though he
plays a lot of games. He's played basically, he played the full season
in the KHL for Locomotive, which is a really strong team, so he
gets a lot of minutes. He's really good all around. But I'm not
sure that Simashev is going to translate the points. He basically scored the same
number of points in more than twice the number of games in the KHL this
season. Or actually he scored zero points in the KHL last season, so
he scored ten compared to last season he had none. But the points don't
seem to be coming, but he is getting a really strong role. Ryan
Bacher, on the other hand, I think, is someone who certainly also
has a high floor it's been mentioned, seems to have a little bit more
offense, a little bit more scoring, he gets the puck on net a
little bit more. Yeah, this is a difficult one. I think I
would go Ryan Bacher here. I think that Simyshev is going to continue to
be I think he's going to be someone who is better in real life than
in fantasy. Ryan Brocker might be as well, but I think he has
a better chance of being good in fantasy. And when you look at the
underlying numbers between these two, it's interesting because Simashev has really amazing play,
driving puck, battle zone entries, transition, all of that looks excellent.
It's just not the scoring. Like I said, I think, just better
in real life. So that kind of checks out. Looking at the hockey
prospecting between these two, Ryan Backer went down from thirty seven to twenty nine
percent chance of being a star sixty two sixty eight percent chance of being an
NHL R. Simaschev continues to be really low in this model because he just
doesn't score a lot of points, so he went from five to three percent
chance of being a star. Looking at some other comps in hockey prospecting,
Ryan Bacher looks a bit like Morgan Riley, which I think is potentially reasonable.
Another one is Victor Hedman. I'm not sure he has quite that much
upside, but I think he does have the potential of being that all around
defenseman type. It's just a matter of how much offense also comes with that.
I think less than those two, but there is the potential that it
still grounds out to be really strong. So looking at the j fresh card,
he has a sixty six percent chance of being an NHL or a ninety
nine percent or sixty six percent chance of being a start nine nine percent chance
of being an NHL or both of those look really incredible. One of the
top in this data sets. So Rhyan Baker definitely someone of interest. Maybe
he went a little higher than some would have thought in that NHL draft,
but as was mentioned in the scouting report, just a super high floor for
Ryan Baker Victor Did I suddenly jump on to a Guy Fury traveling cooking show
because the day's prospects are triple D and it ends with the keep your eye
on prospect? Who is it? This is Logan Mayu twenty twenty one,
third thirty first overall pick sixty three, two hundred and twelve pound right handed
d first professional season after a career stellar career with the London Knights of the
OHL. In seventy two HL games with the LaVall Rocket, he had eighty
sorry, he had forty seven points, one of the top few defensemen in
the HL in terms of points scored, so that was really good. I
actually recently wrote an EP ring side article on him, so I encourage you
to go read that, but I wanted to relay some one thing that I
thought was the best part of the article, which is the quote that I
got from Hattie Kalakesh. So I'm going to read that now. Mayu is
so incredibly toolsy, naturally athletic and strong. His skating is much less about
mechanics and much more about raw leg power. He covers a lot of ice
and plays in aggressive style. The shot is absurdly heavy. He's got great
hands and his passing accuracy has come a long way. His stick work has
improved since his draft. Heear he is much more conscious of what lanes to
cut off when defending in zone and has developed an impressive ability to handle single
variable defensive snarees one on one NetFront box out that truly wasn't there in his
draft. Hear my issue with me? He was basically the entire decisional side
of his game. He can often chase hits, take himself out of the
position, strange pinches when defending the rush. I've often seen him take multiple
seconds on the breakout, reload, scan the ice while inching forward, and
then throw the puck to a teamate who's being double teamed. There isn't nearly
enough control, manipulation, deceptive and awareness to his game. The tools are
alone are enough to see him get an NHL look, but he's going to
be frustrating for players and coaches. A lot of wasteful, risky and outright
wrong decisions will almost definitely prevent him from being a top pair guy on a
contender. But he's got the tools of a second pair defenseman if the intelligence
awareness go from bad to passable, which isn't an easy developmental task. With
Rheinbacher playing some inspired hockey with Laval and progressing with the top pair spot of
Montrello, short term and long term seem to be out of reach for Mayu,
and with Lane Hudson continuing to do Lane Hudson things and Mike Mathson occupying
the top power play in the short term. I don't think Mayu gets reps
from the top unit at all at any point the ceiling unless something drastically changes
his second pair or second power play second PK. So that was from Haddi
Kalakesh. Thanks so much for that insight. And looking at his FHL player
card, may you shoots a lot. That's good to know. He hits
a fair amount a little bit about averag his blocks were below average, but
overall his points scoring in the AHL has been top notch eight to nine out
of ten in terms of goals and assists, and overall have his upside rated
as a seven. But we have more. We have our own FHL scout.
Who's going to give us some insight on this, don't we? Jesse
sure do. Here's what Josh has to say. Skating, Mayou has a
fast top speed a fluid skater. However, he has pretty shallow strides when
starting up and can take too long to get full speed. He has a
similar problem with his edgework, where small fast forwards can usually go wide on
him and outspeed him. Adding a bit more acceleration could do wonders for his
game. Passing and handling. May who's got the skill to be a top
tier transitional defenseman, whether that's him bringing up the puck on his stick or
making a breakout pass. He can make really quick, accurate decisions for passes
and gain the opponent's blue line with a fluid stride and a well placed stick
handle. Unfortunately, his issue is that he frequently makes poor decisions with the
puck, which leads to turnover or just an unclean breakout shooting. He has
the traditional super heavy booming shot from the blue line of an offensive defenseman.
Does struggle often with accuracy and frequently misses the net, but it's a legitimate
threat to score from the point and make it through traffic out front for IQ
and the offensive zone. May you as fantastic Vision likes jumping up into soft
areas in the middle of the ice for his scoring chance. However, he
can struggle raiding attackers in his own zone, such as going down too early
to block a shot, allowing defenders to easily walk around him, or just
poor decision making with the puck while breaking out bord checking. May use a
fun player to watch in the neutral zone, as he's an imposing figure isn't
afraid to throw down big body checks. He does finch to keep the play
alive in the offensive zone, but needs to tighten up and make sure he
isn't jumping up too often and allowing odd man rushes defense. Six' three,
two hundred and twelve pounds, Mayeu is a big defender, especially for
his age, and will use his size to his advantage in his own zone,
whether it's throwing big hits, muscling players off the puck, or protecting
what's on his stick. If may You can learn to read defenders more consistently
and make better decisions in his own zone, he could be a competent defender.
So the best asset was that heavy shot from the point, great offensive
instincts and skills. He'd put up great numbers in the AHL this year as
a young defender, and should he continue to grow as a player that can
translate to NHL success. Biggest concern at this point. Mayo is weak in
his own zone, mostly due to his decision making and ability to read or
inability to read defenders. His skating isn't necessarily weak, but can use some
explosiveness and acceleration to take it to the next level. So the top outcome
for him, Josh sees it is probably more of a Tier two second pairing
type guy because he feels that may You lie the defensive responsibility and truly elite
offensive skill to be a true top pairing defender, especially in Montreal where the
blue line is just so crowded, but a very solid second pairing defender that
could put points on the board run the power play is definitely within reach and
the median outcome tier three power play specialist. It's It's going to be a
big transition for Meyo to start to play against NHL level competition, and there
will be growing pains and bad goals against him. If he doesn't develop the
defensive side, he could end up as that seventh defenseman power play specialist,
stylistic comparable Dion Fineuf, big shot, physical defenseman, unafraid of the offensive
and physical game. And so Josh's final verdict, if paired with a smart
defensive defender, a lot of his shortcomings could be matched and Mayo's skills can
shine. He's not that far from the NHL and a few great strides could
see him reach his potential. Mason Black the NHL rank can I sent out
this poll of logan may you versus Thomas Wilander of the Vancouver Canucks, and
May You comes out way ahead fifty nine to forty one over Tom Wilander.
What do you think, Vicker? Yeah, I think this one's easy,
actually, because I love Tom Vlander. I think he's going to be a
really great defenseman for the Vancouver Canucks. I don't think he's going to be
a great asset for your fantasy team. He's just one of these guys kind
of like Simaschev. I think, who's just going to be a great play
driver, a great play killer, someone who can move the puck well,
create some advantages. But he's not someone who's really going to score a whole
lots. Just a really great skater. He can be physical. Maybe there'll
be some hits there, but I don't really think there's going to be a
whole lot. Looking at his FHL player card, you can see that the
hits for Verlander are just above average, the blocks are about average, and
he shoots very little. Maybe his scoring gets up there if he's on the
right pair, if he's paired with the top power play guy or a top
offensive defenseman. I think that is possible. He does have that upside,
but in terms of his independent overall scoring, I don't think it's going to
be much. We heard some of the concerns about Mayu, but I do
think that there's a little bit more in terms of the offense potential. He
shoots a lot more and there is some peripheral floor there. So I would
definitely take Mayu, even though he may be blocked by whether it's Goolie or
Hudson or even Matheson at some point. For now, I would definitely take
him. Looking at the hockey prospecting between these two, both of them are
actually really low in this model, just five percent chance of being a star
may use thirty eight percent chance of being an NHL overlander up to fifty six.
Looking at some other comps for Logan, Mayu Corson Koolman's is one that
seems to fit that he hasn't quite broken into the NHL though either so,
I'm not sure how helpful that is. He doesn't really have any other comps
that have the same equivalents he as he did that are actual full time NHL
r's, which is a bad sign. Right Looking at the FHL player or
the j fresh player card just two percent chance of being a star forty nine
percent chance for Logan Mayu. I would say that any channeler chance is much
higher just looking at his AHL production and what was mentioned by Hatty and Josh.
He has the size, he has the mobility, the physicality to play
in the NHL. It's just a matter of what his upside is and how
long he lasts. That's it for the Montreal Canadians dig. If you're a
patron, you can listen to my top ten prospects recap which will start after
the draft. And if you're interested in doing some scouting, shoot me a
DM on Twitter, Discord, or email us. We'll be right back to
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He also writes there. Victor's writing in all the places where he is part
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We appreciate you listening in to this talk about the Montreal Canadians. It
will not be too much longer, sooner than you think until we get to
the next season where the Canadians will have a chance just like everybody else.
Until then, keep living that fantasy hockey like