Speaker 1: Welcome to Fantasy Hockey Life, presented by Fan Tracks. Here'sh MS,
your source of information and analysis to help you win
your fantasy hockey league.
Speaker 2: Block off hot a step hit on stay lock blocks.
Speaker 3: Here's your hosts, Jesse Severe and Victor Nuna.
Speaker 2: Fantasy Hockey Lie back once again. Jesse's Severe of Fan Tracks,
Victor Nunio, the Fantasy Hockey Doctor. How you doing today, Victor.
Speaker 3: I'm doing awesome, Jesse. Another day, another team, and we're
super excited to be talking about this one. It's always
fun when there's some exciting players to talk about, so
I like that. How are you doing?
Speaker 2: Yeah? The Old Canadians are exciting team and we've got
much to say about them today. But before we get there,
I just have to let people know that they could
be talking about the Canadians. They could be talking about
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And that's the way I like it because it's a
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Speaker 2: That is absolutely what you should do. But there's one
other thing you should do, which is stay tuned. After
this music, we'll be talking Montreal Canadians. We are pleased
to have back, Ali was telling him before the show.
I think he is in the top ranks of the
most frequent guests we've had on Fantasy Hockey Life over
the years. It is Ryan's spore of the hockey writers.
Speaker 4: How you doing today, Ryan good? Thanks?
Speaker 2: Are you good? We are happy to have our chief
Montreal Canadians correspondent on here too, because the Canadians were
a fascinating team this year. According to Hockey Reference, they
were the third youngest team in the NHL and they
were the only team in that really young neighborhood to
make the playoffs. That outcome didn't seem so likely at
the start after the Canadians got off to five ten
and two record, but from there from that game on,
the Canadians got a standings point more than twice as
often as they didn't for the games the rest of
the season, and their playoff return marked the first postseason
appearance since the Cup final season in the COVID year. Now,
there are some signs of concern. They managed only the
third fewest shots in the league, but the excellent seventh
best percentage on those shots kept their scoring pretty good.
In fact, the team was outshot by two hundred and
eighty eight, which was among the very bottom in the league.
They were outscored by eighteen, the worst differential of any
playoff team. Still, fans have got to be encouraged that
a very young team is getting that playoff experience and
competing at the end of the season. All that being equal, Ryan,
do you think that the Canadians are infra regression in
the coming year based on the fact that some of
those underlying stats didn't support the overall record, or given
that this is a young team that is maturing and
growing every year, is that team improvement going to improve
the underlying stats and get the Canadians right back in
the playoffs.
Speaker 5: I'd say it's more a case of the latter. I'm
fairly optimistic that the Canaans will continue to inch up
the standings. At the very least, they've enjoyed linear growth
from the point in which they finished last NHL in
twenty twenty two. Each year they've improved in the standings
or at least point wise in the standings, and they've
the effectively bottomed out and general manager Kent Hughes was
given the mandates to rebuild from the ground up, say
for a few key pieces like Knick Suzuki, et cetera,
et cetera. But Suzuki is only it's only going to
be twenty and the rest of the team, the Corps
is younger. This is a team on the rise, and
based on how they fared in the first round series
against the Capitals, despite it only going five games, they
were in each of those games except for maybe the last,
and I'm very encouraged by their year reyear.
Speaker 4: Progress for sure.
Speaker 2: And there's a good reason you leave Nick Suzuki off
the rebuild list because Suzuki was a dang star this year.
He has not missed a game yet, by the way,
in a sixth season career, and never scored fewer points
than the prior year. He's been on a pretty continuous
supper trajectory, but eighty nine points this year was quite
a breakthrough. We fantasy players like his chipping in on
blocks and hits that he does pretty well, although a
focus on playmaking leaves the captain only taking two shots
a game. Hey, come on, Nick, shoot a little more.
You're good at it. He was tied for fourteen tenth
in the NHL and assists last year, the only second
in his own team. More to come on that one.
Like I said, I would consider Suzuki to be pretty
much a start at this point. What do you think
of his season and what do you anticipate for him
going forward?
Speaker 5: Yeah, So, I remember writing a piece at the end
of last season, I believe when he had seventy seven points.
I'm just I think that's what it was. I don't
have the numbers in front of me, but effectively, he
just missed out on a point per game last year.
And I wrote a piece which shouldn't have stirred much controversy,
basically stating that he was a number one center, not
just on the Canadians but in the entire NHL. And
I think he's only reinforced that fact. He finished two
points pind Sidney Crosby in center scoring in the league.
I believe he was sixth or seventh among centers overall,
just Pind Crosby. But there was a time not too
long ago when fans of rival teams would suggest that
Suzuki is a third line cent on a good team
mainly Toronto maypleas fans, I assume, but yeah, I'd say
that myth has been busted wide open. He's the first
Kenadans player to score point per games since Covil in
two thousand and eights. And like you said, he's a
legit star.
Speaker 3: There is another guy who might be a legit star,
and that's the next guy we're going to talk about,
Cole Coffield or a goal Coffield if you like. We
could call him that as well. He had his first
career thirty goal season and he did one better than that.
We surmised that he could maybe get up to thirty.
He had twenty six twenty eight goal seasons, and then
he went all the way up to thirty seven, despite
decreasing his shot amount by almost a full shopper game.
He dipped under the three shopper game threshold that he
hadn't been at since his second season. The goal production
as elite, but defensively second percentile was really not great
for defense. That might limit his even straight time on ice.
I think he's the type of player who probably deserves
to play a little bit more offensively twenty minutes plus
on a good team if he had better defensive metrics.
But I'm not sure if he will be able to
get that high because of that part. But Ryan, I
wonder if Cuffield can get a shot right back up
while keeping his efficiency and maybe push for forty or
more goals. What do you think we can expect from
Caffield next season?
Speaker 5: Yeah, for sure, it wasn't a total shock that he
hit his scoring would go up in twenty twenty two
to twenty three, a season was cut short with I
believe his shoulder injury, and then he had twenty six
goals in forty six games, which would have been just
under a fifty goal pace. So he's the thirty seven
goals I'm saying is almost a disappointment for Canadians fans,
although it's obviously a healthy total. And I'm not sure,
but I think it's the most any Canadians that scored
since Patrick. He might have had a thirty nine about
a decade ago. But yeah, he's definitely got the shots
a shot and though shot to get to forty if
not fifty, in the future, but I'll stick with forty
just to stay conservative.
Speaker 3: All right, that's good. Here, let's talk about their other
budding star, Ivan Demidov, and it was. He's been much
hyped and he had an excellent KHL season before coming
to Montreal, and once he did, he got into the
last two regular season games, had his first career goal,
and then had a couple of assists in the playoffs.
I guess we're all wondering, Ryan, what is next year
going to bring. Is he going to be on the
top line, top power play, maybe hang out with Suzuki
and Kawfield, or maybe run a second line. What do
you think we can expect from Ivan Demodov next season?
Speaker 5: Actually just won a Kitchell Rookie of the Year, I
believe on Thursday or Friday, which was a surprise because
you don't really expect them to award that two players
who leave for the NHL. But yeah, I think it's
sick to say that Demodov is going to be staying
in Montreal for the long haul. Based on his successful debut,
in which he scored a goal in assistance first ever
an HL period, I'm inclined to believe that in the
immediate future, the Canadians will continue to go with a
top line of Suzuki between Caffield and your I Slavkovski.
But based on the Demodov's sheer ceiling, I can't imagine
that he stays off the top line for long.
Speaker 4: He's just he.
Speaker 5: I don't know how realistic it is that he gets there,
but he rejects as like a one hundred plus point
player for sure, and obviously don't keep those types of
players off the top line.
Speaker 4: I envision.
Speaker 5: Maybe not next year, but the year after that suzukik
Field and Demodov on the top line.
Speaker 2: All right, you're a Slavkovski boy. It must be a
luxury to get to your one to one overall pick
this far into the guys that we're talking about, the
big old Slovak continues to climb up the Canadian scoring chart.
He cleared fifty points for the second straight year. Not
a defensive stop for per se the team jumps ten
percent in the wrong direction and expected goals against per
sixty when he goes on the ice, But his offensive
impact is even a greater positive than that. There was
a stretch early in the season when he had to
jump around various lines, but became more productive when settling
in with Suzuki and Kawfield at five on five. One
thing your excels at is Layan the Wood. One hundred
and ninety four hits were a great total for him,
tied for twenty fifth in the league among forwards pushing
two point five per game. How is the development of
this former number one overall pick going and what are
you expecting for the coming year?
Speaker 5: Ryan, Like I said with Demanov, I do believe that
they're going to keep the top unit intact. It was
the most used line overall, but head coach Martessee in Lui.
It's hard to say with Slavkovsky because he was a
first overall pick. Like you said in twenty twenty two,
I just based on the projections then. I don't think
anyone had him as a superstar talent. It was a
week draft here, and I think you're saying that with
how the top picks from that draft are panning out
a few years down the road. Maybe Logan Cooley is
the sole exception, but generally a week draft and I
can't see him becoming a point per game player. Personally,
I'd love to be wrong, but if he gets to
seventy points per season, I think that would be a
huge success, and the fact that he's gone into fifty
in consecutive years so soon into so early into his
career is definitely a positive sign to that effect. I
think if he reaches his potential, he'll probably be become
a thirty goal guy.
Speaker 2: Very good and Patrick Line he had boy a starcross
first year in Montreal. A preseason injury to his left
knee took him out of action until December, and at
the end the other book end he broke a finger
in the playoffs and missed the final three games. Between
those in fifty three games, thirty three points as well
off of his normal pace, although the twenty goals to
thirteen assists that's a fairly normal proportion for old Patrick.
Fourteen to eighteen average time on ice by far the
lowest of his career. Normally a reliable three shot per
game player, I guess the real concern to me is
that Line took just over two shots per game this year,
and that's certainly the strength traditionally of his game. He's
missed enough games now that it's hard to consider that
missing games is just a fluke for him. In his
first four seasons, he missed fewer than ten games combined
and in the five sense, he's missed more than ten
every year, with more than twenty five now three times
in the past four years. What do you make of
Patrick Lene and is he going to be able to
succeed in Montreal?
Speaker 5: There's only got another year left under contracts. I'd love
for him to succeed and I'd love for him to
become another weapon on the power play for this team.
And the fact is that he may be only be
a power play specialist, so if he does stay on,
you'll probably probably have to be at a smaller cap hit.
But his mobility was an issue this year, and I'm
not sure. I'd like to believe not, but I think
the best case scenario is that is just a byproduct
of the knee injury that he suffered in preseason, So
that would imply that has time to recover with the
long off season, then he might regain some of that
and I think that kind that hampered his effectiveness at
even strength. But for whatever reason, he's become a polarizing
figure in Montreal, and this disheartening to me personally because
I don't know what these members of the media who
seem to be searching for a scapegoat for whatever reason.
What their problem is because if someone would have told
you heading into the season that Patrick Loney would be
score twenty goals and that the Canadians would make the playoffs,
that would have been like best case scenario. Twenty goals
is let's say line scoring at the pace he did,
that would have been the best case scenario. I'm trying
to ignore the injury, but he basically made, along with
Lane Hudson, who I'm sure we'll talk about later, made
the power play dangerous again. It's the first time it
was over twenty percent since twenty seventeen eighteen, and it's
first time since twenty ten that the power play was
above twenty percent while the penalty kill was above eighty percent.
So those special teams played. I think the Canadians were
the one of eight teams for whom that was true
this year. So the rejuvenated special teams, of which Patrick
Lanning was in part responsible, is a large reason why
the Canadians made the playoffs.
Speaker 4: And.
Speaker 5: Some may cite his perceived aloofness as a detriment to
team culture and a reason why the Canadian should trade him.
To that I respond, are you insane? Because what are
you going to get for him at his cap hit
When the Canadians traded him for Jordan Harris and got
a second round pick in exchange, So what do you
expect to get an exchange? I also would say that
he's you're going to get what you get with Patrick nine.
Kent Hughes knew what the player he was getting, a
player who was just fresh out of an NHL NHLPA
Players Assistance program. It was a risk worth taking. It
was a risk that paid off. I have no reason
to believe that should the Canadians stay the course with
him over the course of this contract at least, and
there's no reason why they shouldn't, that he'll continue to
be as effective as he has been on the power play.
Speaker 2: At least, good deal. Yeah, Line always seems to be
taking flack everywhere he goes, and just generally, after we've
gone through these top guys, is there anybody else among
these forwards you think could reach a fifty point pace
this year? Year Ryan?
Speaker 5: If I'm being realistic, No, If I'm being optimistic, I'd
say both. Well, primarily Kirby Duck if he suffered a
second straight season ending knee injury to the same knee,
so that does not vote well. But in his first
season with the Canadians back in twenty twenty two twenty
twenty three, he scored fourteen goals in twenty four assists
and fifty eight games, which is a fifty four point piace,
assuming or hoping that he regains that form, as unlikely
as it is, and he if he regains that form,
he is the likeliest candidate to center Demidov and presumably
line on the other side.
Speaker 4: I don't know if that's what happens.
Speaker 5: I don't know if Ken Hughes goes out and acquires
a second line center, because I don't know how you
is a second line featuring Damadok without a decent center.
But let's just say I hope Doc can get healthy
because I think he's a legitimate X factor on this team.
I'd also say there's an outside chance Alex Newhook does
because when Doc played all but two games last season,
and new Hook, despite suffering injuries of his own, ended
up playing fifty five games last year, many of which
at center, and he scored fifteen goals in nineteen assists,
which was also which also would have put him on
pace for a fifty points season over eighty two games.
This year, he only had fifteen goals and eleven assists
in a relatively complete campaign. I it was a disappointing
season for both Doc, who had ten goals of twelve
sists and fifty seven games, and new Hook.
Speaker 4: I don't know.
Speaker 5: I don't know what the future holes for either of them,
but they've got, in principle the talent to make an
impact on the score sheet consistently.
Speaker 3: All right, let's move over to the blue line. And
this is of course going to be exciting. You already
alluded to him, and that's, of course we got to
start with Lane Hudson and I have been a Lane
truther for a long time. I didn't expect him to
be this good. He exceeded my expectations. I didn't really
I thought he could be this good, but I didn't
think it'd be this quick and this effective in such
a short period of time. I think, you know what
is often the case with these elite talents. They don't
knock on the door, They kick it down when they're ready,
and Lane was clearly ready. He had a spectacular rookie season,
tying the NHL record for most assists by a rookie defenseman.
Despite starting the season off the first power play unit,
he quickly rose and took over for Mike Matheson. He
put up a respectable number of block shots and hits. Overall,
the bash was just over three per game. I think
that can increase. But how can you complain with a
sixty six point pace in your first season, which is
a pretty high bar. That was sixth most point pace
for all defenders, Ryan, I guess the question is where
do we go from here? Do you think he'll be
in top five defenseman scoring next season?
Speaker 5: It's a logical assumption that he is. But let me
just list all his accovades because you missed a few. Sorry,
most assistant points by a rookie Canadians defenseman in history,
his first Canadians defenseman twenty or younger to score a
point in four straight games. Longest point straight by a
rookie Canadians defenseman with nine, and with those nine games
in which he had at least one assist, he dies
the longest assist streak by a Canadians defenseman with Andrei
markov So, who was not a rookie at the time.
He was a veteran at I believe thirty years of age.
He's also the only rookie defenseman in NHL history to
score three points in consecutive games. Yeah, and I think
that's it, which is still a great deal. Yeah, I'll
be completely open and honest that I did not anticipate
this from Hudson either. It's not that I doubted his skill.
I just doubted whether or not the Canadians would be
able to make room for him on the blue line
this season when Mike Mathison was coming off of sixty
two points season last year, and I felt like the
Canadians would have been justified to keep him Hudson in
the AHL this year while the Canadians sorted out their
logjam on defense.
Speaker 4: And yeah, he proved me wrong, as.
Speaker 5: Obviously the Canadians top offensive weapon on the blue line,
potentially top defenseman overall, and believe Mike Matheson still played
more ice time overall, But yeah, Hudson is obviously their
number one defenseman moving forward of the close future and
in the same similar mold of the when he using
like Adam Fox and et cetera, et cetera, I do
for see him continuing. I don't see like a sophomore
slump in his future, just based on the fact that
the Canes are going to rely on him to such
a degree and everyone around him, except to the likes
of the Matheson, et cetera, everyone's growing together. This is
a young team that's only getting better as a unit.
So yeah, I think it's the only direction he's headed
from a storing perspective, is.
Speaker 2: Up all right, And Mike Matthison, he has been thoroughly
supplanted as the power play one guy I think we
can say is safe after that discussion of Hudson. But
his two hundred ninety four minutes on the man advantage
in twenty three twenty four were the highest on the
team since PK Suban in twenty fifteen twenty sixteen, So
he's got a record of it and led to a
huge point spike that is two years ago, with sixty
two points in eighty two games. Now, as the veteran
Mathison enters his eleventh NHL season, his points dropped down
half of that thirty one last year in advanced thats
were not great. His expected goals above replacement was pretty
well at the bottom of the team, ahead of only
David Savard in that metric. But while his points peaked
last year, his effectiveness seems to have been a little
bit higher in his Pittsburgh time even than his Montreal time.
But be curious what you think of Matheson's recent effectiveness
for the team. What do you make of him and
what do you think his role is going to be
this year?
Speaker 4: Yeah, so, I mean you alluded to it.
Speaker 5: He had sixty two points in twenty twenty three, twenty four,
but he was also getting three forty one per game
on the power play. This year, he had six goals
and twenty five assists while getting one fifty seven per
game on the power play, so nearly half the time.
Like you said, supplanted by Lehenhudson, I believe only as
a single year left under contract.
Speaker 4: It wouldn't surprise me.
Speaker 5: It would shock me if he got traded this offseason.
If not, I'd say that you know, he's going to
continue playing the same role he did this year as
a minute muncher, veteran defenseman, because the team with the
retirement of Savard lacks of some veteran leadership and he
does wear an A so I'm not sure that it
would be in the team's best interests best interests to
trade him.
Speaker 4: But he's clearly not.
Speaker 5: He clearly doesn't have a future on this team.
Speaker 2: Pass this year, and Caden Gooley, another defenseman worth discussing here,
is expected goes about a replacement actually very good for
this team, not in scoring, mind you, where he had
eighteen points in fifty five games, but in overall impact.
A quad injury cost him two months in the spring,
but by the end and he was certainly making some
positive plays, including a critical late season goal that helped
get the team into the playoffs. What is Googlie as
part of this Montreal Canadians team right now? And where
is he going to be in the pecking order here?
Long term?
Speaker 5: Saint Louis tended to rely on a defensive pairing of
Googlie and Hudson moving forward. He tended to rely on
that pairing despite Gooley being a left hand both players
being left handed defenseman, and the idea was to, in
my opinion, offset Hudson's offensive ability with Gooley's well roundedness,
although Hudson didn't exactly disappoint from the defensive standpoint either
come the end of the season, so I think Gooley
when he was drafted, or the idea was he would
if everything worked out right, he would become like a
good all around, on top pairing defenseman, and I think
that's what we're seeing. He's not like the best of
the best yet, and nor do I necessarily think he's
gonna get there like like an elite talent, but he's
definitely a great defenseman for this team. I don't see
him getting more than thirty points per game per season
moving in the future, but he obviously can chip in
the odd points and he had twenty two points I
think this year and yeah, sorry, eighteen points in fifty
five games played. So he's definitely contributing offensively, but defensively,
I think is where the Canadians see his value in offsetting.
Speaker 3: Hutson, speaking of other defensemen, wondering if you have any
brief thoughts on Logan Mayu, who I've heard maybe on
the trade block, or David Reinbacher potentially get being a
significant role next season.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I think both.
Speaker 5: One of those guys who are both right handed are
one of those guys probably going to get a shot
out of training camp with Debarcher retirement of Savart, who's
also red handed. There is a world in which Mayu
finds a spot on the blue line, but I think
that world is one in which the Canadians then draft
Ron Backer theft overall a few years ago. I just
think like Ron Backer did suffer a knee injury this
past preseason in the same game as line nap memory
serves against Stronomy Aple Leaps, and he did return. But
I think the general consensus is his game is no
worse for wear and that he still projects as a
top pairing defensive stalwart of defenseman. Ken Hughes drafted him
fift overall over like many top end offensive talents and
two years ago, including matve Michkov and Ryan Leonard, Jack Benson,
et cetera, et cetera. So I have to believe that
he has got the inside track to earning a spot
out of training gap And it really only makes sense
in my mind if you know it's going to be
a full time, full time role and as a seventh defenseman.
And I think this regime has proven that they're willing
to give those players, those young players a chance to
move up the lineup, whereas the franchise in the past
has operated under the assumption that the rookie should burn
their way up from the bottom of the lineup. We
saw it with Hudson. He's basically started in a relatively
starring role right from the get go.
Speaker 4: Similar with Demidov.
Speaker 5: It took some time for Slavkovski to work his way up,
but once he did, I don't think like he's getting
off that top line now just what twenty two years
of age or whatever it is. So I think the
spot out of training camp or hypothetical spot up training
camp is Ron Buckers to lose and Mayu because it's
like an offense only skill set with him. I think
Chris Johnson was correct in his report that the Canadians
would are willing to trade him just because I don't
know how long you can keep him in the HL
without him asking for a trade himself. Because he was
an NHL All Star last year. I just don't think
that his all round game merits a significant role in
the h L at this point, at least with Canadians.
Speaker 3: That's fair. Let's move on to the goalies. The Canadians
were ranked thirtieth in expected goes against for sixty, but
conceded the twenty six actual goals for sixty. Sam Antembeau
was a big part of that. His numbers may not
be overtly impressive, but he did have an excellent season
based on the environment given to him. His protection that
he was offered was pretty poor. His expected save percentage
was one of the lower in the league for any starter,
but he well outperformed that, saving almost thirty one goals
save above expected. His Delta Fenwick was extremely strong. He's
in year two of three, paying three point one five million.
There was also the emergence of Jacob Debash, who had
a really strong season, starting in the ball and then
ending up in the in the NHL. He had a
really impressive shutout of the Panthers in his first game
and then had a few playoff games. He said, almost
eight goals above expected in a strong Delta Fenwick. So
what do you think is going to happen in that
for the habs moving forward? Are they gonna split time?
Are they going to lean towards one or the other?
What do you expect?
Speaker 5: Ryan at Louis has shown a lack of willingness to
stray from multamble, so I can't foresee that changing as
long as Multamble is under contract, so I think it's
a safe bet that do Besh is Maltombo's backup, and
I just I'm concerned about how much they play Multamble
next year because I think prior to this season he
hadn't played more than forty one games in an NHL
season and our professional season, and he eclipsed that by
a wide margin, going thirty one to twenty four and seven. Yeah,
I think that Maltambo is his team's number one, but
do Beesh has a lot to offer. He probably gets
thirty games next year. I'm howpful he gets thirty games.
I should say there's no doubt in my mind that
Kiden Primo, who started the year as backup with the Canadians,
only to lose his job to do Besh, that he's
probably gonna find and be finding a new home next year.
I don't see him as staying with the Canadians organization
at this point, despite the fact that he kind of
vindicated himself somewhat in the AHL, whereas in the NHL
with the Canadians he was two three and one with
four point seven goals against the average ener point eight
three to six say percentage Laval the Rocket, he was
twenty one two and two with one point ninety six
goals against average and nine twenty seven say percentage. So
Primo did bounce back to a degree. But I don't
think his abilities in the AHL were ever really in
doubt because he's performed well with the Rocket before. So
Singluis has shown that he has zero confidence for trust
in him. Yeah, it's going to be Maltimon and do
Besh next year as far as I'm concerned. And Fowler
a Fowler, He's arguably the team's schooly of the future,
but I'm not necessarily prepare to say where he ranks
right now on the depth chart.
Speaker 2: Great stuff, great tour through the Montreal Canadians, Ryan, Why
don't you let people know how we can keep up
with your work all year?
Speaker 4: Yeah?
Speaker 5: So I write at the Hockey Writers. You can find
me on the Montreal Canadians page. I try and write
on average once every three days, and you can find
me on Twitter or sorry X or blue Sky at
my handle is our sport our sn P O R
E R.
Speaker 2: All right, awesome, thanks so much for being back with us, Ryan.
We always love talking Canadians with you.
Speaker 5: Likewise, thank you for having me.
Speaker 2: That's good fire pants. Oh my goodness, walk with a
ca wet cram. Now it's your weekly goalie talk. But
Kat Silverman, Kat's Instincts.
Speaker 3: Time once again for Kat's instinct With Kat Silverman of
n Gold mag we're talking Montreal habs goalies. We got
a few ones here to talk about, Kat, and they're interesting.
We're gonna start with Jacob Dobesh six foot four, two
hundred and one pounds, fifth round pick back in twenty twenty,
but as we know, that kind of already worked out
pretty well. He had sixteen games in the NHL this season,
actually looked pretty good, even got into was pretty good
in some of those games, had a pretty decent record
at times he looked like he was taking the job
away and overall pretty exciting for the future. Looking at
his numbers in the evolving Hockey metric, he outperformed his
expected save percentage, even strength and the playoffs. Looking at
some of his hockey prospecting numbers, he trended up the
last several seasons. Has a bunch of really good comment
one of them pick a Rene, who he looks a
little bit like in this model. Overall, it's looking pretty exciting.
The reason we're talking about him here, even though he
might be an NHL or I just want to get
your take on where do you think he can go
from here? Do you think he's the future starter for
the Habs? What dor instincts tell us about Jacob Debesh.
Speaker 6: I think it's possible. He surprised me a little bit.
I really expected to see him look a little bit
more lost, and he took his NHL games and he
was like, I do belong here. Let's do it a
little more aggressive than I would necessarily like to see.
But that could just be me still getting nervous anytime
I see a goaltender who doesn't have that, just like
textbook depth and positioning that Carrie Price set as the
example in the Bell Center over his career.
Speaker 2: I don't know.
Speaker 6: I think he's fun to watch. He's not the He's
not the best young goaltender we saw in the league
last year by I would say not insignificant margin. But
he did a good job of holding his own and
he did a good job of maintaining a good consistent
level of play over more than just one or two
relief games up at the NHL level. He looked like
he was just rolling with it and then did a
good job in the ANHL as well. I don't know.
I think he could be potentially their next starter. I
still have trouble with Montreal overall figuring out who was
standing out as their next clear cut number one, and
it seems like maybe they're doing a success by committee
kind of approach now, but I feel like they do
need to eventually come up with someone who's their clear
identifiable number one. And he didn't do anything this year
that made that obvious that it was him, but he
could in the next couple of years.
Speaker 3: Well, from one guy who didn't grab the reins and
definitely cement their poll as the number one guy to
another who definitely did that. We are going to talk
about Caden Primo. In fact, I thought during this year
we might actually be done talking with Kayden Primal the
way it was going there for a while, because he
had a really rough patch sixty three two hundred and
seven pounds. In case you're wondering, twenty seventeen seventh round pick,
he's now twenty five. He played exclusively in the NHL
last season. He had twenty three games. He looked pretty
decent At times he was in that time sharey. He
looked like he was here to stay. Then he had
a pretty awful stretch with the Canadians and he actually
had a GA almost at five save percentage in the
eight thirty range. It was really rough, and I believe
he was waved passed through waivers and it was really bad.
Looking at his evolving evolving hockey. His expected save percentage
in Delta Fenwick save percentage was so awful, like it's
bleeding off the page.
Speaker 4: It was.
Speaker 3: I think he did break the chart, actually yeah. But
then he rebounded and he looked really good in the
HL and regained his form. He actually looked stellar in
the HL. Maybe there's something left here. Looking at the
hockey prospecting, he has graduated from this model, but he
looks like an average starter, someone like Jake Allen Manny
Fernandez that with those kinds of guys. So, Kat, what
are instincts tell us now about Cayden Primo. I guess
we said to keep talking about him since he turned
things around at the end. But you'll tell me, Yeah, I.
Speaker 6: It's really tough for those goaltenders who have some growing
pains and who aren't just a clear cut not to
just constantly live in the past. But Montreal really did
have such an easy time when they had carry Price
because he came in, he was pretty immediately good. He
didn't have any of those growing paints and Montreal's kind
of a fish bowl. So we saw it with Zach
Pugh Kelly, we saw it with Dustin Takarski. We see
it with just about any developing prospect that they have.
If they don't do well at the NHL level, it
is a lot of pressure being at the NHL level,
and then it's a lot of added pressure playing for Montreal.
And it looks like that's almost what happened with Kaden Primo.
He did a good job, the team hit some roadbumps.
Some of that was his fault, not all of it.
That team did not look like they were cohesively helping
him get set for clearcut success, and he crumbled and
it wasn't necessarily all his fault, and it definitely wasn't
all their fault either. But I don't know. I think
he's done a good job of returning to the HL
level and kind of regaining his form, But I don't know.
If we saw with Zach fugh Kelly when he went
back to the minors and regained his form, he kind
of needed to find a fresh start somewhere else, and
it looks like that might be the case with Kaden Primo.
I don't know, but he when we look at Jacob Dobush,
I immediately I was like, oh, I really hope this
isn't another Caden Primo situation. And I sure hope it's not.
But I don't know for sure what I don't know
what they plan to do with either of them next year,
and they up to this point have not brought in
They haven't brought in someone who could be that easy
mentor for them, Like I know that the quality of
goaltender with the Islanders is a little bit higher, but
like a Semion Varlamov or even I can't talb it.
They had Jake Allen who was trying to resurrect his
own career too, So I I don't know. I think Primo.
Speaker 3: Might be.
Speaker 6: I think he's still an NHL goaltender. I don't know
if he's a Montreal Canadian's NHL goaltender. I guess it's
the best way to put it.
Speaker 3: Sounds good if you look at habs, Twitter at all
or follow up, you would be convinced that all you
really need is Jacob Fowler. Maybe those other guys are irrelevant.
I'm not sure that's true, but we're gonna find out
and talk about Jacob Fowler right now, the six foot two,
two hundred fourteen pound twenty twenty three third round pick.
He's now twenty, and he had I would say, a
second pretty incredible season at Boston College. They again didn't
win the NCAA Championship, but again we're very solid, and
he did about all he could. I would say his
say percentage last year was nine twenty six. This season
it was nine forty. He was awesome as JA was
one point sixty three, just outstanding. And he will not
be back at college because he signed his entry level
contract and he actually got a few games in for
the Laball Rocket, and I would say he's pretty outstanding
there too. Everything's pointing up for him. Not to put
too much pressure on the young man, but the Hockey
Prospecting model has one of his top comps as Patrick Waugh,
just a legendary Hall of Fame pressure there no no
pressure at all. That's what Montreal is known for no
no pressure, very easy and relaxed fans, so I'm sure
he'll get to enjoy that. But Kat, tell us your
instincts on what we should expect from Jacob Fowler this
season beyond.
Speaker 6: Oh man, I really don't ever want to feed into
the Montreal fan base feeding frenzy. I think they need
to temper their expectations a little bit. A Lah Dustin Wolf,
Ala Dostal, Lucas Dostal. But I think he looks really good.
Speaker 2: I really do.
Speaker 6: When I'm going through game tape for these guys, I'll
take just quick little notes. I'll watch full games, then
i'll go through just the goaltender actions. And when I
go through the goaltender actions, I'll just write down like
one or two key things that I see from each
of those saves or events. And it's really fun looking
back through them afterwards, because sometimes it looks like I
am trying to take notes in a class while falling asleep,
because I'll just write the same thing over and over,
and that's usually a good sign that there's a consistent
trend for a goaltender. And looking at my stuff for
Jacob Fowler, I had looks good depth wise, position depth,
solid depth, good hands depth. So I think I like
his I think I like his depth. I think it
is a good job there with his depth management. And
that's something that Montreal has been needing for a while
because I haven't loved the consistency of their defensive positioning
and the way that their defense is related to their
goaltender in terms of the breakout strategy, in terms of
their passing strategy, and that's in part because they haven't
had a consistent goaltending style to work with. They've had
this kind of revolving door, almost like a Philadelphia light.
But Fowler looks like he's got such consistency with his
movement and his decision making and his positioning that it
should make it easy for their defense to feed off
of that. And if the defense is able to kind
of form a cohesive unit with him in that regard,
it should be a pretty easy transition for him because
he makes it easy for them to predict what he's
going to do. And that's not something that I've necessarily
seen from Dobeese, and definitely not from Primo. Primo had
some fun skating adventures with his depth. Dobeese is still
a little aggressive with his positioning, and Fowler looks like
he's just almost like how Spencer Knight sometimes was, just
like a real textbook. Knows where he's going, hits his marks,
reads really well, and react when he needs to, but
doesn't look like he's falling behind on it. And I
need to reiterate that I don't think that means that
he is the reincarnation of Patrick Waughan Carrie Price all
rolled into one, and if he has some growing pains,
I need them to understand that it's normal. But I
think he's probably the closest thing they've had to a
clear cut prospect in a while, and I'm hoping that
goes well for him.
Speaker 3: All Right, everyone, you heard it here first, Jacob Fowler
is the next Carry Price slash Patrick waugh all rolled
into one, incredible goalie of the future. Just kidding. Yes,
we need to be patient, but all signs pointing very
positively for Fowler. Expect him to be in the ball
and have some growing pains and maybe a year or
two a full time in the NHL. Does that sound reasonable,
I'd say so. Yeah, all things looking good there in Montreal,
and they have options with the other goalies, So thanks,
so much Kat for giving us your instincts on the
Montreal Canadians goalies.
Speaker 2: We'll be back right after this dig the Dynasty dig.
It is the Montreal Canadians edition with Victor Nunil and
myself and a cast of helpers. And here is what
you need to know about the Canadians. They have the
number three prospect system according to your rankings, Victor. They
have really a lot to recommend them. And the first
item up for discussion, the no brainer is somebody we've
already covered in this program and deservedly. Who is it?
Speaker 3: Of course it's i Van Demodov. He's got to take
advantage of this no brainer because I'm not going to
happen again. He's going to be a full time NHLR.
I'm quite sure of that this upcoming season. He was
pretty awesome for Scott Saint Pete last season, forty nine
points and sixty five games, including five points and six
playoff games. This all is a teenager. He was nineteen
only on December tenth of last year. All of this season,
that's some pretty strong numbers for a teenage forward in
the NHL and the kid in the KHL. He did
come over and also get in a couple of games
with the Montreal Canadians, as we mentioned, so good stuff there.
Looking at his FHL player card, he's got ten out
of ten for shots. His scoring is also one hundred
percent tile for the KHL, which is again super impressive
as a teenager. I have him as an eight point
nine to zero, which is a ninety percent chance of
being an eight, one of the highest I have in
my whole data set. So pretty awesome to be so
high up there and to have such high expectations. So
definitely one of the guys you absolutely want to have
on your team. Just looking up who I have ahead
of him right now, he's going to be the highest
prime player in the data set because Celebrini Badard graduating,
so it's going to be Demidov, and then he's going
to graduate sometimes soon this season, so he's in the
Perek mitchkof Nikishin, Bulliam Lane Hudson, and Will Smith, all
those guys are near the top. Anyways, the Bash with
Demodov is not going to be great. Aside from the shots,
he's only twentieth percentile for hits and fortieth for block
so the Bash overall will be good, but mainly just
the shots. But let's hear a little bit more about
Demodov from our Refrotail Scout.
Speaker 2: FHL scout. The man with the honors this time is
grant Yvon Demodov. Here's what he's got to say. Skating,
good acceleration, above average top speed, turns and agility are elite.
Passing and handling is also elite. Elite stick handling for
a nineteen year old. He can take passes on his forehand,
backhand or feet. With these, he protects the puck well,
sees passing lanes that others don't. His hands in tight
or impressive, to say the least. Like most highly skilled players,
he can be guilty of overhandling the pocket times. Shooting
excellent wrist shot that he can get off very quickly.
He gets himself into good shooting lanes. The IQ the
puck seems to find Demidov, which is a pretty good
indicator of anticipation.
Speaker 4: His vision is.
Speaker 2: Excellent and he sees open eyes before it opens. His
patients with the puck is a strength for checking. He
isn't and probably won't ever be a corner guy. He's
strong on his skates and can get in on the
four check, but he's not going to body off defenders
to win possession. He could add a little bit of
strength to help out here.
Speaker 4: Defense.
Speaker 2: Demonov's more defensively responsible than Grant would have thought. He
doesn't cheat the defensive zone or get caught deep in
the offensive zone. He will need to work on his
positioning in his own end, but that should improve over time.
The best asset puck control and the ability to carry play.
You want him on the ice as much as possible
to make things happen, and the biggest concern. Grant says
he can disappear for stretches and probably needs to work
on his defensive game a little. His worry with Montreal
is they put him on a line with another player
who likes to carry the puck a lot. Demoedov needs
to be the guy on any line that he is
who carries the play and the puck the majority of
the time. He draws the comparison with Team Canada playing
McDavid and McKinnon on the same line, it was not optimal.
The top tier outcome top line winger, first unit power
play one hundred points plus. That's because Demoedov had a
goal and assist in his very first NHL game, he
could have had five or six points in that game,
and Grant has no doubt that he will have five
or six points Knights in the NHL At some point.
Montreal is gonna have is going to want to give
him every opportunity to succeed. Even the median outcome to
Grant is a top six winger, first unit of the
power play seventy five to eighty five points. Teams are
going to focus on him as he's had success, and
he will need to fight through some tight checking games
at times. Demidov's going to generate chances with every game,
but how many will be the question. The stylistic comparable,
Grant says, the overall offense could match Careel Caprizov, and
they do share puck control, but Kaprizov is a stockier
player than Keep in mind Capriza. I've joined the NHL
at twenty three, whereas Demodov is only nineteen. Final thoughts
Sky's the limit for Demodov. His production could go anywhere
from a point per game to a one hundred point
player at some point. It seems like every goal he
scores is a beautiful one, and the apt comparison. Why
did we not see this coming? Mason Black, the tidy champion,
the NHL rank King puts Demodov up against Matt Vey, Mitchkoff,
and Demodoff in a route six fifty nine to forty
one percent. Victor, I think I remember you telling me
last year that before the draft you like Demodov better
than Mitchkoff. I don't want to slander you. I think
that's what you said at the time. Is Demodov over
Mitchkov and accurate ranking.
Speaker 3: It's good to know that you do listen to me.
Sometimes I wonder because that is what I said, Jesse,
that is what I said. Good job, I hear.
Speaker 2: It's just like my wife. I hear about one out
of every five things you say, just to prove that
I was listening to. Sometimes you just got to keep
a minimal level but not set expectations too high.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, you're good at that. So yeah, for sure,
that is what I said. I do have more And
I think a lot of what Granton said in there
is exactly why we saw some of Mitchkoff this year
and sixty five point paces where he was pretty great,
but you also saw some people want to blame this
all on towards, but I don't think this was all Tortorella.
We did see the handcuffs come off a little bit
when he was relieved. But the thing about Mitchikoff is
going to be true in hell. He shifts things. He
doesn't really pay attention to the defensive side of the puck,
and no matter who the coach is, there's gonna be
some limitation scaling back of his ice time opportunity even
a little bit. And that is something that is not
going to be the case for Demodoff. He is pretty
dogged on retrievals. He'll for check back. He's not going
to be like Celebrini or someone Barkoff, like two way
type Selki winner, I don't think. But he has a
lot more attention, a lot more aggressiveness to stealing pucks,
disrupting plays, being on the right side of the puck,
in addition to in addition to the strong offensive skills,
and I actually do think that the offensive skill set
is just a smidge higher for Demodov. So you put
that all into account with also thinking about the fact
that Demodov can probably and will probably deserve to get
twenty two to twenty four minutes of time on ice
as your all star winger that Mitchkoff may or may
not get just because if he's a little bit more
of a defensive liability and you have to match up
him a little bit more carefully with opposition, he may
have his minute skilled back a little bit. So for
all those reasons, I'm taking Mitchkoff. I think he's the
more sure thing. I think he has the higher upside,
I think he has the higher floor. I think all
of those things, even though he hasn't proven it yet,
I'm definitely a team Demodov here. I of course I
would not be upset to have Matthey Mitchcoff. I think
he's a good player too. I think he's gonna be
a strong fantasy asset, as he showed this year. So
there are no wrong answers here. There are just ones
that are a little bit better, and so that's why
I would take Demidoff. Looking at the hockey prospecting between
the two, it's pretty hilarious. Both of these guys have
ninety nine percent chance across the board of being a
star being an NHLer In every season it's been ninety
nine percent, So they're basically a lock. All their comps
are McDavid and Crosby, Caane, Gretzky, all pretty much the same,
So you don't really learn a whole lot there, But
you can't look at the NHL e's between these two guys,
and you do see that Mitchcoff had a much better
D minus one season, the draft season was a little
bit better for Demodoff, and then the draft plus one
season was a little bit better for Mitchkoff just in
terms of his his NHL equivalency. So interesting, and then
of course Mitchkoff's now in the NHL and that's where
Demodov should be next year. So we'll be able to
track these closely going forward, But in the end it's
probably gonna end up being a little bit of a
toss up. Looking at some other comps for Demanov, what
seems reasonable. I really like Patrick Kane. I think that's
a pretty apt comparable too. He's a He's not the
burner that McDavid is. He's not the two way stud
quite to the point that Sidney Crosby is. He's certainly
not Wayne Gretzky or Mario Lemu. But I think Patrick
Kane is pretty reasonable. He's got the slickhands, can definitely
beat you one on one, but also an excellent playmaker
and just super wizardy with the puck and without the puck.
Just a really high IQ player. So I really like
that comparison, and I think it's pretty apt looking at
the top down hockey model with Evan demandoff ninety three
percent chance of being a star, ninety nine percent chance
of being an NHLer just roses all around. So yeah,
pretty exciting, all.
Speaker 2: Right, Victor, who's the need to know prospect?
Speaker 3: Need to know is going to be? Michael Hage twenty
twenty four to twenty first overall pick sixty one hundred
and ninety pounds. Had a successful freshman year at Michigan,
ended up finishing second on the team in points if
I remember correctly, There was a little bit of a
slow start and then really tore it up towards the
end thirty four points in thirty three games, but I
think it was even stronger in the back half. Pretty
amazing production, especially considering he was a teenager. He was
eighteen most almost the entire season. Turned nineteen April fourteenth,
so pretty late birthdate, and I would expect him to
do another year at Michigan. He could turn pro and
try for Laval, but I think that would make the
most sense is to go back to college. He's six
one h ninety pounds, probably could still get a little bigger, stronger,
really solid season. Looking at the tracking data for Mitch Brown,
overall age was a ninety third percentile. His offense was
eighty seven percentile, transition seventy one, in defense eighty two.
The goals and shots are actually a little bit below average,
but the playmaking, the slot passes, slot pass per sixty,
all that was elite over two standard deviations above ninety
fifth percentile. Just really incredible stuff. Transition game, really good
boards to the middle and advantages creative or two of
his best attributes, and those are really highly translatable skills.
You've got the offensive build up and XG build up
per sixty. All of that is elite.
Speaker 4: Really.
Speaker 3: The only thing that he Michael Hage is probably not
going to do a ton of his shoot. His shooting
is just fortieth percentile. So maybe if he could start
shooting more it would be better. But I think that
he's just getting up. Being one of these guys is
more of a playmaker, a really strong possession guy, and
that's okay. You can get your shots elsewhere. But looking
at his FHL player card, I have him at a
six point seven eight seventy eight percent chance of being
a six, which is just above average. I think there's
upside for more, but I think that's really where his
floor is. Looking at the bash here, overall, it's an
eightieth percentile as I mentioned, the shots a little bit lower,
but hits at seventy percentile, blocks at fiftieth. Overall, pretty good.
And let's hear a little bit more about Michael Hage
from our Frachl scout.
Speaker 2: Grant is back on the case for Michael Hage skating.
He has a decent first few strides and slightly above
average top speed. Very strong on his skates, protects.
Speaker 4: The puck well.
Speaker 2: Hage is very agile, which allows him to change directions
quickly and beat defenders one on one. He possesses pretty
slick hands and tight but can be guilty of over
handling the puck at times. As regards passing. In handling,
he can usually beat the first defender but occasionally loses
control by the second or third. Is a lot of
almost great plays passing strength as he finds seams and
open players with ease shooting. Hage has a good snapshot,
but should be a pass first player as he progresses.
Unless he really improves a shot, He's a much better
passer IQ. Hage has very good vision to get passes
through to teammates and he picks up defensive assignments. Likes
to be the forward to carry the puck, so he
shows good poise when with it in his own end.
He has a lot of patients with the puck in
the offensive zone for checking. Hage can be physical, but
not often. He's strong on the puck. He's got good
balance and strength, so he can be effective along the boards,
but it's not his game at this point. Defense defensive
positioning is a bit of work in progress, but he's
very responsible forward. He rarely gets caught cheating the zone
or getting caught too deep in the offensive zone. Best
asset was the passing, the handling of the puck, the
defensive responsibility none or elite, but the combination should work
for Hage to play in the NHL. The biggest concern
if his hands don't catch up to the increased pace
of the AHL and NHL. He shows his flashes of
excellent puck handling, but will he be consistent enough to
warrant a top six role at a higher level. So
the top tier outcome for age second or third line
center who sees some time in the first or second
unit of the power play. That's because he's versatile on
the power play, can play three or four different roles
if needed. He has enough offense to justify an extended look.
See if he can produce at the next level. He's
only nineteen, has just one year of college hockey under
his belt. The median outcome third line center or winger
who sees time on the second unit of the power
play justification there. Grant thinks hege has a pretty good floor,
but his floor and ceiling there close together stylistic comparable
reminds Grant of Jason Spezza a little. Probably doesn't have
the offensive ceiling of Spetsa, but his skating style and
stickhandling have a similar feel and the final thoughts of
his hands catch up to his brain. Michael Hage could
be something special for Montreal. He can usually beat the
first defender, but if he starts to beat two or
three players on a consistent basis. Watch out Michael Hage
versus Trevor Connolly in the NHL ranking, Mason Black's pole
and Hage in a rump seventy four to twenty six
percent over mister Conley, Victor. Is that how you would
see it?
Speaker 3: Oh, definitely, I'm definitely taking Hage here. I think it's
pretty easy for me. I like what Grant said about
the floor. I think the floor is super high. I
would disagree with him a little bit. I think the
ceiling is actually a bit above the floor. You're talking
about a mostly eighteen year old in college hockey, being
one of the youngest and not small but a little
bit on the smaller side. So I think there's where
to grow here. I definitely think that there's a little
bit more stealing Connolly, certainly he has some offensive upside,
and we remember last year for some of the personal
problems or issues that were discussed about him. I just
think there's more question marks with his character, and I
don't know that his skill set is tremendously better. He
did pretty well at college thirteen points in twenty three
games for Providence. There were a couple injuries sprinkled in there.
He did join the USA for the World Junior Championships
and had four points in seven games. There were also
some other side stories there that we heard about, but
overall not bad and four points in six games for
the HL Henderson when he did turn pro. I definitely
think that there's a world where Connolly ends up being
a pretty decent asset. Here right now, his PNHL is
looking more like forty and Ages more like sixty. I
think that both of them probably do a little bit
better than that, but I think that's probably realistic where
the gap is. I also like what Grant said about
hage in terms of him being versatile. He can play
multiple positions, he can fill different roles, and I think
that versatility is really important. Connolly is a little bit
more one dimensional, and so he needs help. He needs
others to get the puck in and help set up
where he can do some of his offensive creativity. But
he's not going to be as versatile as hagees and
I have him on my ficial player card as a
five point four or five, so just under fifty percent
chance of being an average roster player. And his bash
is not great either, seventieth percentile, so hage is definitely
not going to be a bash master or anything, but
he was more like an eight, so a little bit
more comfort there in terms of your perferal floor. But yeah,
looking at the hockey prospect in between the two, Hage
went down from thirty one to nineteen percent chance of
being a star, Connolly from twenty four to ten percent,
so still almost double the star percentage for Hage, so
I think that's pretty appropriate. Looking at some other comps
for Hage, there's some interesting ones here. Vander Kaine is one,
Alish Hemsky is one that it probably fits pretty well.
There was some pretty decent upside there at times with Hemski,
and I think that's something that Age can probably hit.
I think there's more solid floor there, but definitely some
upside to hit those highs. And in the top down
hockey model, Hage twenty seven percent chance of being a
star and seventy nine percent chance of being an NHLer.
So definitely a guy I would want, even though the
price may be a little high, but I think that
there's even more to grow from Jesse.
Speaker 2: I'm curious to hear about this next one, even though
I'm not sure how much there is to say because
he was quite prominent before. Who's to keep your eye
on prospect, Victor.
Speaker 3: Well, that would be David Reinbacher, the surprise fifth overall
pick back in twenty twenty three. There were definitely other
ways the Canadians fans wanted that to go. Here we
are a couple of years later. He's still a six
foot two, good skating, right handed d and those are
often pretty coveted and so can't complain too much about that.
He missed most of the season after a knee injury,
but he did have pretty reasonable production. Did Ryan Bacher
in ten games with Laval five points in those ten games,
and then he did join them for the playoff run,
where six points and thirteen games was pretty decent production.
It was unfortunate that we didn't get to see more
of him because at this point he almost I guess
with the playoffs. He did play more games in LaVall
this year than last, but he mostly played in the
NL in Switzerland last year, so it's good that he's
in North America. And definitely, as we talked about on
the show, there's a decent chance that he could be
with the Canadians this upcoming season, so we'll have to
wait and see how that goes. As far as his
FHL player card, I have him at a six point
two to oh twenty percent chance of being above average,
and you got the shots that are a little bit
low sixtieth percentile hit some blocks or forty percentile, So
overall his bash is probably not going to be very good.
He's probably going to be more like a thirtieth percentile
for bash, which is unfortunate. But let's hear a little
bit more about Ryan Backer from our FHL scout, Jesse.
Speaker 2: Grant says of David Ryan Bacher skating, bit of a caveat.
He reminds us about these six months of missed hockey
with the ACL injury that could give him a delay
getting back to one hundred percent. But having said that,
good mobility in all directions for the games he was
able to scout Not necessarily a smooth skater, but a
good skater when at top speed, deceptively quick for his size,
slightly above average overall for a defender. Passing and handling.
He's not afraid to carry the puck, can stick handle
around the first defender, but will not dangle a team.
Good hands in tight a nice reach. He has a
very good breakout pass and good touch on his other passes.
He can quarterback a power play, but the first unit
of an NHL team might be a stretch shooting. He
possesses a good, quick and accurate snapshot from the blue line.
Grant doesn't think he'll ever be a fifteen goal scorer
in the NHL, but perhaps a to twelve in a
good year. The IQ sees the ice well does Ryan Backer.
He scans frequently when going back on the puck into
the defensive zone, very safe with the puck, excellent poise.
He directs traffic and communicates often with his teammates on defense,
which to me is a very good sign for such
a young player in the AHL. That his witches to Grant,
which to Grant is and he anticipates very well and
makes good pinches. He's a strong kid with a good reach,
and when he uses his body he won't lose many
board battles. On defense, Ryan Backer has a good gap control,
blocks out well in front of his own net. Not
an overly aggressive defender. Will air on the conservative side
of things when defending at his best when physically engaged
in moving his feet, being physical is not Ryan Baker's
first choice, as he rarely goes out of his way
to make the head. He can have a bit of
a mean streak at times. So the best asset defense
is Ryan Baker's bread and butter and what will potentially
allow him to play one games in the NHL. Does
have the offense to give, but it should be gravy
for the defense. The biggest concern, the pressure of being
the fifth overall pick over the likes of Mitchikoff in
a market like Montreal, might weigh on his mind and
curtail his development. Top tier outcome a top two defender
eight to twelve goals, thirty five to forty five points,
maybe plays twenty plus minutes a game, one hundred hits
and blocks could be attainable. That's because he should develop
into a very steady defender who could compliment a defensive
partner who has a lot more offense like mister Lane Hudson.
The median outcome second or third pairing defender who plays
sixteen to twenty minutes a game puts up twenty to
thirty points per year. That's what would happen if his
floor is what he hits. Because he still needs to
prove that he can play at the NHL level after
missing most of last year. He'll likely need to play
thirty to forty AHL games next year before getting a
look in Montreal. Montreal would love to have a similar
player to Maurite Sider, who has taken sixth overall in
twenty nineteen, but as far as Grant on the style
istic comparable, he says, Ryan Backer is not nearly as physical.
They share similar offensive capabilities, but Ryan Backer is unlikely
to supplant Layne Hudson anytime soon on the power play
in Montreal. Final thoughts difficult not to bias your opinion
with that draft capital. Ryan Backer should become a very
good NHL defender, but might not ever live up to
that draft position. He's played just fifty nine games of
hockey over the last two seasons. Needs to stay healthy
and play more than fifty in next year, so says Grant,
So say we all, and so say the people. To
Mason Black's NHL Rank King poll out on X David
Ryan Backer versus Thomas Willander, who we've talked about many
times in the past, and Ryan Backer in a route
sixty one to thirty nine over Willander is that the
way you look at these two, Vicker.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think so. I think if I was making
an NHL team, and I wanted and I was just
looking at other aspects of building my team, I might
take Velander. I think he might be a better defensive defenseman.
But I think I'm taking Ryan Backer for the small
amount of more offense that he can generate. So that's
the case there, I would I think I would take
Rihan Bocker. I think he does have a little bit
more offense to give than Villander, although I think Vellander
is probably a better defensive defenseman, and I think that,
you know, neither one of these guys has a great
amount of bash. We're talking guys that are probably below
replacement level, so that's not going to be super exciting.
I do have Lelander as a five point three to three,
so a little bit lower Rhinebocker six point two zero.
So I think for fantasy, I'm leaning Ryan Backer. He's
definitely right that no one's app planting Lane Hudson anytime soon,
so he's probably going to get secondary scoring, maybe secondary
power play, which for something you definitely get a little
bit of boost there. And looking at the hockey prospecting
between the two, it's way higher for Ryan Baker. He finished,
He's right now at twenty four percent chance of being
a star of Vallander just four percent. Both of these
guys will be in the NHL. I'm very confident and
looking at some other comps for Ryan Baker, I think
a reasonable one is Ivan Provarov had some pretty decent
secondary scoring, although I think Provarov is a much better
basher than Ryan Backer will be. And then if you
look at the top down hockey model, fifty six percent
chance of being a star for Ryan Backer, ninety four
percent chance for being an NHLer. So overall, much more
optimistic in that model as we often see for some
of these euro guys. And people might have forgotten about
Ryan Bocker because he hasn't been playing as many games
the last two seasons. I think you probably worthwhile to
go out and kick some tires and see what you
can do. You might be able to get a little
by low on him, especially with late hunts and emerging.
And I still think Ryan Baker is going to be
someone you're gonna want to have on your team. I
don't think he'll be a Mosid or anything like that.
But he will probably be an effective defenseman who will
put up some numbers anyways for your fantasy team, So
probably worth a risk if the price isn't too high.
That's it for the Canadians dig. If you are patroon,
you can listen to my top ten Prospects recap on
Patreon after the draft. I'll be working on that and
if you're interested in scouting, do shoot me a DM
on Twitter, Discord, or email us.
Speaker 2: Be right back to close up the show. Ah, who
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