Montreal Canadiens

Schrodinger’s cat.  One cannot look inside the box and see the cat in both states of mortality.  What can be done, however, is to look into an alternate reality, a parallel universe of sorts in which the Montreal Canadiens are alternatively coached.  Wish lists may be compiled by those seeking other options for the staff of Les Glorieux and so comes the concept of quantum coaching; while Michel Therrien can be seen behind the bench from game to game in one realm, this realm looks at the possibility of new formats, new ideas and adjustments that appear necessary.

This season has seen many tremendous and surprising performances from various Habs prospects, including: The incredible rise to the NHL by Michael McCarron, Daniel Carr’s excellent play in the big league, Martin Reway’s move to the NLA while leading his Czech Extraliga team in scoring, the emergence of Michael McNiven, and Jake Evans’ incredible development curve. This article will provide a quick (okay, maybe not quick) in-season update of the Montreal Canadiens’ top 15 prospects.

It took just two shots on goal and 12:53 into the first game of the season for Lukas Vejdemo to score his first career Swedish Hockey League goal. 26 games later, and Vejdemo is the youngest player in the top-10 of SHL rookie scoring with 11 points. 9 of 11 points have come in his last 13 games.

Perhaps even more exciting has been Vejdemo’s role on the Djurgården, a middle of the table team. In the most recent 13 games, he has seen his average time on ice increase from 11 and a half minutes to 13 and a half minutes. While he rarely receives special teams time, at a five-on-five, he has been listed on the first line. Markus Ljungh and Robin Alverez, Vejdemo’s linemates from the first game this year, are both on pace to set career-highs in the SHL, partly due to Vejdemo’s play.

From the moment the puck dropped on the Hamilton Bulldogs’ 2014-2015 campaign, it was evident that rookie forward Daniel Carr belonged in the league. The 22-year-old scored in his AHL debut, redirecting a nice pass from Charles Hudon into the back of the net. Carr also tallied an assist in the game, and played an excellently overall. Fast forward 54 games into the year, and Carr leads the ‘Dogs in goals with 16, including 10 in his last 16 games, and is tied for fourth in points with 27. Yet, even with his strong contributions, Carr remains an unknown to many Habs fans.

It was a dominant start to the 2014-2015 campaign for Nikita Scherbak. The 26^th overall selection in the 2014 NHL Entry Draft went pointless just three times in his first 35 games, piling up 19 goals and 34 assists in the process. He recorded three points in his Silvertips debut, tallied in his first WHL hat trick, and reached 150 career points. Once again, Scherbak led his team in scoring by a notable margin, and was among the league leaders in team point percentage (as shown below).

There’s been a common theme surrounding the Canadiens for the past who knows how long: This team needs to be bigger. What the word “bigger” actually means is up for debate, but essentially fans believe this team is soft.

On August 22^nd, 2013 Marc Bergevin accidentally gave Douglas Murray a pen and he subsequently signed a one-year contract worth $1.5 million dollars. I wish I was kidding. The 6’3″, 245-pound defenseman was brought in to apparently help mitigate the loss of Alexei Emelin. I’m still struggling to understand how that makes any sense at all.

It took Brett Lernout until his 18-year-old season to finally breakout at the WHL level. That 2013-2014 breakout campaign led to Lernout having his name called 73rd overall in the 2014 NHL Entry Draft.

This past season, Lernout took another gigantic leap forward. The 6’04” defender nearly doubled his totals posted year previous, with 14 goals and 42 points in 72 games. Furthermore, he reached a multitude of milestones, including his first WHL hat trick, 20 career WHL goals, and 50 career WHL points.

The NHL Entry Draft is just around the corner. Although the Montreal Canadiens don’t own a bevy of picks like last year, it’s still an exciting time. Trevor Timmins and the rest of the scouting staff will have just six picks in this year’s draft. Timmins, the Canadiens Director of Amateur Scouting, is considered to be one of the best in the business. Since 2003 (Timmins’ first draft with the organization), they have drafted 82 players in total, including the likes of Carey Price, Ryan McDonagh, Max Pacioretty, P.K. Subban, Brendan Gallagher, and Alex Galchenyuk. So what makes Timmins so good? First this article will examine his tendencies on draft day and then look at how his success compares to the rest of the league.

Cristobal Huet spent the 2005-06 and 2006-07 seasons, along with part of the 2007-08 season with the Montreal Canadiens. Huet was selected 214th overall, in the middle of the 7th round of the 2001 NHL Entry Draft by the Los Angeles Kings. Of the 289 players drafted, Huet was the only one selected later than 95th overall (Patrick Sharp) to participate in an All-Star game. This All-Star game being in 2007 alongside Luongo, Brodeur, Miller, Kiprusoff, and Turco. Huet, who was drafted out of HC Lugano in Switzerland, went on to play 117 regular season games and 6 playoff games with the Habs over three seasons. He also spent four games in Hamilton with the then-American Hockey League affiliate Bulldogs.