Charles Hudon Should Have Been Called Up By Habs

The Montreal Canadiens have been battling the injury bug lately, with rugged, consistent right winger Brendan Gallagher out long term with broken fingers, Torrey Mitchell on the shelf and Alex Semin out with what is probably an injury made up by coach Michel Therrien so he doesn’t have to play the Russian forward.

With the injury ward filling up, and a plethora of forwards on the sidelines all at once, the Canadiens have called up several forwards from the St. John’s Ice Caps of the American Hockey League. Bud Holloway, Christian Thomas and Sven Andrighetto have all suited up for the Habs in the past two weeks after starting the year in the minors and Daniel Carr has also been recalled by the big club, though he is yet to play with the Habs.

Andrighetto has fit in well on a line with Lars Eller and Alex Galchenyuk, and Thomas and Holloway filled in just fine on a depth role, but there is one forward in the Canadiens organization who is yet to get the call, and probably should have been the first.

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Charles Hudon has been arguably the best player on the Habs top affiliate since turning pro last season, but is yet to be called up to the big club. The Alma, Quebec native was second among rookies in scoring in the AHL last season when he scored 19 goals and 57 points in 75 games.

Hudon has been even better this season, and is currently second on the Ice Caps in scoring once again with ten goals and ten assists for 20 points in 22 games. Hudon is not just an offensive force, but is at least as good defensively and has proven to be an excellent two-way center for the Canadiens AHL squad.

The 21 year old continues to impress for St. John’s, but watches as everyone else in the Ice Caps top six gets called up to the NHL. There was once an argument that the Habs wanted to keep him at center and there is no room for him to play the middle for the Canadiens with Galchenyuk, Tomas Plekanec and David Desharnais filling that role.

Mandatory Credit: Jean-Yves Ahern-USA TODAY Sports

However, Hudon has recently been moved to the wing on Michael McCarron’s line as Carr, Andrighetto and Thomas being with the big club left the minor league team very thin on the wings. If the organization isn’t fully committed to leaving him at center, wouldn’t there be room on the Canadiens top nine for him right now? Couldn’t Hudon play right wing on a line with Plekanec and Tomas Fleischmann, where Paul Byron currently slots in?

The fact that players who are scoring less have been called up instead must be a bit of a slap in the face to Hudon. However, the undersized center has been passed over before and it hasn’t bothered him in the slightest.

Hudon scored 66 points in 59 games for the Chicoutimi Sagueneens of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League during his draft year. Though other Canadian Hockey League forwards like Scott Laughton and Tom Wilson scored far less, they were first round picks.

Others scored at about the same rate as Hudon, like Radek Faska, Lukas Sutter and Mitchell Heard and were selected within the first 41 picks of the draft. Hudon, however, had to hang around until the fifth round and waited until 121 other players were selected before he finally heard his name called by the Montreal Canadiens.

Since then, Hudon has proven to be an extremely talented and smart forward who can play both ends of the ice. He scored 71 points in 56 games and 77 points in 57 games during his final two Junior seasons, was named to Team Canada for the World Junior Hockey Championship both years, and averaged just under a point per game in 50 career postseason games during his QMJHL career.

Now, Hudon is tied for seventh among all scorers in the AHL, and is red hot, as proven by winning the AHL player of the week award last week. Hudon had three goals and three assists in three games last week, but it somehow wasn’t quite enough to get called up to Montreal, as Carr and Thomas packed their bags instead.

Mandatory Credit: Jean-Yves Ahern-USA TODAY Sports

I can understand being patient with a prospect and not rushing him into the National Hockey League. However, this is not the Guillaume Latendresse situation where a 19 year old was left on the NHL roster the entire season instead of being sent back to Junior.

Hudon is a mature 21 year old, who could fill in short term for the Canadiens who are depleted with injuries. In the unlikely event that Hudon struggled, he could be sent back to a comfortable situation in St. John’s literally overnight.

The more likely situation is that Hudon would play extremely well with a similarly minded player in Plekanec and add even more depth to a team that is challenging for a President’s Trophy.

It seems like such a natural fit, especially with Plekanec currently playing with Byron, that I question the Habs management team for not giving Hudon a chance to make his NHL debut, and have called up Holloway, Thomas and Carr instead.

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Hudon was passed over before, and it made him even better. Being passed over for his NHL debut will hopefully have the same effect, but the timing is perfect for Hudon to join the Montreal Canadiens and I fully expect him on the NHL roster in the very near future.