Montreal Canadiens Top Prospect Countdown: No. 18 Brett Lernout

After finishing his second season in the AHL, the big-bodied defender will be looking to further progress his game this year.

While the Montreal Canadiens have some solid prospects to build towards in the future, they sit near the back of the league in prospect pool rankings.

With that in mind, let’s look at who will be the top players in the Habs pipeline this season.

On Monday, we profiled Scott Walford, today we cover our 18th ranked prospect, defenceman Brett Lernout.

Brett Lernout / Right Defence / 6’4″ / 205 lbs / Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

Lernout was a third round pick of the Canadiens back in 2014. He played his last few years of junior with the Swift Current, where he accumulated 66 points and 199 penalty minutes in 185 career games with the Broncos.

Here’s a scouting report of the defender from Future Considerations.

Lernout is a big defenseman who plays a tough style. We really like how he defends his own zone, using his strength and frame to muscle guys to the outside. Doesn’t run around chasing checks, but he calmly approaches and then buries his opponents against the boards. Showed very good improvement this season in his confidence with the puck.Lernout was very solid in the neutral zone, using patience and crisp execution to get the puck up ice. Very simple and very precise. Can get off some very hard shots on net.Prefers taking hard wrist shots, but can also let a huge slapper go when given time. He may not have huge offensive upside, but his ability to get hard shots on net and his ability to make simple passes accurately is encouraging. His skating is pretty good for a big guy.Very smooth on his feet and gets around using hard work rather than technical skating skills. Does not display any elite hockey sense, but does show poise with the puck and good positioning on the ice.He is a serviceable skater and has the raw physical tools to become a shutdown defenseman.

After his last season in junior, Lernout got into six games AHL games, as well as his first NHL game with the Canadiens.

Lernout has played two full years now in the AHL. He has still kept up with his physical play, totalling 136 penalty minutes over 143 games.

Since coming up from the WHL, Lernout’s fight totals have gone down. In his draft year, he had 11 fights. Over his pro career, Lernout only has four fights and only one this past season.

This can be accredited in part to the AHL’s new rules on fighting, but kudos to him for knowing that he doesn’t have to drop the gloves to be a physical game changer for his team.

With the moves made in the offseason to the Canadiens back end, Lernout is an injury away from being in the Habs top six.

He isn’t the flashiest prospect on the list, but he is one of the prospects that could see time with the big club this season.

Next: Montreal Canadiens Top Prospect Countdown: No. 19 Scott Walford

What do you think of Lernout? Do you think he was rated too high or too low? And how do you think his season will go? Let us know in the comments below.