Montreal Canadiens: Top Prospect Countdown: No. 16 Jeremiah Addison
By Austin Owens
The Montreal Canadiens 2015 seventh round pick helped his team to a Memorial Cup and will look to add to the Laval Rocket in 2017-18.
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 Simon Bourque, today we cover Jeremiah Addison, the captain of the Windsor Spitfires.
Jeremiah Addison / Left Wing / 6’0″ / 183 lbs / Brampton, ON, CAN
Addison didn’t start his OHL career with the Spits. He was originally drafted 12th overall in the 2012 OHL Priority Selection by the Saginaw Spirit.
The winger played two seasons with the Spirit, scoring 33 points in 129 games. He didn’t see a spike in points until 2014-15 when he was traded to the Ottawa 67’s.
His first season saw him net 47 points in 63 games for the 67’s. In 2015-16, he set career highs in both points (56) and goals (27).
After the OHL season, Addison made four appearances with the St. John’s IceCaps, where he had one assist.
Addison was traded to the Spitfires from Ottawa before the start of the 2016-17 season.
He was able to play on a line with first rounders in Logan Brown (OTT) and Gabriel Vilardi (LA) during the season.
The Spits captain finished the season with 43 points, good for third in team scoring.
Windsor was bounced in the first round of the OHL Playoffs by the London Knights but gained an automatic spot in the 2017 Memorial Cup as the hosts.
In the tournament, Addison had several big performances, the biggest of which came against Erie, where he scored a hat trick to help Windsor to the finals.
The Spitfires would go on to beat Erie once again to lift the Memorial Cup for the third time in franchise history.
Addison finished the tournament with six points — five of them being goals — in four games.
Now, at 20 years old, Addison should be ready to make the jump to Laval this season. His gritty style matched with his ability to produce offence will make him a very intriguing prospect to watch over the next season and beyond.
As a later round pick, expectations should be tempered for what his ceiling could be. But if the Habs take their time with Addison, he could become a very reliable player for the Habs.
Next: Montreal Canadiens: Lack of Front Office Confidence
What do you think of Addison? 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.