Montreal Canadiens: Top Prospect Countdown: No. 10-6
We start looking at the first half of the Montreal Canadiens top 10 prospects, where there are several NHL candidates on the cusp.
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 Friday, we covered the prospects ranked 15th to 11th, today we count down the prospects from 10 to six on our board.
No. 10 – Michael McCarron / RW / 6’5″ / 238 lbs / Macomb Township, MI, U.S.A.
This could be a bit of a stretch, considering that McCarron is one of the candidates to make the Canadiens opening night roster out of training camp. But the “Big Guy Syndrome” has McCarron farther back on this list than he might deserve.
The hulking forward was taken by the Canadiens with the 25th pick in the 2013 NHL Draft. McCarron was taken by the Belleville Bulls in the 6th round of the 2011 OHL Priority Selection. During his draft year, however, he played for the U.S. National Development Program as well as the U.S. U-18 National Team.
In 59 games with the National Team, he scored 37 points and had 182 penalty minutes.
After being drafted, McCarron made the jump to the OHL to play for the London Knights, who traded for the forward during his draft year.
McCarron had a decent first year in the OHL, scoring 34 points in 66 games, which was good for 10th in team scoring that season.
He managed to better that point total in just a third of the games the next season. McCarron was moved to the Oshawa Generals — who had an automatic spot in the Memorial Cup — at the trade deadline. He had no issues adjusting to the new team, scoring 27 points over his next 31 games. McCarron finished the year with 68 points in 56 games.
During the playoffs, he posted 18 points in 21 games, along with three points in four games while helping the Gens to a Memorial Cup victory.
McCarron played his first pro season in 2015-16, where he had 38 points in 58 games.
The winger also played 20 games with the Canadiens, but only managed two points. But he did score his first career NHL goal.
Last season, McCarron split time between Montreal and St. John’s. With the Canadiens, he only had five points in 31 games. In the AHL, he played 32 games, but only managed 19 points.
As mentioned at the beginning, there’s a solid chance McCarron cracks the Habs roster this season. He’s gotten tons of time to play in the NHL and could have a bottom six role with the team if he impresses in training camp.
No. 9 – Jacob de La Rose / C / 6’2″ / 214 lbs / Arvika, SWE
After drafting McCarron in 2013, the Canadiens took de la Rose, who turned in several strong tournaments with Sweden before being drafted.
He played the majority of his junior hockey in the Leksands IF system. In his draft year, de la Rose played for Leksands’ senior team, where he scored 12 points in 38 games.
de la Rose made his first appearance at the World Juniors for Sweden in 2013. He finished the tournament without any points, but still managed to impress with his play.
He played one more year in Sweden before making the jump to North America. He split time between the NHL and AHL during the 2014-15 year. With the Hamilton Bulldogs, de la Rose posted 11 points across 37 contests. He played 33 games for the Canadiens that season and scored six points during that span.
After a down year of sorts, de la Rose had his best statistical season in the pros, with 31 points in 62 games with St. John’s. Unfortunately, in his nine games in the NHL, de la Rose was not able to get a point.
He is another candidate to make the Canadiens roster depending on his performance in training camp, but he could spend another year up and down between the Habs and Laval.
No. 8 – Michael McNiven / G / 6’1″ / 216 lbs / Georgetown, ON, CAN
McNiven has been one of the most pleasant surprises for the Montreal Canadiens, at least up until now.
The goaltender went undrafted and signed a three-year contract with the Habs in 2015.
He was originally a fourth round pick of the Owen Sound Attack in the 2013 OHL Priority Selection.
McNiven played in 24 games for the Attack during the 2014-15 season, where he posted a 2.79 goals against average and a .914 save percentage.
The next year, he became the starter for the team, which spiked his games played to 53, however, his numbers stayed almost the same. He finished with a 2.94 GAA and a .902 sv. %.
McNiven improved even more last season when he set career highs in both his goals against (2.30) and save percentage (.915) while playing in 54 games. For his efforts, McNiven won the OHL Goaltender of the Year award as well as the Dave Pinkey Trophy, which is awarded to the OHL team with the lowest combined GAA.
At only 20 years old, McNiven is one of the more intriguing prospects in the Habs system. He is likely to make the jump to pro this season and play for Laval. With a bit of a logjam in goal in the AHL, there’s also a chance that McNiven plays another year in junior. We’ll have to wait and see what he does in
With a bit of a logjam in goal in the AHL, there’s also a chance that McNiven plays another year in junior. We’ll have to wait and see what he does in training camp.
No. 7 – Joni Ikonen / C / 5’11” / 176 lbs / Espoo, FIN
From all indications, in both his play and scouting reports, the Canadiens got a great pick in Ikonen.
The 2017 second-rounder has only played a handful of games since being drafted, but he already sits in the top 10 for Habs prospects, which is a testament to the skill this centre possesses.
Ikonen played his junior hockey with the Espoo Blues. But in 2015, he left the Blues to play for Swedish powerhouse Frolunda’s U-18 team.
That season, he played for Frolunda’s teams in both the second-tier J-18 Elit, as well as the top U-18 team in the J18 Allsvenskan.
Across all leagues in 2015-16, Ikonen scored 52 points in 39 games.
Ikonen was a member of the Finnish team that competed at the 2015 World U-17 Hockey Challenge. He scored six points in five games. Unfortunately, Finland didn’t medal at the tournament.
Last season, Ikonen played the majority of the year for the Frolunda J20 squad. He managed to lead the team in scoring with 41 points in 40 games.
Now, after being drafted by the Canadiens, Ikonen has been turning heads, most notably at the World Junior Summer Showcase. He provided a solid performance against Canada and gave his best performance of the tourney against Sweden, where the centre scored a hat trick.
Ikonen will not be making the jump to North America right away. He was loaned to KalPa in July. This will give him the chance to play full time in Liiga and further develop over the next season.
After that, there’s a good chance that he could make the jump to North America and the Laval Rocket.
No. 6 – Nikita Scherbak / LW / 6’1″ / 174 lbs / Moskva, RUS
After the Habs took McCarron and de la Rose in the 2013 draft, they selected Scherbak with the 26th pick in the 2014 NHL Draft.
At the time, Scherbak had just finished his first CHL season. The Russian forward was taken by the Saskatoon Blades with the 109th pick in the 2013 CHL Import Draft.
After coming over to North America, Scherbak posted 78 points in 65 games for the Blades, good for tops in team scoring.
Scherbak was traded to the Everett Silvertips prior to the 2014-15 season. He bettered his totals from the previous year, scoring 82 points in 65 games.
He made his pro debut the next season, playing 48 games with the St. John’s IceCaps. He had an underwhelming first season, scoring only 23 points on the year.
He bounced back last season, scoring 41 points in 66 gaes for St. John’s.
Scherbak also played three games for the Canadiens last season and scored his first NHL goal in his first career game against the Toronto Maple Leafs.
This season, fans should expect to see Scherbak play for Laval. He is an extremely skilled forward, but at only 21, another year in the minors won’t hurt him. Scherbak should be ready for full-time NHL duty after that. He has all the skill to be a contributor in the NHL.
What do you think of these prospects? Do you think that any of them were ranked too high or too low? And how do you think their respective seasons will go? Let us know in the comments below.