Montreal Canadiens TPT: Standouts at the Rookie Tournament

In this week’s Twitter Poll Thursday, we ask Montreal Canadiens fans who will be the standout at this year’s Rookie Tournament.

Montreal Canadiens fans have had a couple of chances to see the team’s rosters play. First at the Development Camp back in June, and then the few who took part at the World Junior Summer Showcase. The NHL regular season doesn’t start for another month, but this weekend’s Rookie Tournament is definitely the beginning of it.

The Habs’ rookies will only play two games. Friday against the Toronto Maple Leafs, and Sunday against the Ottawa Senators. It’ll be pretty exciting considering the matches are usually fairly high-scoring. If you were to give me an over/under of goals scored during Friday’s game, let’s say 9.5, I’d definitely go over the number.

Rosters for the tournament were released last week, so we already know who will be taking part. The Montreal Canadiens will have their fair share of prospects playing, but unfortunately it will be without top 2017 picks Ryan Poehling and Joni Ikonen.

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This could be a significant stepping stone for a lot of the players in the tournament. They’d probably like to build on their skills and make an impact at the level their already at. At the same time, there’ll be players who will want to make an impression and pull ahead from the rest in the days leading up to training camp.

Who though? From the entire 23-man roster at the tournament, who stands out among the rest. That’s what we asked Montreal Canadiens fans for this week’s Twitter Poll Thursday.

Poll Results

It was pretty close between Martin Rèway and top defence prospect Noah Juulsen. I could buy that. Each have their own reasons as to why they would want to stand out among the rest.

Habs fans expected Rèway to be on the St. Johns Ice Caps last season. Rèway has excelled on any team that he has played for since being drafted by the Montreal Canadiens in 2013. Many in particular remember his performance at the 2014 World Junior Championships. Rèway served as an alternate captain that year and finished with four goals and six assists in five games.

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Unfortunately, those expectations of AHL play were put on hold after he missed the entire year recovering from a serious heart condition. It was a long recovery, but Rèway is healthy and looks as confident as ever to live up to the expectations that Habs fans had for him.

The excitement behind Juulsen speaks for itself. The 2015 first round pick looks to be done with junior and ready to take the next step to the AHL with the Laval Rocket. Seeing him possibly play with other Habs prospect Victor Mete would be pretty interesting.

Although Juulsen has a lot to prove, an “ok” tournament wont hurt his chances to make the Rocket. However, a solid performance for the Canadiens would be a step in the right direction for his development as an NHL defenceman.

They weren’t included in the poll, but two players who could also have a good tournament are goaltender Michael McNiven and invite Maxime Fortier. The Habs signed McNiven to a entry-level-contract back in 2015. Similar to Juulsen, he’s hoping to make a jump to the pros after three seasons with the Owen Sound Attack.

Fortier has been an interesting player to follow. Despite putting up some pretty good numbers with the Halifax Mooseheads, he was constantly passed up in the draft. Are the scouts right about him, or is there something else within Fortier that he has to give. From all the other invites at the tournament, he’s the one that I’d keep my eye on.

It’ll be exciting to see energetic hockey played between these young players. Take it in while you can, we may very well be seeing those who will be playing for the Montreal Canadiens in the years to come.

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Who do you think will stand out at the Rookie Tournament? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.