Montreal Canadiens: Looking into Garret McFadden and Tye Felhaber
By Omar L
Garret McFadden and Tye Felhaber are the next two names to join the Montreal Canadiens organization as they’ve joined the Laval Rocket on tryouts.
The amateur tryouts continue for the Laval Rocket, and so does the search for potential talent within the Montreal Canadiens prospect pool. However, there have been some deductions. Matt Petgrave and Bailey Webster were released from their tryouts on Tuesday.
Webster was quickly passed by other players in limited time trying to make an impact in Trevor Owens, Johnny Austin, and Adam Plant. Petgrave, on the other hand, was already part of the organization via the Brampton Beast scoring 8 goals and 14 assists in 42 games but couldn’t do enough to prove that he belongs in the AHL.
It goes to show that the Laval Rocket are serious with this screening process. Yes, they’re handing out a lot of opportunities to different players, however, if you’re not up to par with what the team is looking for, you’re sent on your way. It’s the gritty business of professional sports and something that will help Laval improve for the seasons to come.
Speaking of tryouts, there are two new names who are getting their shot to impress at the AHL level in Garret McFadden and Tye Felhaber.
Mac Attack
Let’s start with McFadden who just had his season come to an end with the Guelph Storm who were eliminated from the first round of the OHL playoffs. The 20-year-old is a left-shot defenceman who can skate and make a play. McFadden has alright offensive numbers putting up 6 goals and 38 assists in 68 games this season, but they don’t jump out at you.
Scouting reports from Hockeyprospects.com’s NHL Draft Black Book made a note of his ability to rush the puck up ice and find his forwards with nice stretch passes. Additionally, as an offensive defenceman in most regards, he likes to take care of his own end prevent opportunities in front of his net despite the difference in size in most occasions (McFadden stands at five-foot-eleven and 184 pounds).
You can see an example of McFadden’s skating (#27) throughout the video, especially at the 2:42 mark which shows him starting overtime and setting up Cedric Ralph for the overtime winner.
Another Paul Byro
Similar to McFadden, Felhaber had his season in the OHL playoffs come to an end at the hands of Montreal Canadiens prospect William Bitten and the Hamilton Bulldogs.
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The 19-year-old was second on the Ottawa 67s in scoring with 31 goals and 39 assists in 68 games. Felhaber was an offensive talent out of Minor Midget but saw his production take a cliff dive after making the transition to the OHL at first with the Saginaw Spirit.
The Ontario native had 37 and 38 point seasons to start off his junior career which was a disappointment to many who thought he could do more. That all changed when he was traded to the Ottawa 67s in the 2016/17 season. Felhaber had 23 points in 35 points which weren’t outstanding but a major improvement.
Felhaber makes use of his acceleration to beat out opponents to pucks and make plays. He’s displayed great vision this year to find his teammates to score and has the obvious skill to do it himself. The Montreal Canadiens may have found a potential gem in the speedy winger, but of course, he has to put in the work to bring his abilities to the ice.
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The next test for both will be in the AHL, and they have up to five more games to do it. However, as the Laval Rocket has shown already, if you don’t do enough it’ll be on to the next.