Montreal Canadiens Rumours: Arvid Henrikson is going to the USHL
By Omar L
The Montreal Canadiens seventh-round pick Arvid Henrikson looks to be switching gears by coming over to play in the USHL for the 2018-19 season.
There are always prospects that get left behind in each draft class. The last two drafts for the Montreal Canadiens have been the most talked about for the last little while for obvious reasons. 2018’s was only a couple of months ago while the 2017 draft class has a number of players with potential. One of which could turn pro in Cale Fleury while Cayden Primeau is improving his stock as a top goaltending prospect after every performance.
The 2016 draft has some gems from it as well. Victor Mete made the Montreal Canadiens last season as a 19-year-old while both Will Bitten and Michael Pezzetta are on the verge of debuting in the AHL after signing entry-level contracts last March.
However, there are two names who haven’t moved the needle at all. Casey Staum, who the Habs don’t have the rights to anymore after he failed to commit to the University of Nebraska-Omaha, and Arvid Henrikson.
Montreal selected the defenceman in the seventh round that year. Henrikson came off a season playing 21 games for AIK J18 scoring four (4) goals and 16 assists. He also saw time in the J18 Allsvenskan league under the same team branch. The point totals were decent, but Henrikson was more known for his stay-at-home play.
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Henrikson played the last two seasons in the SuperElit league with AIK J20 and Örebro HK J20. A highlight of this past year had him making his SHL debut for the latter’s parent club. But that didn’t save Henrikson from being caught in no man’s land as he didn’t have a contract in Sweden for the upcoming season.
According to Vincent Duquette of TVA Sports, the Habs prospect has found a home for the 2018-19 season. Henrikson looks to be joining Des Moines Buccaneers of the USHL. Furthermore, Duquette mentioned that Henrikson plans to play in the NCAA in the future. That may be an issue considering his one professional game with Örebro, so that will be something to track.
Des Moines Buccaneers finished at the bottom of the Western Conference last season going 20-33-7. The team has only made the playoffs once in the last 11 years, and it’ll be interesting to see what kind of effect Henrikson can have on the blueline. One of their issues was their lack of scoring as they were third-last in that category.
Offence may not be Henrikson’s main strength, but he has shown the ability to get things going on the rush by making passes to advancing forwards. Combine that with some skill and that may help things go along.
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The team change doesn’t affect where Henrikson is in the Montreal Canadiens depth chart. He’s constantly being surpassed by the younger and newer players in the system. The Habs still have his rights for another two years, so there’s still time to see how this experiment plays out. But it’s going to take more than the norm from Henrikson.
Acknowledgements: Player and team stats from hockeydb.