Montreal Canadiens: Michael McCarron is signed and ready to compete
By Omar L
The Montreal Canadiens finish dealing with the last of their restricted free agents signing Michael McCarron to a one-year contract.
Everyone is all signed and accounted for with training camp on the verge of starting up. Michael McCarron and the Montreal Canadiens agreed to terms on a one-year contract for the 2018-19 season that has a heavy load of the ‘Prove It’ factor.
The 2013 first-round pick will be on a two-way contract making $874,125 in the NHL level and $70,000 in the AHL. I mentioned early on that McCarron would be better off signing the qualifying offer he received from the Montreal Canadiens ahead of the deadline, and low and behold, here we are.
Right off the bat, I like the breakdown here. It’s no mystery that McCarron hasn’t progressed the way Habs management has wanted him to. And that’s not to say they expected him to be a destroyer of worlds in the show. However, the fact that he’s entering his fifth year in the organization and is still an optimistic option to make the team must be a little disappointing.
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McCarron must work for his spot and work for that increase in pay and that’ll be evident based on how things go at training camp. Additionally, and this goes without saying, it’s safe to assume that this is it for the 23-year-old. The Habs (via Trevor Timmins) has done a great job in adding to the prospect pool over the last two years.
It’s more than first-round picks in Ryan Poehling and Jesperi Kotkaniemi. Montreal seems to have found gems in the later rounds, and most of them are on the brink of making professional debuts in the AHL. So it’s not only an NHL spot that McCarron will have to keep his focus on, but his role on the Laval Rocket as well. Especially with a new coaching staff led by Joël Bouchard who wants to have an impact on the team as soon as possible.
All McCarron can do now is prove his worth by any means. Unfortunately, that will come on two fronts: prove that he can be an NHL player (which he hasn’t done yet) and prove that he can be an NHL player for the Montreal Canadiens.
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There’s a difference, especially with Marc Bergevin emphasizing speed and skill as a new focus within the organization. McCarron is part of that old regime that emphasized size, physicality and tenacity. Obviously, those are still beneficial qualities to have on one’s roster, but he’ll need to show a lot more than that to be here.