Montreal Canadiens send eight prospects back to junior
By Omar L
With rookie camp coming to an end, the Montreal Canadiens have decided to send eight of their players back to their junior teams.
Rookie camp is officially behind us. The Montreal Canadiens had some positive things take place for them from their young players, and with the tides turning towards preparation for the 2018-19 NHL regular season, adjustments needed to be made. Unfortunately, that comes with player cuts, and the Habs announced that eight players will be going back to junior.
Aleksi Anttalainen, Stephen Dhillon, Cole Fonstad, Brandon Hagel, Cameron Hillis, Samuel Houde, Alexander Katerinakis, and Allan McShane will all be returning to their CHL teams. Fonstad, McShane, Hillis, and Houde are the drafted prospects of the group. The latter, however, wasn’t able to take part in any games during the Rookie Tournament due to an injury.
McShane and Hillis played but didn’t stand out as much as the Habs would want. Hillis, in particular, was a victim of trying to do too many things that resulted in more issues than successes. That’s an element that will be improved over time.
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The remaining players were tryouts and although they’re not officially affiliated with the Montreal Canadiens, it doesn’t mean their story is over. Special tabs are going to be kept on at least Anttalainen and Katerinakis as both will be playing for the Blainville-Boisbriand Armada in the QMJHL. With good seasons under their belts, an amateur tryout with the Laval Rocket could be presented to them. But again it depends on how they develop.
McShane is a player to look out for in Oshawa. There’s a lot of skill there and he needs to be able to bring it out consistently.
With the number reduced by eight, there are 22 players left including Jesperi Kotkaniemi, Lukas Vejdemo, and Will Bitten. Injured players in Jake Evans and Jarret Tyszka, who were both victims of a massive hit over the weekend, as well as Scott Walford are making the next step to Habs training camp.
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It’ll be interesting to see how some of those prospects build off their performance at rookie camp, especially Vejdemo who “surprisingly” was one of the Montreal Canadiens better forwards.