This week’s edition Montreal Canadiens One Timers is heavily featured by the organization’s prospects including Nick Suzuki and goaltender Cayden Primeau.
Suped-up Suzuki Goes From Zero to Sixty in 36.1 Games:
Montreal Canadiens prospect Nick Suzuki spun his tires a little at the starting line of this year’s OHL season, collecting a decent but not dominant seven points through his first six games. But since then, the Owen Sound Attack forward has kicked it into high gear, amassing a ridiculous 29 points in his last 14 games, averaging over two per game over the month-long stretch.
Suzuki now has 35 points in 21 games for an average of 1.67 PPG to date, putting him on pace to hit 60 in just 36 games and 108 points over a full schedule.
Despite captain Nick’s nightly heroics, the Attack remain locked in a three-team battle for supremacy of the hotly-contested OHL Midwest Division with the London Knight and the Guelph Storm. Suzuki currently ranks sixth in league scoring and fourth in PPG average. If you total Suzuki’s career OHL points, including this season’s projected numbers, he’ll finish with a staggering 342 to go along with a +108 rating.
Acquired as part of the Max Pacioretty trade, Suzuki was Vegas’ first-round pick in the 2017 draft.
FYI…Nick isn’t the only Suzuki racing up the OHL scoring leaderboard, either. Younger brother Ryan of the Barrie Colts has 29 points thus far, good for 11th overall in league scoring.
Huskies Leaving Competition in St. Cloud of Dust:
Captain Ryan Poehling has his team of Huskies running at a full sprint as perennial college hockey powerhouse St.Cloud State is now officially the number one ranked NCAA team in the nation.
Compiling an impressive 11-1 record to open the collegiate season, Poehling’s pups overtook their fellow canine top contender, the U of Minn-Duluth Bulldogs during this past weekend’s play.
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Poehling currently has 13 points in his first 12 games, putting him in pace for a 40 point season based on St.Cloud’s projected schedule. His offensive numbers aren’t through the roof, but he is consistent, having pointed in all but three games to date, and anyone who’s had the pleasure to watch the Huskies play this year immediately notices the dominant, 200-foot game that this big kid displays nightly.
Poehling is currently playing his junior (third year) at St. Cloud, meaning he could return for a final season in 2019-2020, however, the Habs are obviously hoping he packs in his studies a little early.
FYI….Ryan is joined on the Huskies by his brothers Nick and Jack, all of which are juniors this year.
Primeau Gets Shutout in Battle of Cats and Dogs:
Northeastern Huskies starting goalie and Habs seventh-round steal Cayden Primeau posted his second shutout of the season last Friday in a 1-0 squeaker over Hockey East rival Vermont Catamounts. Turning in a spectacular 26-save performance that NU Head Coach Jim Madigan described simply as “immense,” Primeau kept the Huskies in the tough road game all night, particularly in the early going through repeated penalty kills.
Primeau has started every game for NU thus far, sporting a 2.43 GAA and a .916 save percentage, while both he and the Huskies boast identical 7-3-1 records to date. Northeastern, having recently earned the nickname of the “Cardiac Canines” because of their record of come-from-behind victories, play their next two dates at home against HE rivals Merrimack and RIT.
FYI….Helping out Primeau in his shutout bid was teammate and freshman defenceman Jordan Harris, who was officially credited with two blocked shots in the win over Vermont. Harris is also a draft pick of the Canadiens, selected this past summer in the third round out of the U.S. High School system.
Teasdale Continues to Sail Along with Armada:
When former Blainville-Boisbriand Head Coach Joel Bouchard jumped ship last year to join the Canadiens organization, he quickly threw life preservers to a chosen few survivors of his Armada, and one was reserved for Joel Teasdale, who signed a three-year FA deal with the Habs this past September.
Despite going undrafted, Teasdale posted a solid 65 points in 65 games with an elite Armada team last year under Bouchard and picked up this year right where he left off, totalling an impressive 24 points through his first 22 games. In addition to consistent offensive production, the sturdy forward also brings a defensive element to his game, as evidenced by his +44 career rating in 200 QMJHL games. Speaking of the Q, Teasdale recently represented the league in the annual Russia-CHL travelling circus.
There’s obviously a reason why the Repentigny-native was never drafted, but Bouchard saw enough potential in the kid to convince Habs brass to give him another three years to prove everyone wrong.