Montreal Canadiens: Gianni Fairbrother puts his own scoring on display

The Montreal Canadiens held day two of their scrimmage games at development camp and Rhett Pitlick had a lot of players turning heads with his speed.

Day one of scrimmages had most Montreal Canadiens fans gawking over the domination of Ryan Poehling and the scoring ability of Cole Caufield. Day two saw more of the Habs youth step up to the plate and stand out amongst their teammates at development camp.

Game one was a little more tight with it ending in a 1-1 tie game. Game two, on the other hand, was a lot more fluid with chances going back and forth.

Teams were the same as Day one with the likes of Joël Teasdale and Jacob Oloffson sitting out with injury.

Observation 1: Rhett Pitlick has overwhelming speed

It’s been a consistent observation since development camp began, but the Montreal Canadiens have found themselves a lethal speedster in Pitlick. Whenever the left winger finds himself with any time and space, he takes off with the puck and isn’t afraid to challenge defenders who get in his way.

During the first scrimmage game, Pitlick started with the puck in the defensive zone and flew through the neutral when there was no one there to get in his way. He got by one Red defender but wound up losing the puck while heading into the left corner. That didn’t stop Pitlick from trying to regain possession using his stick to disrupt the efforts of the other team.

Observation 2: More from Nick Suzuki

Suzuki had his moments on day one, but he stood out a lot more on day two. He was making a lot more plays and showing more of the creative flair he had playing for the Guelph Storm this season. Suzuki was one of the drivers of several passing plays for Team White which is even more reassurance of what is to come.

Another reassuring element was the chemistry brewing between himself and Liam Hawel. Team White had many moments during the first scrimmage of hemming in Team Red where Suzuki and Hawel kept things going, making short passes to each other to continue evading the opposition.

Observation 3: The invites are getting it done

Speaking of Hawel, some of the invites have really stood out for the better. Hawel is a prime example given his ease on the ice with Suzuki and Pitlick, but Jack York is another player stepping up. He had an incredible effort on Jake Evans’ second goal of the day moving down from the blue line, keep his back to his opponent eventually sending a backhand cross-crease pass for the goal.

The Montreal Canadiens tend to go back on players who have attended camp, and it wouldn’t be surprising to see York’s name come up if he keeps this going.

Observation 4: Fairbrother isn’t fair brother!

The Montreal Canadiens went to defence a lot at the 2019 NHL Draft and Gianni Fairbrother was an interesting one given his offensive ability goal-scoring wise. That’s not seen as much amongst defencemen as they usually wrack up points through assists. However, Fairbrother can score and had a number of goals during day two that were great displays of his skill.

His skating allows him to make use of that scoring in different ways. Fairbrother’s first tally saw him skate with the puck fending off defending players, moving his feet well to maintain distance before cutting in front of the net. The remaining two were blatant snipes, one from the blue line walking in and firing from the circle while the other rushing down the right side.

Observation 5: Caufield makes it look tooooooo easy

Cole Caufield went another day of scrimmages without scoring a goal mid-game; however, he still had scoring opportunities on net. He showed off his skill once again during the shootout rounds getting another goal for Team Red.

The fifteenth overall pick makes it look so easy offensively and there’s no doubt he’s a force. His downsides were noticeable more in this game though. Sure it’s a scrimmage and assignments aren’t really that important, but Caufield does tend to cheat to the defensive blue line and speed off as soon as he sees that a teammate has the puck.

It’s good as it allows his side to break the puck out of their own end quickly (assuming the pass connects) but at the same time, it’s risky.

Friday is the last day of scrimmages and a final opportunity to make an impact. Prospects have taken turns showing off and it’ll be interesting to see who gets the last spark.