Montreal Canadiens Ben Chiarot Perfect Mentor For Habs Young Right Defense

The Montreal Canadiens signed veteran defenseman Ben Chiarot to a three year contract. With a number of young right defenders coming up, Chiarot will be an excellent mentor.

The Montreal Canadiens added some help on left defense when they signed veteran Ben Chiarot to a three-year contract. Chiarot’s cap hit will be $3.5 million for the duration of his deal as he slots in on the left side of the blue line.

Chiarot has played his entire NHL career with the Winnipeg Jets, but he had to scratch and claw to carve out a role for himself. The 28 year old was taken in the 4th round of the 2009 NHL Draft by the Atlanta Thrashers before they packed up and fled for colder climes in Manitoba.

The Hamilton, Ontario native had played the previous season with the Guelph Storm. He scored just 12 points in 67 games and served 111 penalty minutes. The next season, Guelph traded their hard-hitting defender to the Sudbury Wolves. A year later and he was on the move again, this time to the Saginaw Spirit.

More from Editorials

• Montreal Canadiens: Senators Rebuild At Crisis Point As Kent Hughes Moves Forward
• Montreal Canadiens: Jonathan Drouin Continues Charity Work In Montreal After Leaving Habs
• Montreal Canadiens: Laval Rocket Lineup Going To Be Must Watch
• Montreal Canadiens: Jesse Ylönen Contract Extension Analysis
• Montreal Canadiens: Top 31 Prospects – #31 Quentin Miller

Chiarot turned pro in 2011-12 and spent most of the season toiling in the ECHL with the Colorado Eagles. This is not the league you want to be in as a young defenseman as it rarely leads to any significant NHL playing time.

Chiarot spent the entire next two seasons with the St. John’s Ice Caps of the AHL. Oddly enough, the Ice Caps would become the Habs affiliate just over a year later. He scored 20 points and piled up 96 penalty minutes in 2013-14 with the Jets top affiliate.

This should give you some indication of the type of player the Canadiens added in Chiarot. He is a 6’3″ and 220 pound defensive defenseman. Don’t expect him to knock Shea Weber off the power play next season, but he will punish opponents physically night after night.

He played on one of the most terrifying pairings in the NHL last season with Dustin Byfuglien. Imagine heading for a loose puck in the Jets corner with nearly 500 pounds of defensemen on the ice looking to take you out.

So, Chiarot won’t wow anyone with his blazing speed or stick handling abilities. What he will do is make simple, smart decisions with the puck and get the puck into the hands of the Canadiens speedy forwards quickly. He will shutdown whatever opponent he plays against as he and Byfuglien were routinely tasked with playing against great players and had no problem doing so.

Where I see the most value in bringing in Chiarot for the next three seasons, is his ability to mentor young players that are cracking the Habs lineup for the first time. Chiarot has seen it all in his career, from bouncing around the OHL to working his way up from the ECHL to becoming a desired free agent in the NHL.

He played on some awful Winnipeg Jets teams and had a role on some Stanley Cup contending Jets teams. Chiarot has packed a lot of hockey experience into his 28 years in the world. Now, he can pass some of that knowledge on to a number of young, specifically right-shooting defenders who could be his defense partners in the next three seasons.

It is completely possible that over the next three seasons, Chiarot will play significant minutes with Noah Juulsen, Cale Fleury and Josh Brook. All three of those young right-shooting defensemen will be looking to make their NHL mark during Chiarot’s stay in la belle province.

Remember when a young defenseman by the name of P. K. Subban was a rookie and needed a mentor on and off the ice to show him the ropes. Especially the ropes that were inside his own zone as Subban wanted to rush the puck up ice every time he got near it.

Well, Subban was paired with Hal Gill. There was no flash in Gill’s game, nor was there a ton of speed. However, there was a lot of smarts, good positioning, veteran presence and defensive acumen. Gill was the perfect partner to teach Subban how to fine-tune his game so he could be successful at the NHL level.

I could see Chiarot playing the exact same role for the Canadiens. Next season, he could conceivable play with Juulsen who played well at times last season but has just 44 games of NHL experience. He could use a solid veteran on the ice with him to help him along and show him how to be an effective and efficient defensive defenseman.

It’s also possible before the end of next season that Cale Fleury earns a tour of duty with the Habs. If the 20 year old does make his NHL debut, wouldn’t it be safer to have him play with Chiarot than with a younger player like Mete?

And if Josh Brook makes his NHL debut this season or next, what could be a more comparable situation to the Gill-Subban tutelage than putting Chiarot with Brook? Brook is an offensive minded defenseman who loves to carry the puck and is always looking to create a scoring chance.

Chiarot sometimes carries the puck as well, but if paired with Brook he is smart enough to know he should provide the defensive conscience of the pairing while also teaching him when it is the right time to jump into the play and when he needs to make a safe play to get the puck up ice and not leave Chiarot in an impossible situation.

It is certainly not the flashiest signing. But if Chiarot can have the same impact on young defenseman that Gill had during his three years in Montreal, it will be a very impactful signing.