Montreal Canadiens Michael McCarron Heading Into Make Or Break Season

The Montreal Canadiens had high hopes for Michael McCarron when he was drafted. It is six years later and we are still waiting for him to make an impact at the NHL level. It is last call for McCarron this season.

The Montreal Canadiens were ecstatic when they selected Michael McCarron with the 25th overall selection in the 2013 NHL Draft. General manager Marc Bergevin and Director of Amateur Scouting Trevor Timmins couldn’t stop smiling as they headed to the podium in New Jersey to announce their first round pick.

The Habs management team were pleased to select a power forward like McCarron. He is a hulking winger at 6’6″ and 230 pounds and was coming off a season where he scored 21 goals and 47 points for the U.S. National Development Program in 78 games.

The Canadiens were coming off a season where they were great in the regular season and then got beat up on the ice and on the scoreboard by the Ottawa Senators in five playoff games.

When you start a line brawl and end up losing five fights at the same time, it’s not a good look. Being down 4-1 on the scoreboard wasn’t great either. The Habs ended up losing that game 6-1 and were knocked out of the postseason when they lost Game 5 by the same score at the Bell Centre.

When McCarron was available at 25th overall, the Habs clearly thought he could score, but also had this brouhaha in mind as well. The Canadiens needed to add a bit more grit and toughness, but didn’t need another fourth line winger. They thought they found a top six winger in McCarron who could also hold his own in a fight with anyone.

Hindsight is telling us that that may not be the case.

McCarron headed to the London Knights after being drafted by the Habs. The Knights were stacked, like usual and were actually led by Max Domi that season who scored 94 points. McCarron played a depth role for them and scored 34 points in 66 games.

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The following season, McCarron played a more prominent role and scored 22 goals and 41 points in just 25 games in London. The Knights, in a rare instance, were actually sellers at the deadline and sent McCarron to the Oshawa Generals. He finished the season with a total of 68 points in 56 games.

McCarron added 18 points in 21 playoff games, helping the Generals to an OHL Championship. The Generals were off to the Memorial Cup where McCarron scored three more points in four games as the Generals won the national title.

Not only had McCarron showed he could dominate physically and score at the Junior level, he also made the shift to center, proving he could handle the extra defensive responsibility that comes with playing down the middle. It was thought that the Habs had found a special player that would turn into the next power forward for the Canadiens.

There were questions surrounding his skating, but it was thought he was a bit of a longer-term project that could improve his stride with two of three years of seasoning at the AHL level. Then, at 22 or 23 he would be a finely tuned, two-way machine when he cracked the NHL roster full time.

McCarron turned pro for the 2015-16 season and had an impressive training camp with the Habs. He started the year with the AHL’s St. John’s Ice Caps and scored 38 points in 58 games. He was given a 20 game audition with the Canadiens as a 20 year old that season but he scored just one goal and one assist.

It was hoped that the experience that comes with playing in the NHL at such a young age would have propelled him to a much better sophomore season but that was not the case. He had seven goals and 19 points in 32 AHL games in 2016-17 and just one goal and five points in 31 NHL games.

In 2017-18, McCarron played 18 games with the Habs, but failed to score a goal and registered just one assist. In 54 AHL games he scored seven goals and 24 points. It was McCarron’s lowest points per game in his three AHL seasons and was also the end of his entry level contract.

McCarron eventually re-signed with the Canadiens just before training camp began in September on a one year deal worth $874,125 if he was in the NHL and $70,000 if he was playing in the AHL. McCarron ended up earning exactly $70,000 as he did not spend a day with the Montreal Canadiens in 2018-19.

He played well for the Laval Rocket last season, scoring 21 points in 32 games. However, he was injured midway through the year and shoulder surgery ended his season in early February. He was playing perhaps the best hockey of his pro career, and producing points at the highest pace he has in his AHL career.

Now, McCarron finds himself in the same position he was in a year ago. He was given a qualifying offer so the Canadiens are retaining his rights as a restricted free agent. He hasn’t signed his qualifying offer which would basically be the same contract he had last season, but that likely just means he wants a raise on the AHL portion of the contract.

At 24 years old, McCarron is running out of opportunities to prove he can be an NHL player. He just had his best performance at the AHL level, but still had just seven goals in 32 games. He was using his size better to protect pucks and cycle the puck in the opponents zone. However, when you play zero NHL games as a 23 year old, it’s not a good omen from the organization about your NHL future.

McCarron is going to need to come into training camp this season and show he is a better option than veterans like Nate Thompson, Matthew Peca or Nick Cousins if he wants to play any games for the Canadiens next season. He is yet to prove he can skate well enough to earn a full-time NHL role, and his speed will be under much scrutiny at camp.

If he can’t prove to be better than the aforementioned veterans, he won’t be in the organization at this time next year. With younger prospects like Cole Fonstad, Samuel Houde, Cam Hillis, Rafael Harvey-Pinard and Allan McShane needing contracts next summer and turning pro, there won’t be room for McCarron if he is still scoring 0.5 points per game for the Rocket.

Montreal Canadiens fans thought they were getting the next Milan Lucic when McCarron was drafted. You have to be careful what you wish for Habs fans, because it looks like you just might have gotten the Edmonton Oilers version of Lucic with Michael McCarron.