The Montreal Canadiens dropped their first game of the Rookie Tournament; however, wins and losses aren’t as important as it may appear.
The Montreal Canadiens played an Ottawa Senators team who played the night before against the Winnipeg Jets. The Sens lit the Jets up for eight goals via Logan Brown, Erik Brannstrom and Alex Formenton to name a few, only allowing one in the process. They went on to beat the Habs 4-2 with Vitaly Abramov scoring a hat-trick to finish off the Rookie Tournament.
No fan likes to see the Montreal Canadiens lose, and even though it’s a weekend tournament, the frustration is showing. The Habs made some defensive errors which led to goals and couldn’t get their powerplay going. Sounds familiar, doesn’t it?
But there’s a key point to be made, especially when looking between the Habs and the Sens. The only players on the Montreal Canadiens with a true shot at making the team are Ryan Poehling and Nick Suzuki. Everyone else is Laval Rocket bound or will be returning to their respective major junior teams.
The Senators, on the other hand, have a bottom-five finish awaiting them with a number of spots on the team that can be filled with prospects. At the same time, they had more players with NHL experience, especially at the forward position.
You also have to consider the prospects they don’t have at the tournament. Joël Teasdale is injured while Cole Caufield, Alexander Romanov, Jesse Ylönen, Joni Ikonen, and Jacob Olofsson to name a few can’t play. The Habs losing this game doesn’t mean their prospect pool is bad, and that won’t change if they drop tomorrow’s game as well.
This tournament is for growth and observation while paying attention to the bigger picture. One game doesn’t flip the script on the state of the prospect pool.
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