The Montreal Canadiens announced their training camp roster yesterday. 57 players will attend the camp that begins tomorrow, but several intriguing prospects were left off the list.
The Montreal Canadiens training camp officially begins on Thursday. Finally. The offseason seemed to take forever, and with the Habs just missing the postseason it was a lot longer than us fans wanted it to be.
Though the Canadiens bounced back from an awful 2017-18 campaign, and several players had career years, it was not quite enough to get them into the playoffs. They finished the season with 96 points and have a young team that is mostly returning so there is plenty of optimism around Montreal as camp kicks off this week.
The Habs have invited 57 players to their training camp this year which will make for a crowded arena the first few days of camp. The list includes six goaltenders, 18 defensemen and 33 forwards. The entire list can be seen here.
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Even though they invited close to 60 players, there are several interesting prospects that were left off the list.
Rafael Harvey-Pinard, Samuel Houde, Cam Hillis, Allan McShane, Jacob LeGuerrier and Cole Fonstad have all been left off the main training camp roster.
With the exception of Harvey-Pinard, all of these players are heading into their 19-year-old season with a Canadian Hockey League team. Harvey-Pinard is also heading back to Junior hockey but is a 20 year old and will be playing his overage season with the Chicoutimi Sagueneens.
It is obviously a strategy of the Canadiens to send all of the CHL players back to their Junior teams for the beginning of their seasons. It just seems odd to me that the Habs would value these players starting their Junior seasons on time instead of giving them a little experience in a professional training camp and some preseason games.
Most teams around the league keep these Junior aged players to get a little seasoning at the main camp, even if they have little chance of making the big club. The QMJHL, OHL and WHL seasons all start next weekend, so this gives these players plenty of time to get back to their Junior clubs after attending rookie camp in Montreal.
The most surprising of these early cuts is Harvey-Pinard. Not only is he a year older, but he is coming off two excellent seasons in the QMJHL. He scored 161 points in 133 regular season games over the past two seasons for the Rouyn Noranda Huskies. He also put up 27 points in 20 playoff games, helping the Huskies to a QMJHL championship. They then won the Memorial Cup with Harvey-Pinard scoring six points in five games.
What does he have left to prove at the Junior level?
He played well at the Canadiens rookie camp, playing primarily on a line with Ryan Poehling and Nick Suzuki who both have a real chance of making the Habs opening night lineup. Harvey-Pinard looked like he belonged alongside them with his skating and offensive instincts.
He’s not ready for an NHL role like his line mates just yet, but surely he could have been an offensive winger for the Laval Rocket this season? Or at least he could have been given the experience of a pro camp before he will be forced to turn pro next season. Wouldn’t a couple of preseason games be good for his development? A look at the Rocket camp after the Habs camp would have answered the question of whether he is ready to turn pro right now.
However, is is straight back to Junior for these half dozen prospects. They will all be worth keeping an eye on as they should be dominant for their respective Junior clubs this season. I just think those seasons should have been pushed back a week or two so these prospects could get some NHL experience.