Montreal Canadiens Prospect Cole Fonstad Off To Terrific Start With New Team
The Montreal Canadiens have an intriguing prospect in Cole Fonstad. He is off to a great start with a new franchise after an early season trade. He will play for WHL vs Russia in the CHL series tonight.
The Montreal Canadiens drafted Cole Fonstad in the fifth round of the 2018 NHL Draft. It seemed like a good pick at the time, as Fonstad was coming off a season where he scored 21 goals and 73 points in 72 games for the Prince Albert Raiders.
A year and a half later and Fonstad is making the pick look like a great one. He scored 29 goals and 73 points last season in 67 games for the Raiders, helping them to the best regular season record in the Canadian Hockey League.
Fonstad was injured late in the season and struggled to produce offence in the postseason as a result. He had just six points in 21 games but the Raiders were crowned WHL champions at the end of the playoffs.
More from Prospects
- Montreal Canadiens: What Does Nathan Legare Bring To The Habs?
- Montreal Canadiens: What To Expect From Luke Mittelstadt Next Season?
- Montreal Canadiens: Looking ahead to Juraj Slafkovsky’s sophomore season
- Montreal Canadiens – Kaiden Guhle Rookie Report Card
- Montreal Canadiens: Jordan Harris Rookie Report Card
This season, Fonstad got off to a bit of a slow start with just three points in his first seven games. He then had back to back games with three points to bring his totals to nine points in nine games. Then, he was traded by the Raiders to the Everett Silvertips.
He immediately picked up where he left off when he landed in Everett, scoring six points in three games but was then injured playing against his former team. Fonstad returned to the lineup last weekend and has two assists in two games since coming back from injury. That means he has eight points in five games with the Silvertips, who are now ranked 7th in the latest CHL Top Ten rankings.
Fonstad has played well enough since being drafted by the Habs to be on Team Canada’s radar for the upcoming World Junior Championships next month. He was invited to the World Junior Summer Showcase in August, and was also asked to play for Team WHL against a team of Russians who are preparing for December’s tournament.
Russia split the first two games with a team of World Junior hopefuls from the QMJHL and then split a pair of games with Team OHL. They will now take on a group of WHL players who will be looking to make a good impression on Team Canada’s coaching staff.
Next. Habs Expressing Interest In Puljujärvi. dark
The first game for Fonstad is tonight in Saskatoon and then he will head back to Prince Albert to wrap up the series with Team Russia. Both games are on Sportsnet and it will be interesting to see how Fonstad looks compared to his peers who are on the short list for Team Canada.