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Montreal Canadiens: 3 Prospects That Improved Their Stock Most This Season

By Ken MacMillan

BOSTON, MA - FEBRUARY 10: Jordan Harris #2 of the Northeastern Huskies celebrates his double-overtime winning goal against the Boston University Terriers with teammate Craig Pantano #29 during NCAA hockey in the championship game of the annual Beanpot Hockey Tournament at TD Garden on February 10, 2020 in Boston, Massachusetts. The Huskies won 5-4 for their third consecutive Beanpot championship. (Photo by Richard T Gagnon/Getty Images)
BOSTON, MA - FEBRUARY 10: Jordan Harris #2 of the Northeastern Huskies celebrates his double-overtime winning goal against the Boston University Terriers with teammate Craig Pantano #29 during NCAA hockey in the championship game of the annual Beanpot Hockey Tournament at TD Garden on February 10, 2020 in Boston, Massachusetts. The Huskies won 5-4 for their third consecutive Beanpot championship. (Photo by Richard T Gagnon/Getty Images) /
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VICTORIA , BC – DECEMBER 26: Team Sweden (Photo by Kevin Light/Getty Images)
VICTORIA , BC – DECEMBER 26: Team Sweden (Photo by Kevin Light/Getty Images) /

Mattias Norlinder

The Canadiens made a great trade when they dealt captain Max Pacioretty to the Vegas Golden Knights at the beginning of last season. They got an immediate impact from Tomas Tatar the past two seasons, Nick Suzuki looked great this season and they also got a 2019 second round draft pick in the trade.

They moved that second round pick at the NHL Draft for a third round pick and a fifth round pick. Third round picks sound like high picks, but whether it is the first pick of the round or the last pick, it has a low chance of becoming a star player in the future. Many of them don’t make an impact at the NHL level at all.

When the Habs announced the pick, they took a little known defenseman named Mattias Norlinder. He is a Swedish defender who was passed over in the 2018 NHL Draft but was ranked even higher than this by most draft pundits a year later.

Norlinder had a solid season in 2018-19 with Modo’s Junior team, showing a penchant for jumping into the play and driving offence from the back end. He was promoted for 14 games to Allsvenskan which is the second best pro league in Sweden and scored six points in 14 games.

Norlinder played this past season with Modo in the Allsvenskan once again. He scored seven goals and 18 points in 34 games which was solid production from a Junior aged player. In fact, he won the award for best Junior aged player in the Allsvenskan and helped Modo become one of the top teams in the league. They were on their way to being promoted back to Sweden’s best league, the SHL, before play was halted.

When he was drafted a year ago, Norlinder looked like a slender defenceman with some offensive tools. Fast forward a year and he looks good offensively and just fine defensively playing in a pro league in Sweden and he earned a spot on a deep Swedish World Junior team.

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