Montreal Canadiens: Top 5 Defenceman Prospects

The Montreal Canadiens have a deep pool of prospects. So deep, we have decided to break down not just their top prospects, but their top prospects by position. Here are their top five defenceman prospects.

The Montreal Canadiens have built up one of the best pools of prospects in the National Hockey League. Having a great group of young players in the system is obviously better than not having many promising options, but it doesn’t guarantee anything in the future. Some of these players will turn out better than expected but others will never reach their potential.

That is just how it is with prospects. The great thing about the Canadiens system right now is they have tremendous depth. They don’t just have a handful of shiny young prospects that were early picks, they have several nice options at every position.

That is why we decided to take a look at their best prospects by position. We could do a top five prospects, or even top ten, but they would be familiar names you have heard over the past year or two. We wanted to dig a little deeper, so we started by looking at their five best winger prospects, and then yesterday looked at the Habs five best centre prospects. Today we are looking at their top five defenceman prospects.

The Canadiens really started to build this pipeline two years ago at the 2018 NHL Draft. The Habs made 11 selections that year and followed that up with ten more selections in 2019. They hold 14 picks in the upcoming 2020 draft that were scheduled to host in June, but we may have to wait a little longer to see who they add to their impressive group.

While the Habs had plenty of picks at the past two drafts, they didn’t exactly cover the whole dart board when making selection. Instead, they were very specific about what positions they would target. In 2018, Montreal drafted six centres with their 11 picks. Last year, four of their first five picks were defensemen.

This has given them several interesting prospects on the blue line. Also, to be considered a prospect, I believe has to be 23 or under, not played more than 50 career NHL games, and not played more than 20 NHL games in two separate seasons. So, Kotkaniemi and Suzuki are no longer prospects in the system. We have seen enough of them at the NHL level.

Let’s take a look at the Habs top five defencemen prospects.

5. Jayden Struble

The Habs went for a bit of a raw prospect in the middle of the second round last year when they selected Jayden Struble. The Cumberland, Rhode Island native was playing prep school hockey where he had scored 40 points in 28 games after scoring 30 points in 30 games the previous year.

Those are great numbers for sure, but drawing a player from prep school or high school leagues is a bit riskier than taking someone from a Junior league. The quality of competition just isn’t as high and they don’t play as many games. So, it would have been a bit trickier to estimate Struble’s true value as opposed to someone who played 70 games for the Oshawa Generals.

Anyway, Struble headed off to Northeastern University this season. He is a physical beast and showed extremely well at all of the off-ice workouts for the Habs at their rookie camp. He plays much stronger and more physical than even his 6’0″ and 205 pound frame would suggest.

The 18 year old left shooting defender started slowly as you would predict as a freshman at Northeastern but quickly grew into a larger role. He was often moved up to the team’s top four defence pairings as the season went along and showed a very dependable, defensive game while being a physical presence on the ice against players much older than himself.

Struble will head back to Northeastern next season after scoring three goals and ten points in 21 games. With the graduation of Ryan Shea, who was their captain and top scoring defenceman, a lot of minutes need to be filled next season. Expect Struble to take on a much bigger role for the Huskies. He has all the tools of a minute-munching, reliable defensive defenceman for the Habs in the future.

4. Mattias Norlinder

We previously mentioned the Habs sought out plenty of defenders at the 2019 NHL Draft. After taking Struble in the second round, they grabbed Mattias Norlinder from Sweden in the third round after he went undrafted in 2018.

While Struble is a physical, shutdown, defensive defenceman in the making, Norlinder is pretty much the exact opposite. He might not turn into the player that gets matched up head to head against Auston Matthews in the future, but he could certainly skate with him if he needed to win a foot race.

Norlinder’s game is predicated on offence. He is a terrific skater who loves to carry the puck up ice and join, or lead, the rush. He has terrific stick handling skills for a defenceman and is the prototype of what the NHL is now looking for in defenders. He skates well, gets the puck from his own zone to the offensive with ease, whether it is with a nice pass or deft stickhandling and can put up points.

The Kramfors, Sweden native just turned 20 last month and played this season in Allsvenskan for Modo. That league is basically the Swedish version of the AHL, and Norlinder performed extremely well for a teenager. He scored seven goals and 18 points in 34 games while increasing his ice time throughout the year and becoming a key performer for Modo as they attempted to win the league title and get promoted back to Sweden’s top league next season.

Norlinder was rewarded for his strong play by winning the award given to the best Junior aged player in Allsvenskan. Though he isn’t the most physical blue liner in the world, Norlinder has decent size at 6’0″ and 180 pounds. He has the skating, awareness and offensive instincts to be an impact player at the NHL level. Even if his defensive game becomes just okay he will be a regular at the highest level. If he can use his intelligence on the ice to become a better than average defenceman at the NHL level, the Habs have a future top four left defender.

3. Josh Brook

A year ago, this guy would be ranked even higher. Josh Brook was drafted in the second round of the 2017 NHL Draft, but he had turned 18 just a few days before, so he played his entire draft year as a 17 year old defenceman in the Western Hockey League.

He played well as a 17 year old, scoring eight goals and 40 points in 69 games for the Moose Jaw Warriors and showing he was not afraid and wouldn’t back down from a battle. He quickly developed into one of the best two-way defenders in Junior hockey, and scored 16 goals and 59 assists for 75 points in 59 games during the 2018-19 season.

The 6’1″ and 195 pound right shot plays a fairly physical style, while being comfortable with the puck on his stick. His offensive numbers at the WHL level show he has no problem firing the puck up ice with a breakout pass or skating with it himself and using his terrific stickhandling skills to deke out a few opponents on his way into their zone.

Still just 20 years old, Brook struggled in his first full season of pro hockey. He lacked confidence early in the season and was eventually partnered with Karl Alzner who helped him become a better defensive player as the Laval Rocket season went on. As he became better defensively, he started to show more of his natural offensive skills as well.

Brook finished the season with just four goals and 13 points in 60 games, but was much better in March than he was in October, which is the most important thing for a player who isn’t old enough to order a beer yet after many of his road games.

Brook has unbelievable skills with the puck on his stick and has the size and ability to play a punishing defensive game. It wasn’t there all year long this season, but if he continues on the upward trajectory he was on, he is going to be a player that the Montreal Canadiens count on to play a lot of minutes in every situation in the next few years.

2. Jordan Harris

While the Habs added a couple of great defence prospects in the 2019 NHL Draft, adding Struble and Norlinder in consecutive rounds, they did even better in the 2018 NHL Draft. There will be more on the first defender they selected in a minute, but in the third round, they drafted Jordan Harris.

Still just 19 years old, Harris has already played two terrific seasons of NCAA hockey for the Northeastern Huskies. Yes, that is the same team Jayden Struble plays for and the pair could very well be put together frequently next season on the team’s top pairing. Though both are left shots, that wouldn’t be a problem at all, as Harris has great versatility.

Harris was picked to represent his country at the most recent World Juniors, but the team’s defence was heavy on left defenders. Harris slid to the right side to play top four minutes with ease. Though he didn’t put up a ton of points, he played a solid two-way game and was possibly their best defensive defenceman in the tournament.

Harris played a huge role for the Northeastern Huskies this season as well. After scoring one goal and 13 points in 39 games as a freshman, he upped that to three goals and 21 points in 33 games this season while being the team’s best shutdown presence.

The Massachusetts native will head back to Northeastern for a third season before turning pro. However, his stay with the Laval Rocket won’t be long before he hits the Canadiens blue line if he continues to grow at the same rate he has the past two seasons. He won’t be a huge point producer at the NHL level, but he looks to be a great shutdown player who can chip in some offence in the making.